The Transient Nature Of Feelings

Observe Nature! When you observe carefully, you will realise that there is a very close connection between observation and absorption. Meditation is absorption.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The first step for that is ‘observing’. When you are just observing, watching; the chattering becomes lesser and lesser and finally disappears. It needs some skill to stop this chattering mind. If it goes on and on, then you have a problematic mind.

When the mind says, “Okay, I will see how it feels for a couple of days and then decide what I should do!” This is dangerous. It is like saying “Okay, start the operation, I will see how I feel and then decide, it is under my control!” Once you take up something, whether it is in the beginning or in the middle stage, you will have to pursue it. One who does not have this resolution cannot even take the first step.

Why do we bother so much about our own feelings? We think feelings are constant! But thats not true. Just see how they keep changing – five minutes, you feel good and ten minutes later, you feel bad, and five minutes later, you feel good again. What is this? There is no guaranteed insurance on your feelings. You cannot rely on your feelings at all. You don’t know How, When, What, you will feel at different times. Our feelings are most unreliable and if we base our lives, our actions, our activities on our feelings, our whole life will be a regret. Never base your lives on how you feel. Be committed! “I take this commitment and I will finish this. I want to do this and I will do it, and I will finish it!.” This should be your resolution.

Real courage is to stand up to your feelings and not to be a football of your own feelings. That is called Dedication. Love, if it has no dedication, will turn into hatred. Love goes hand-in-hand with dedication.