My countless obeisance at your lotus feet Swamiji. It is your grace which floated me like anything to jot down the entire mini-series on Depression as I envisaged. At the outset it was really tough to recount the horrific experiences I went through. But the description was necessary to understand the gravity of the issue. After that the ray of light which illuminated my walking path was really the thing, I wanted the world to know. It is all your grace that I could finish off the mini-series, I started. In stead of miniseries it might have become a medium series 😉. At the end in the “acknowledgement” I will write who all inspired me to write the mini-series.
Let us summaries the learnings as bullet points
1. There are 2 types of depressions typically, clinical and nonclinical
2. More than 95 percent of the depression are of nonclinical type which really do not require any medicine. They are just a low phase of mind.
3. If you are going for depression medication, trade carefully. Try mostly to avoid the same as far as possible. Go for alternative therapy, talk therapy etc.
4. The reason for nonclinical depression is some untold story which is buried deep within even unknown to you also at times.
5. Hook up with somebody who believes you and listens to you patiently without prejudice, yah it’s difficult to find someone like that. You are always welcome to come to me 😉
6. The pent-up pressure needs a vent to eject, just bare your heart which is the first step towards healing.
7. Increase your spiritual inclination and practices which is the real treasure of life. It is a kind of antivirus 😉 which cleans your mental software of junks and unwanted fragmentations which continuously wears and tears your mental space.
8. Better practice it in the early morning so as to optimize the result.
9. Don’t argue with god or have an iota of doubt whether he exists or not, rather the simplest way to have his grace is to surrender and then you can see the transformation.
10. If you are walking the spiritual path, then even if you are disappointed, you will come out of the state quickly.
Things to do when you are in low phase of mind
1. Try to see the broader picture. You may be disadvantaged in some way, but definitely you are not the most disadvantaged one on earth.
2. People have much more problems than yours. You might have got the wrong pizza delivered, but people were not able to order the pizza at all due to the night curfew or lockdown 😉. Jokes apart, people suffer like anything for earning a livelihood for which you should empathize.
3. Don’t become selfish that you have gone down, just try to think of the people who depend on you, who love you, care for you and most importantly need you. Your life does not belong exclusively to you alone. Other stakeholders are also there.
4. There is no mistake in the world which cannot be amended provided there is a will to do so.
5. Face the situation with courage remembering your Ishta (not insta 😉), you can feel the energy flow.
6. Remember “If god has chosen you for some purpose and given you some task, that means he has equipped you with the basic requirements. He knows that you can do it, that is why you are given the responsibility.”
7. Try helping others when you are in such a grip. The smile you see on their face will blow your sadness away.
8. You can help some needy person cross the road, caution someone if the side stand of the bike he / she is riding is still on, caution some car drivers if the doors are not properly closed or a saree / any part of the cloth is trapped in the car door, you can offer free service to devotees at any religious place. These activities do not have any financial implications, yet the inner joy they provide you can destroy the sadness and spring your confidence back.
9. If you have some money at your dispense, then try feeding the hungry one, do some social service like purchasing study material for the underprivileged ones, go to an orphanage with some chocolates for the kids and distribute them yourself, you can help the homeless with the help of local authorities, you can help some needy begging near the traffic lights (but with caution as they run rackets for easy income).
10. Practice being grateful to the universe for providing you your requirements. Offer your gratitude which is a very strong anti depressant that hits had on a vishad grast mind for a break through. (Credit goes to Vrinda maa for teaching me this very powerful tool)
General things to follow for a happier life
1. Do not hurt anybody’s feelings or sentiments. As Swamiji clearly tells that everything is god’s creation, try to see the divinity in all of them.
2. Try to forgive the person who has misbehaved with you; this will increase your will power. But that does not mean to tolerate injustice.
3. If you do not like something about somebody, don’t yell at him / her. Just tell politely the fact to them.
4. Plant a tree, water it, see it grow, talk to it, nurture it. It will have profound impact on you.
5. Be sympathetic to birds and animals, treat them properly, don’t harm them un-necessarily to have some cruel fun. It is a sin to torture dumb animals and degrades your human level.
6. Don’t think you are a superman / woman and wear the chaddi on the pant 😉, you have certain capabilities as well as certain limitations too. Try to work on your limitations.
7. Don’t waste time as you may run out of it at the most critical time.
8. Always keep in your mind “Nothing succeeds like success”. So, every day do your bit to achieve your goal / target. If you do your duty with honesty and sincerity, you will feel a satisfaction inside which no-one can take away from you.
