Be Spiritual
(Vinod Anand)
You believe someone else is causing you stress. The truth is there is only one person responsible for your state of mind. That person is YOU.
So practice ‘attitude control’. Assess the people you interact with. Accept them for what they are. You will be amused by their idiosyncrasies.
You will no longer suffer for others’ faults. Whether at an exam, in business, sport or music, mental agitation spoils the party. Dynamic action emanating from a calm mind makes for success.
What agitates the mind is desire. Stress is mental turbulence caused by unfulfilled desire. Eliminate desire; you will be free from stress. You will perform perfect action effortlessly.
Our Intellect: We have intellect with which we can face challenges posed by the external world. Now plumb the depths of the inner world with the same intellect! When fulfilled, desire takes the form of greed, delusion, envy and arrogance. Frustrated, it becomes anger. All these cause immense stress. Guided by the intellect, desire becomes benign, transforming into aim, ambition, and aspiration.
Expand Your Horizon: Work for something beyond your selfish, self-centered interests. When your goal includes the well-being of others, it accelerates the accomplishment of that goal. People will want to be part of an endeavour that makes a difference, and they will assist you to achieve your dreams. Every person has a talent that he brings to the table.
Help your team members identify their gift and use it constructively. When you feel one with them you spot their talent and help marginalize their shortcomings. A leader converts ordinary workers into star performers!
Who Do You Love? The love we claim is often self-love. When people cater to us we say we love them. The truth is we only love ourselves. This attachment causes a great deal of stress. It leads to discord in relationships.
In the end we lose the people we ‘love’ most! The way out is to love people for what they are. Accept them. No expectations, no demands and no bondage imposed. Then you will be loved and adored by all!
Understand yourself. The body is your outer personality. It contains the organs of perception and action. Your inner personality consists of the mind, the realm of feelings and emotions, and the intellect, the domain of reason and discrimination. Body, mind and intellect need careful management and guidance.
If not managed or mismanaged, the same instruments that are designed to give us success, happiness and spiritual enlightenment become the source of strife and stress. Vedanta, our most valuable heritage, gives us this understanding.
Read it, reflect over its message and apply it in your life. You are a combination of Spirit and matter. As long as you focus on matter – body, mind, intellect – you will be in stress. To be totally stress-free you must take the giant leap into the Spirit. Only then will you be in infinite bliss.
VINOD K.ANAND: A BRIEF PROFILE
Born in 1939, and holding Master’s Degree both in Mathematics (1959) and Economics (1961), and Doctorate Degree in Economics (1970), Dr. Vinod K.Anand has about forty five years of teaching, research, and project work experience in Economic Theory (both micro and macro), Quantitative Economics, Public Economics, New Political Economy, and Development Economics with a special focus on economic and social provisions revolving around poverty, inequality, and unemployment issues, and also on informal sector studies. His last assignment was at the National University of Lesotho (Southern Africa) from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that he was placed as Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of North-West in the Republic of South Africa, and University of Allahabad in India, Professor at the National University of Lesotho, Associate Professor at the University of Botswana, Gaborone in Botswana, and at Gezira University in Wad Medani, Sudan, Head, Department of Arts and Social Sciences, Yola in Nigeria, Principal Lecturer in Economics at Maiduguri University in Nigeria, and as Lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Nigeria. Professor Anand has by now published more than 80 research papers in standard academic journals, authored 11 books, supervised a number of doctoral theses, was examiner for more than twenty Ph.D. theses, and has wide consultancy experience both in India and abroad, essentially in the African continent. This includes holding the position of Primary Researcher, Principal Consultant etc. in a number of Research Projects sponsored and funded by Universities, Governments, and International Bodies like, USAID, IDRC, and AERC. His publications include a variety of themes revolving around Economic Theory, New Political Economy, Quantitative Economics, Development Economics, and Informal Sector Studies. His consultancy assignments in India, Nigeria, Sudan, Botswana, and the Republic of South Africa include Non-Directory Enterprises in Allahabad, India, Small Scale Enterprises in the Northern States of Nigeria, The Absolute Poverty Line in Sudan, The Small Scale Enterprises in Wad Medani, Sudan, Micro and Small Scale Enterprises in Botswana, The Place of Non-Formal Micro-Enterprises in Botswana, Resettlement of a Squatter Community in the Vryburg District of North West Province in the Republic of South Africa, Trade and Investment Development Programme for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises: Support for NTSIKA in the Republic of South Africa, and Development of the Manufacturing Sector in the Republic of South Africa’s North West Province: An Approach Based on Firm Level Surveys. Professor Anand has also extensively participated in a number of conferences, offered many seminars, participated in a number of workshops, and delivered a variety of Refresher Lectures at different venues both in India and abroad. Dr. Anand was placed at the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla in the State Himachal Pradesh, India as a Fellow from 2001 to 2003, and had completed a theoretical and qualitative research project/monograph on the Employment Profile of Micro Enterprises in the State of Himachal Pradseh, India.