Worry is really not helpful in any situation. When we worry, we allow our fearful state of mind to take over our attention, our energy, our time, and lead us into further subjugation. Sometimes we become convinced that some amount of worry can be helpful in protecting us or inspiring us to act – but we need our actions to arise from intelligence and wisdom, not from worry. Worry is a state in which our hearts, minds, intelligence are covered. Actions that come from this state will only lead ultimately to increased suffering.
Most of us accept that worrying is a waste of time – that it adds nothing good to our lives and actually uses our valuable time and energy in ways that are mentally and physically detrimental to our health and happiness. Still it can be difficult to stop our minds from engaging in this unwanted behavior.
Although worrying is so prevalent that almost every one of us is unwillingly drawn into it from time to time – and many are frequently immersed in worry – it is essential to understand that it is not natural to us. Worry is not our natural state. Being controlled by our mind is not natural. So then why do we so easily find ourselves doing it and why is it so difficult to stop doing it?
If we understand the root cause of worry, we will have the answers we seek – including a solution that we can apply to free ourselves from worry.
Almost all of us, to one degree or another, are living under the misconception that we are the material mind and body that we are currently wearing – but this is not who we really are. The root cause of worry is mistaking ourselves for the mind and body.
According to the yoga scriptures and other bona fide scriptures of the world, we are not the material body or the mind – we are eternal spiritual beings temporarily wearing the material mind and body. The gross physical body can be compared to outer clothes and the mind or subtle energy body can be compared to under clothes. Just as we are not the clothes we are wearing, we are not the material bodies we are wearing either.
If we are convinced we are the mind and body, then we equate happiness and success with material gratification. We will think that by satisfying the demands of our mind and physical senses, we will be satisfying us. But in actuality, material gratification only brings temporary and superficial pleasure to the mind and senses. It does not actually touch us – the spiritual self wearing the clothes.
If we only engage in activities that serve our mind and body, we are spiritually starving ourselves. No matter how much, how pleasurable, or how often we feed our mind and body with material stimulation, we will remain empty and unfulfilled within the core of our hearts. Material experiences can partially cover the emptiness, agitation, and pain we feel deep within. They can temporarily distract us – but when our distraction ends, we again experience the discomfort of our lack of spiritual fulfillment. We can worry endlessly about how to find, capture, and hold on to the material objects, circumstances, and relationships that we think will bring us happiness and satisfaction, but nothing material can ever provide us with the perfect and permanent state of joyful and loving connection that we long for. All things material are impermanent by nature – our nature, however, is eternal.
Because we are spiritual beings, only that which is of our same nature can actually satisfy us. To be permanently and perfectly happy and fulfilled, we need to be linked up with our spiritual Source.
The method recommended by the yoga scriptures in this day and age for consciously connecting with our spiritual Source is mantra meditation. A true mantra is not something anyone makes up. It is the Absolute Truth in sound vibration. This spiritual sound vibration descends from the spiritual platform to the material world without losing any of its potency. In mantra meditation, a person hears and chants or sings this spiritual sound and thus puts themselves in the direct presence of the Supreme. This has a profound purifying effect on our consciousness.
Through mantra meditation, we are able to begin tasting a peace and joy that is transcendental to material circumstances. It fills the painful emptiness deep within us and quiets the agitation in the core of our hearts. When we meditate with a mantra that has real spiritual potency, it nourishes us on the most vital level – the spiritual level. The more that we sincerely, humbly, and regularly engage in this spiritually potent activity, the more we experience a growing fullness within, a growing joy and satisfaction. Naturally, the more we are satisfied through mantra meditation, the less we are dependent on material circumstances for relief or comfort. When the source of our greatest discomfort – spiritual starvation – is alleviated, the relatively small discomforts of the mind and body can be tolerated.
Mantra meditation not only nourishes us, but regular practice gradually purifies our consciousness – freeing our hearts, minds, and intelligence from misunderstandings and misgivings that cover us and keep us stuck in the material concept of life. Thus, we can progressively see things as they are, rather than from the smoggy perspective of ignorance and anxiety. If worried thoughts arise, we are able to dismiss them and use our increasingly purified intelligence to guide us in the best course of action.
The more fully we are established in our spiritual identity and the loving relationship with the Supreme that is inseparable from it, the less worrisome our material troubles are to us. In spiritual realization, we are offered what we long for in our heart of hearts – deep and abiding happiness, permanent and perfect shelter, comfort, and love. Thus, we no longer feel the need to worry over material circumstances, to anguish over the demands of our mind and senses. They are stripped of their power to send us into fits of worry and we are at peace on the solid ground of our true nature.
Freedom from worry is possible for anyone. We need only apply ourselves to the process of mantra meditation with humility and sincerity. The yoga scriptures are a matchless gift, a transcendental treasure, that contain timeless wisdom to assist us in finding our way out of the confusion and anxiety of our misguided identification with matter and into the natural peace and joy of our true spiritual nature.
For more information on specific types of yoga Mantra Meditation, simply click on the links below:
“Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.”
Corrie ten Boom
“Worry is like a rocking-chair. It gives you something to do but gets you nowhere.”
Wayne Bennett
“A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.”
John Lubbock
“That the birds of worry fly over your head, this you cannot change. But that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.”
Chinese Proverb
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
Corrie ten Boom