9. Don’t always complain about your circumstances throwing the ball in other’s court. Have the guts to fight with the situation. Man’s development from cave dwellers to this stage is nothing but constant struggle.
10. Don’t be afraid of problems. They are an inevitable part of life. Utilize them as an opportunity to learn new skills, bring changes in your persona, become more mature and evolved.
11. Don’t stay isolated except when you are eating nonveg or contracted COVID 😉. Just kidding. Do your sadhana in isolation but mingle with people, because man is a social animal and needs a society to live in.
12. Don’t overthink an issue which will blow the same out of proportion. If you feel exhausted, then take a break, explore nature.
13. Choose the path of poorn samarpan and not (porn samarpan 😉, it may not be able to pull you out of the low phase of mind). Totally dedicate yourself to the thing you are doing but with a little vairagya or detachment so as to keep the disappointment at the bay.
14. Don’t procrastinate the things you definitely need to do, because delays have dangerous ends.
15. Work is worship. If you do your work properly, then you will be the happiest person on earth – mark my words.
16. Throwing out ego is like removing the boulder on your path to progress. The gravitational pull of ego is much more that the gravitational pull of earth which will prevent you from launching into orbits of higher awareness. Ego is the button of self-destruction. Reduce yourself to Zero, then you will become hero. Remove the ‘I’ and insert the ‘we’. You are just a spec of dust in the entire universe, so why so much ego and for what?
17. Don’t carry the burden of self-expectation. Nobody has the time to think about you other than your near and dear ones. From professional point of view, you can be replaced by someone else at work, but you don’t have replacement on personal front, mind it.
18. Don’t get addicted to social media passing on time in worthless manner. The happy faces or the awesome status do not necessarily reflect the truth which is letting you down in jealous 😉 apart from increasing your data usage 😉. Please do some physical exercise or work out or play some games (not on your smartphone of course😉) to boost your ‘happy hormones’ naturally.
19. Nature is the best friend of us. All the manmade things are for luxury purpose which satisfy our material needs. But nature inspires us, just take a break to watch the sea, or murmuring sound of leaves in wind, a colorful flower. You can watch them for hours together, but not the web series 😉.
20. Don’t think negative about anybody including your enemy. It un-necessarily drains you of your huge energy resources. Do not try to control each and everything. The simple reason is you cannot do so as you are not god 😉. Do a reality check and maintain a balance between self-sympathy and the art of letting go..
Let me stop here, else I may break your patience which is the most important virtue of a balanced mind 😉
Acknowledgements and Gratitudes:
Writing this series would not have been possible without the following factors
1. My low phase or Gate of Sorrow (as described by revered Swamiji) which invoked a lot of (bombardment of) feelings inside me
2. The reprogramming of Swamiji which has changed my perspectives and the ever-fit handsome hunk named Shri Hari
3. The tears in the eyes of my beloved wife Sanghamitra and son Sahil (the featured image of this post is Sanghamitra’s attempt to create a positive atmosphere in our house during my low phase. This is the best tribute I can offer her)
4. The struggle of many who are yet to come out of the trap
5. The unconditional support of my office colleagues, my boss, my division Head for posing faith in me even when I was below the ground level
6. The great Mulla Nasruddin whose cameos were apt during explaining my points
7. The Beauty with brain and very talented Medha Shri ji, who has repeatedly acknowledged my efforts of blog writing on this wonderful Internet Space called os.me.
8. The kind words of Shalini ji (who was always the first to comment on my blog), Rohinee ji (who mulled over the points during her bedtime), Meera ji (off late who is not commenting on my blogs at all 😉, not like that actually, she is a maa figure with unfathomable affection, looking forward to eating her hand made chhole Bhature and bundi ki laddu), Diya ji ( I am not able to find any words to describe her except for my pranam), Nalin (whom I have adopted as my younger brother), Yash (the dynamic mind full of ideas), Pankaj ji (I pray his speedy recovery from COVID including his mother, jai Bajrang Bali), my two lil sis Supriya and Ankita (these two fellows with their cute innocence have melted my heart), Akshay iyer ji (the family man with Sadhana) and each and every member of the os.me family.
9. Last but not the least, my Neutron experimentation lab, this piece of wireless keyboard with a 19 inch monitor and internet connectivity 😉.
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Jai Swamiji, Jai Shri Hari
The End.
Comments & Discussion
33 COMMENTS
Please login to read members' comments and participate in the discussion.