PNTV: The Golden Present by Sri Swami Satchidananda (#167)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to Philosopher's Notes tv. Today we've got another great book, the Golden Present. The Golden Present by Sri Swami Satchatananda. Amazing. Teacher Alexandra brought this book home. Her yoga teacher had been reading from it and fell in love with it. Packed with big ideas, really powerful practical application of Eastern spiritual concepts. Sri Swami Satchatananda is awesome. Philosopher's Note, bunch of big ideas. Five of them we're going to explore right now in our 10 or so minutes together. The first big idea factories. The good swami tells us that we are not born complete. As Osho says, our being is in our becoming. It's worth writing down. Our being is in our becoming. It's not either or. It's not about just being in the moment, and it's not just about becoming something else. Our being is expressed in our becoming. Sri Swamy tells us that think of it like factories. You're not born complete. You start with raw materials, then you get banged and chipped and sliced and cut and polished and all this stuff through the factory and out comes a car. But there was a ton of work done on each of the little components to make it a final car. He says that's how life is. We need to approach it with that attitude. And then Rumi tells us, if you are irritated by every rub, how will you ever be polished? If you are irritated by every rub, how will you ever be polished? Now, if you think it's annoying that life treats you roughly sometimes, you're not going to make it through that factory process. You're just going to be still raw materials. You're not going to become what you're capable of becoming unless you embrace that process, which isn't always pleasant. That's the first big idea factories. Deliberately put yourself on the assembly line and get a little better day in and day out. Second big idea done. Swami Satchitananda tells us that we need to think about what we're committed to in life, what's important to us, what our values are, and think before we weep. But once we leap, once we commit, it's done. We just need to be done. We can't think about it. You can't say, oh, I'm going to do this. Yeah, I'm really excited about that. And then a day or two or three later, you're like, that's cool. That's what Eknath Eswaron calls being a hero. In the beginning, you start off all jazzed up, and then the moment it gets hard, you tiptoe out the Back door. That's not how we want to do it. We want to get clear on what's important to us and develop the character that the strength of will such that when we say we're going to do something, we do it. Period. Done. We're going to talk about that again in the final big Idea. But just think about that. Do you make commitments that you kind of sort of don't even intend to complete? Do you tell people, oh, I'll do this for you, but in the back of your head you're like, no, not really. Quit doing that. Don't say you're going to do something unless you do it. Now there will be times when you say you're going to do something and you realize with more information that that's not in fact what you think is best to get done. Then you communicate with the individual and you make a new commitment, a new agreement. But we want to get in the habit of not saying we're going to do something unless it is done. Non negotiable. Jack Canfield has a great line on this. He says that 99% is hard, 100% is easy. Paradoxically, when you make a hundred percent commitment to something, it's way easier than making a 90 or 95 or 99% commitment. You may think you want to leave a little out, right? You don't want to totally commit because what if you change your mind? But that's actually way harder than just saying, look, this is important to me. I never want to eat fast food again. I used to eat years ago, McDonald's and I drive down the street and I was kind of sort of committed to not eating fast food anymore, but I wasn't 100% committed. So every single time I drove down the street, I had to have a little negotiation with myself. Was today the day? Because you haven't been there this week. Hey, come on, you deserve a little break today. Go in assist. This one time it was tough. I had a 90. I didn't even have a 99%, but I had a 92% commitment. So there was this little voice in my head that could always negotiate. We want to get rid of that little negotiating voice. You do that by making a hundred percent commitment. When I said, Look, I'm never going to McDonald's again, I'm never eating fast food again, it was easy, I didn't need to think about it. And in fact, I stopped even looking at the different signs. And now I look at it and it's this distant memory of, wow, I Used to be tempted by that. I'd still be tempted by that. If I had a 99% commitment. I'd have to think, is today the day that it's 1%? You want to think about that with all of your habits, whether it's meditation or exercise or whatever. Get rid of the negotiator in your mind. Commit to something, be done with it. I talked about that for a long time. We can talk about it for a lot more. We're going to in our habits class and our confidence class. Everything comes down to this. Being in integrity with what you say is important to you. Next. Big idea. Little deities and alters plus alters. So Satya Tanada talks about alters. Talks about a woman who wants to pray, but she has these two or three little kids, right? And Satchatananda says, look, those are your little deities. Don't think that you praying for whatever period of time in the morning and honoring God in this one way is any better than taking care of your kids. Putting on their clothes, changing their diapers, and actually doing the things that you need to do to be a great mom or dad are as noble and as spiritual as the prayer is. And I just love the way he framed that as a new dad. I find it especially awesome as I change diapers and as I spend time with my son. Little deities. He's my little God. Can I worship him? This is what George Leonard says in Mastery. We need to find all the little moments in our days that we could reclaim as part of our process of mastering ourselves. So all the things you think are a pain, doing the dishes or writing checks to pay your bills or changing diapers, those things can become spiritual acts, acts of enlightenment, acts of actualization. The entire world is our altar. Satyav Chananda tells us Orson Sweatt Marden said that life is God's kindergarten. We want to approach it that way, right? Big idea. Fourth big idea. Increase your mistakes. Increase your mistakes. Yes, increase your mistakes. We talk about this all the time. Getting comfortable with failure. Stephen King had a nail on his wall for the rejection letters he received until the nail wouldn't hold all of the rejection letters. He had to get a spike to hold the rejection letters. Those are little micro mistakes. But guess what? An expert in any field is the one who's made the most mistakes, period. They've tested the most things and they've realized what works and what doesn't. But if we're too timid to ever even step out into the unknown, out of our comfort zone, because God forbid we might make a little mistake. Guess we're never going to learn. Never, ever, ever going to learn. Learning occurs outside of your comfort zone. By definition, you have to be willing to make more mistakes. Satya Tenanda talks about Buckminster Fuller. He says, go out and make as many mistakes as you possibly can. It's going to accelerate your learning. So make more mistakes. Make no mistake. That will help you. All right. Final big idea. Be bold and strong. I'm going to read something for you here. So first, Satcha Tananda tells us in a longer passage, but very briefly, he says, you have to be really bold and strong to achieve anything in life. Be that bold. Be that bold. You have to be bold and strong and persevere to achieve anything in life. Be that bold. Period. Then he talks about commitment and how you need strength. Like a mountain climber who's ascending a mountain. You don't give up halfway up. If you decide you're going to climb Everest, climb Everest. Doesn't matter how hard it gets. You know it's going to be hard and you're going to continue climbing. So W.H. murray is who I think of whenever I think of commitment and climbing mountains. You've probably heard this before, but I'm going to share it with you now. W.H. murray, the mountaineer, says, this may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans. That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events, issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets. Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Whatever you can do or dream, you can do it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. So good. Joseph Campbell says, when you follow your bliss, when you're willing to enter the forest at the darkest point and you live your hero's journey, Doors appear where there were only walls. Hidden hands come in to help you. But you have to be all in. You have to be bold, you have to be strong, and you have to persevere. So there you go. If you want to live in the golden present, this moment, be bold and strong. Be willing to make more mistakes. Use all of life as an altar to worship whatever it is that you believe in. See your little kids as little deities. Dress them up like they're dressing up God. Every single moment gives us an opportunity to serve profoundly and to be more actualized. When you say you're going to do something, do it. Hashtag done. Quit making commitments you don't intend to follow through 100% is way easier than 99%, paradoxically. And then factories. Think of life like that. Your being is in your becoming extraordinary idea when challenges become the very stuff that helps us become the finished product that we aspire to be. So there you go. I hope you enjoyed. I look forward to sharing more with you soon. Have another awesome day. See ya.