By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Is your heart telling one thing and your mind another? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shares wisdom for overcoming the battle of heart vs. mind.
There are two things that we need in life: one is sensitivity, and the other is sensibility. People who are very emotional, who are very sensitive, may not make sense. And those who are very sensible don’t always care about sensitivity. The best combination is being sensible and sensitive at the same time. Having both a sharp intellect and a soft heart. People who are good-hearted often cannot think straight. They can’t think practically. They just get carried away emotionally. And those who are sharp in their intellect, who are very sensible, often aren’t sensitive to others’ needs, feelings, and emotions.
Both are incomplete, aren’t they? The intelligence which is crooked has very little value, and the innocence that has no intelligence also has no value. Often we find intelligent people aren’t so innocent and innocent people aren’t so intelligent. What’s needed is innocence combined with a sharp intellect.
Heart vs. Mind
Do business with your head, not your heart. Those who do business with their heart incur a loss.
Often people do the opposite. They do their business with their heart, and when it comes to business they become so emotionally entangled. They make commitments but they’re unable to keep them. They get into a mess.
When it comes to doing charity or living life, spending time with your family and friends, if you’re calculating and doing it all with your head, you’re going to spoil the whole thing. So your service activity and charity should all be done with your heart. Your dealings with your friends and family should be with your heart and business with your head.
A perfect balance between these two is the best way to be in the world. With an imbalance in this, you’ll cause problems to others and yourself.
When emotion has a negative impact
What’s the use of having an intellect which is cunning and crooked? What’s the use of having emotions which are very unstable—when at the drop of a hat, you lose your temper, become sad, or emotionally upset? Do you see this happening in people around you? Some people are so sensitive that they can’t even take a simple criticism. They get hurt again and again. If you’re hurt, you are responsible for it. You may point the finger towards others, but somewhere you must take responsibility.
You’re not seeing the world as it is when you get ultra-sensitive and feel hurt. There are thorns in the world. If you go and put your foot on the thorn and then cry out, “Oh, someone has hurt me,” it’s your lack of sensibility. We need to be strong in our emotions. Strong in our emotions means that your positive emotions must be so strong so that nobody can shake them. Then they don’t turn into negative emotions.
Negativity, sadness, and depression are all signs of weak emotions. You’re unable to sustain your compassion, your joy,and your love. The same love turns into hatred. The same love turns into worry. The same love, distorted, becomes anger, jealousy, greed, and all of those negative emotions.
Practice meditation to make peace with the heart and mind
What is the way? The way is through spiritual practices, through meditation, where your emotions become strong and remain positive. When you get hurt a couple of times through your interaction with people, what do you tend to do? You tend to shut off. You tend to close down. Then you become like a stone, with no emotions at all. You see some people walking around who are very sharp in their intellect, very cunning, but their emotions are dead. If you look into their eyes it looks like there’s nobody inside. They’re like a dead person. Nobody likes their company.
At the same time, you can’t tolerate someone who is just up and down all the time. At the drop of a hat they keep losing their temper and they start throwing tantrums, all to get attention. This is a sign of weakness.
But there’s a spiritual knowledge that brings stability to your emotions, makes your emotions blossom in a positive way, and at the same time maintains the sharpness of intellect.
We’ve forgotten to educate humankind in these two important aspects of our lives. One is an intellect that is sharp and not cunning, and the other is a heart that is strong and not weak, which is friendly and which feels comfortable with everyone. We need to develop such a heart, and spirituality does that for you through the practices of meditation.
Meditation keeps your sensitivity very much alive. At the same time, it keeps you very sensible. Your intellect becomes sharp. So, intelligence coupled with innocence is the path of spirituality. This is a gift to humanity. Meditate to sharpen your intellect with stronger and stabler emotions.
With the integration of meditation into one’s daily life, the fifth state of consciousness, called cosmic consciousness, dawns. Cosmic consciousness means perceiving the whole cosmos as part of oneself. When we perceive the world as a part of us, love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to bear the opposing forces and the disturbances in our lives. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish.
Meditation can bring about a balance between the different states of the mind. You can learn to switch from the tough aspect to the delicate aspect within you. You can stand up when needed and let go when needed. This ability is present within everyone, and meditation enables you to switch between these states effortlessly. The whole exercise is to develop an ability to switch back and forth between the tough and delicate aspects of the mind.
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Editor’s note
Balancing emotions and intellect through meditation
Millions around the world have benefitted from SKY Breath Meditation, a program created by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, which improves physical and mental health. SKY practitioners have reported more mental clarity, optimism, joy, life satisfaction, and better decision making while experiencing less stress, better sleep, healthier blood pressure, and improved immunity.
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Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, Art of Living, is a world-renowned spiritual leader, peacemaker, and master of meditation. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
