PNTV: Conquest of Mind by Eknath Easwaran (#107)

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Hey, guys, what's up? This is Brian with another Philosopher's Notes TV episode. Today we're going to take a quick look at Conquest of Mind, a book by Eknath Eswaron on about taking charge of your thoughts and reshaping your life through meditation. So this is one of my favorite books on meditation. We did a video on the how and why of meditation, and this book is one of my deep inspirations. And Eknath Eswaran is one of my favorite teachers. He also did the translations we use for the Dhammapada and the Bhagavad Gita. And he kind of reminds me of Joseph Campbell. If you watch a video of him, he's kind of like an Indian version of Joseph Campbell. Just an extraordinarily cool human being, totally alive, inspiring, and all about it. And in the note we go through, obviously a bunch of different ideas. We're going to look at a few of my favorites. We'll look at the importance of stick to itiveness, working hard, effort, energy and stamina. The fact that all life is yoga, as Aurobindo says, we will look at the war within and how we need to never give up. Look at consistency and how it rocks and the fact that we don't want to be heroes at the beginning. This is one of my favorite ideas, not just on meditation, but on everything. Don't be a hero at the beginning. Start something with trumpets and all this fanfare, but then give up two days later. It's pretty awesome. And then the challenge and are we up for it? And we have a responsibility to go for it, not just for ourselves, but for our families and world. So meditation. He goes off on the rewards of it in his technique. And he says, look, the technique is simple, but far from easy. It requires effort, and like athletic conditioning, it can be quite strenuous. Its purpose is not to attain some remarkable experience during meditation, but to master the thinking process. The rewards therefore come during the rest of the day. You will become more loving, creative, resourceful, and full of vitality. So this is a really important point. A lot of people get confused and they think that meditation is all about some amazing levitating experience during meditation. Now, meditation, you may or may not have pleasant state experiences during meditation, but the point here is to master our thinking process. And independent of whatever we feel during our meditation practice, the rewards are all about who we are during the rest of the day. So again, don't get confused with that, it's not about achieving some amazing state experience and being an idiot the rest of the day. It's about plugging into something bigger than ourselves as we master the thinking process and showing up and living with more love, creativity, resourcefulness and vitality during the rest of our day. Huge idea. Now how do we achieve that? Very simple. Stick to itiveness. That's what counts. Anyone who succeeds at anything sticks to it. We're going to talk about this theme throughout this note. Discipline is the key. We've got a cool little passage here from Michael Beckwith. He talks about the importance of discipline. And you know that whiny voice, I don't feel like it. When you've made a commitment to something and you don't feel like doing it, he, he says, you know what? What is not feeling like it have to do with it? What is not feeling like it have to do with it? That is such an awesome line. Commit to something, know that it's for your highest good and do it whether you feel like it or not. That is a skill that I'm obviously, and we all are still cultivating. But that ability is the essence of everything. To have that self control, that self mastery, to do what we need to do when we need to do it is ultimately one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. Very, very cool. Again, it requires effort, energy and stamina. And we need to rouse all the energy we can muster and then channel it all toward one overriding goal, which is our highest purpose, which we talked about in that video. Living from our highest self, more and more consistently plugging into that highest version of ourselves just like a light bulb and shining with radiant enthusiasm. And he makes the point here that laid back people aren't really always best suited for this type of hard work. The intensity. People who really want to go for it in different domains of their life can channel that energy into their meditation practice in ways that people are just kind of laid back can't. And it takes that type of energy to really go off and achieve the results we're capable of. And he said that he was surprised to find this very powerful truth. And we talk about some other people who say that all life is yoga. Sri Aurobindo gives us that wisdom. All life is yoga. Every moment, every single moment is an opportunity for training our mind. Every single moment. We don't need to wait for our meditation practice. Every single moment. All life is yoga. All life is part of our meditation process. He's got a great idea here that we're not gonna have time to go. Well, I'll give you a quick highlight. He says anytime someone bothers him, he immediately thinks of all the things they've done that are amazing and thinks of all the qualities that they have. They're just extraordinary. He thinks of a panorama of goodness for this person. And he's practiced it so much that anytime anyone even troubles him a little bit, he immediately goes into this role and list of things they've done that were wonderful. And he sets it right. Really cool practice. And you got to have a strong mind to be able to do that when you're feeling annoyed. So he talks about the war within that we can't give up. It's kind of like the 30 Years War. It just goes on and on and on, and we can't give up once we start. We've got to keep at it. And he quotes his grandmother who used to tell him, the Lord will never put on your shoulders even one pound more than you can bear. But she would also add, you will never have to carry £1 less either. Otherwise we would not grow. Isn't that amazing? We're given just the right amount of challenge to make sure that we grow and actualize as human beings. Keep that in mind. Don't give up. Fight that internal, internal battle and win it. We all have the capacity to change. That's that idea. Consistency rocks, he says. Nothing you can do will strengthen your determination more than the regular practice of meditation at the same time and for the full length of time every single day. This is one of the reasons why I talk about every single day. It's all about consistency. We talked about this in the video on Buddha's Brain, where he says, even if it's just one minute a day, give yourself that time to show up and train yourself. That consistency every single day for meditation, for other practices you deem important is huge. Now, I mentioned in the overview. So my favorite big ideas ever. Heroes at the beginning Eswaron tells us in Sanskrit we have a word which means heroes at the beginning. People who take up a job with a fanfare of trumpets, but soon find that their enthusiasm has tiptoed down the back stair. Those who go far in meditation are the ones who keep on plugging. They may not be very spectacular, they may never hear a trumpet, but they keep on trying, day in and day out, giving their best in every situation and relationship, never giving up. Such people are bound to reach their goal. They're bound to reach their goal. They may not be heroes at the beginning, all spectacular but they show up day in and day out, day in and day out. Really, really cool. We talk about Russell Simmons here as well. He says, don't give up when you have a vision. Keep going until you hit the finish line. Don't be one of those people who believe in their vision at first, but then give up. See it through no matter how long it takes. Understand that obstacles are just part of the game. When whatever you imagine you can achieve once you realize this truth, no one is going to be able to stop you. Awesome. From his book, do you? We cannot be heroes at the beginning. Gotta be heroes throughout the process. Diligently, patiently, persistently showing up. And we are bound to be successful. I share a story here about an experience in my life where a mentor of mine told me, it's not how you start something, it's how you finish it. Really powerful. And then here's the final thought from S1. It's just absolutely beautiful. He says, to fail to live up to this challenge, my spiritual teacher used to say, is simply being irresponsible. This is not asking for perfection, but merely expecting us to do our best to grow. If we do not do this much, we are depriving life of a contribution that only we can make. Spiritual living is responsible living. I am responsible not only for myself, but for all of you. Just as all of you are responsible for each other and for me to not live up to this challenge. We don't just let ourselves down. We let the world down. So let's have the courage, the audacity, the tenacity to live up to the challenge. Give our greatest gifts and greatest service to the world, starting with our families, our communities, and going out from there. So here you go. Meditation. Conquest of Mind. Really cool book. Highly recommended if you're feeling it. Remember, stick to itiveness. All life is yoga. See the best in people, especially when they annoy you. The war within. You can handle it. God doesn't give you more than you can handle. We all have the capacity to change. Consistency is amazing. Heroes at the beginning and the ending, please. And let's be up for the challenge. It's a quick look. Hope you got some more wisdom in less time. Look forward to sharing more with you soon. Have another great day. See ya.

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