Job/career related pressures
Question
Dear Dhananjaya,
I have been following your advice (bhramacharya, chanting, asanas, meditation etc ) for a few months now and see a positive change in myself (better concentration, high energy levels, better stamina, good sleep, significantly reduced anger ).
I had a few questions:
1. One of the effects on the body is that I feel more cold now. Else, I am in sound health. Is this normal?
2. Like me there must be many people who have a job and a high pressure career. How to handle political pressure in these environments? Many a times to survive or retain ones position (which ensures material safety in terms of earning capacity) in an organization we need to also indulge in counter politics. Knowing that this is not right, we still have to do it to ensure that you survive and that the people reporting to you also get what they rightly deserve. How to solve this dilemma of what is right/wrong and what needs to be done to survive and prosper for the sake of the family? Do we not have a duty to them to provide all the reasonable comforts possible? This pressure often can be quite debilitating. How do we manage this?
Thanks for your guidance.
Ganesh
Answer
1. Ignore the initial bodily changes. All these settle down after a few years of practice.
2. If one stays true to his expected duty and turns a blind eye to everything else at work with a calm and peaceful attitude, he is not affected by his surroundings. Neither is it possible for others, however they may be, to affect his well being.
To honestly carry out that which is expected of one's position on the career front is duty. Actions carried out to attain this objective are right. If this much is done with honesty and integrity as a service to God, everything eventually gets taken care of.
Why do YOU worry about prosperity or what YOU should do for the family. YOU cannot do anything. There is a higher power that is working within YOU that is the source. This YOU (Ego) is however mistaking itself to be the doer, while that is not the case in terms of reality. This is the cause of stress and strain. So learn the art giving up the sense of doership and hold on to detached performance of your duty without worrying about the fruits. The more one gets established in this technique, the easier life becomes.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)