KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

BALANCING HEAD AND HEART

The heart takes pride in the old. It runs towards the old, the ancient, while the mind on the other hand is attracted towards the new. For example our mind gets attracted towards the latest clothes, latest scientific discoveries etc. This is why science also runs towards making new discoveries and inventions. So our mind, our intellect always gets charmed by what is new. But it is not so with the heart. When we love someone, we don’t say we’ve loved them for two days or two weeks, we feel as if we have loved them for ages, even lifetimes! This is the quality of the heart, to long for that which is old and familiar. Our life is a combination of the ancient and the modern. We must take them together.

When you are in delusion, or when the heart and head are in conflict, then all kinds of quarrels are over old things. All our craving and aversions pertain to things and events from the past. One says things like – ‘When I attended your marriage 20 years ago, you didn’t wish me properly. You didn’t give me enough sweets and gifts. You did not treat me well. Your mother and father did this and that’. People keep nurturing that bitterness in their minds, even after 20 years. So people get entangled into all this because of Aviveka (lack of Viveka or right discrimination). So you should become aware of all this using your Viveka. Let go of the past. Why? When your mind or intellect keeps chewing and hankering about the past, it gets stuck in negativity and begins to rot. And when the heart runs towards (the attraction) of the new it becomes unstable. So keeping everything in its right place is Viveka. One needs both intellect and emotions to function well. Both intellect and feelings are important in a person’s life. Do business with the intellect and live life with feeling (heart). If you use your head at home and heart in the business then both will be in trouble.

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