There is intense external activity. We are being blinded by technology. I have always been a supported of technology to solve human problems and shorten wasteful time so that the race can focus on evolutionary development. However, the misuse of technology is equally high if not more. There is immense external noise taking because of high pressure, competitiveness, high speed of desired success, chasing money, short cuts to the end results so on and so forth. It is a fact that nature balances the polarised and so the equal and opposite reaction of all this has resulted in delusional minds, mental health issues, unregulated emotional diseases and other issues which don’t have medical treatment.
Yoga, psychology, spirituality, naturopathy and ayurveda look at an individual as a holistic being. All the aspects of a person including physical, emotional, mental and spiritual have to be developed equally and balanced. The exaggerated external influences over stimulate a few of these aspects thereby disturbing the natural equilibrium. That is precisely the reason behind mental and emotional diseases.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a motivational theory in psychology comprises of five levels of human needs. This model looks at complete physical, personal, social, intellectual qualities of an individual. According to Maslow, human motivation is based on people seeking fulfilment and change through personal growth. That is the reason why the top most motivation for any human being is self-actualisation. It refers to expressing one’s uniqueness by reaching full potential and peak experiences.
Psychology champions self-actualisation as a continuous process than reaching a state of perfection. The progressive unfoldment of one’s hidden personality is exactly what ancient scriptures, yoga, saints and spirituality have propounded through self-realisation.
Self-realisation is the perfect tool to de-automate the cluttered life. Self-actualisation is the individual motivation and self-realisation is the way and the how to get there. The ultimate aim of self-realisation is to be one with the divine in yourself and around you. It sounds tall, however the moment you begin with de-automating yourself from the outer world, going within and knowing yourself the process becomes seamless. Recognising the divinity within brings receptivity to know more about oneself. Finding meaning and purpose in each action will lead you to the path meant for you. Believing that all likes, dislikes, rights, wrongs, dos, don’ts, so on create hindrance to know oneself.
According to Self-Realisation by Paramhamsa Yogananda, understanding of oneself brings continuous and permanent happiness. It also liberates you from external pressures, meaningless social and cultural expectations, political and economic influences. This process starts with knowing your physical body, let’s say through nutrition, yoga or any other physical exercise regimen. Then it moves on to understanding your emotions such as what gives you joy or what are the fears, anger triggers, etc. Soon one moves on to monitoring the mental state by mapping the thoughts. This is a life-long process; however, one has to begin somewhere.
Living on the external stimulations and automated mode will never get you off the inertia. It’s a never-ending vicious cycle with the same results of high good and bad emotions, ill stricken body and mind. You know the pitfalls of unhealthy food, lack of exercise, sleeping late, too much technology, unmoderated TV time, social media distraction, its an endless list. You can justify it as compensation for hard work or that’s how it works or there is no other way out. The only way to step out of this self-depreciating loop is to understand self and strengthen your will power.