4 posts tagged with "pratyahara"

I am simplifying my schedule yet again. One of the issues I realized I had was that I keep jumping. Sastra to work to sastra to gym and I am not getting depth. I am continuously moving here and there. This prevents any sort of depth from being formed and is causing a bunch of issues.

This is actually doing the opposite of what I want which is stilling of the mind. I am continuously moving about never getting into the depth. Some issues I found:

My morning was all over the place as I was trying to do both Hanuman Chalisa recitation and cleaning and reading. I want to just focus on cleaning without additional distractions. Cleaning itself should be a long meditation if there is nothing to clean then reading would be a good use of time. So mornings will not be distracted there will be a singular task which is cleaning the home. This also includes spending time with Naga.

I meditate and read Bhagavad Gita but don’t get into depth and don’t have time to contemplate. It is continuously moving about. I study Yoga Sutras but then get hungry so also don’t have concentration. My morning work routine is half hearted and lazy. So having a solid block of time to study the sastras is good for studying and reflection. Also focusing this time completely on Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras and Hatha Yoga is likely a good way of getting into the depth of things. This period my goal is to solidify my practice with a focus on meditation. Of course I will have work calls and what not but my goal is to return to my study of the sastras. I will keep my focus on just the three texts. Gurus and what not will be studied during the Artha & Kama periods so I can also attain depth.

My work schedules will incorporate both Artha & Kama. So focusing on deep work and study focused on accomplishing the most important tasks first. This will allow me to spend time both in study and work. This means I can focus completely on improving my daily routine and finishing my tasks as fast as possible. I can also incorporate this on weekends for deep reading during this same period.

And my 4-8 is focused on Garden & Cooking. This time will be to garden and practice cooking. While it is time to spend with Naga as well but it is in relation to these two.

So the day is focused:

• Cleaning
• Mind & Body
• Artha & Kama
• Garden & Cooking
• Artha & Mind

I am in the process of deleting YouTube. Whenever I go on there I get captured by the algorithm and end up wasting hours and hours. It is getting worst and worst as there are a million things with very little value and the AI slop is making sifting through it all annoying.

This is not to say there are not valuable insights to be gleaned. I do value the asymmetrical views of Prof Jiang, Peter Zeihan, Glenn Diesen, and Firstpost and such but I feel like I can engage with them in an alternate manner. I believe the best way to make this happen is through a pull method where I get the content send to me to read when I get time.

Second, there is content that I watch over and over again that I can likely just download and have on my machine. Finally, I do not think I need to be on YouTubr for this. I can use alternative methods.

I am getting less and less value from it. I am getting pulled into junk content, I am watching feel good stuff with no real value, and in general what I watch makes me anxious and doesn’t help me feel good. In a lot of way it pushes my attention into the world as opposed to making me better.

I am going to move back to a News Reader to manage this data.

On Tuesday, I spent most of the day worried that it was the end of the world. That there will be a nuclear war because of Trump’s tweets in regards to Iran. This proved to be a waste of time as Trump chickened out and no destruction happened. However, I spent a whole day worried, figuring out what my last meal should be, etc. This was all basically fruitless endeavor.

What I realize is that we are ants. We need to work and continuing doing our work and try to make that work useful and better for the world. If in the process of doing our work we get crushed or killed it really isn’t up to us. We need to just be the best at what we do regardless of the situation and circumstances.

This seems to be the true meaning behind pratyahara. To move the senses away from the world and turn inward. The world will be the world, we cannot do anything about it. Our goal is to move inward and let the world be. It shouldn’t move us and who wins and who loses doesn’t matter. Our goal is to see the circumstances and move the world towards the path we think is ideal without having the world move us in the process.

We need to be stable and rooted in Isvara the pinnacle of stability and trust Him to do what needs to be done. Getting tied into the waves is not fruitful.

The news is devastating and we are all but about to face an economic collapse. It is not an if but when at this point. But getting tied to the news is depressing because it doesn’t allow you to function. I am addicted to how things will fall apart. While this is useful for preparing for the inevitable it is also useful to not pay attention to this and let Isvara do His job.

In that regard I am trying to limit the scope of when I am going to pay attention to the news as well as my scope of worldly topics. I am in a way addicted to the learning aspect and not enough of the action aspect. I like to read more and more, listen more and more, to get more and more knowledge about the worldly affairs, but all of this makes me more and more depressed because we can’t control it in anyway. We can control the little part of life that we have, but not the grand experiment.

This will require quite a few changes.

• Minimize News. I am going to limit my news period to the sakha time meaning I am only going to read and watch news for about an 2 hours during the day at most. This will happen in the evening time when I am already not doing a whole lot of work.
• Optimize for the Real. I am going to focus more on the sevaka side of things and focus on things that don’t change. The only thing real is that which doesn’t change. That which doesn’t change is Isvara. So meditation, gardening, and other activities that are not based on the world are good enough.
• Limit Argument. I am no longer going to argue with people about politics and the news. It just doesn’t provide any happiness, I am up in arms about things, and I am just unpleasant to talk to. It is better to build a better world, than to talk about the dying of the world. I will not discuss or get into it with people.

These three things are going to be what I am going to try to address.