By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar┃Posted: November 15, 2018

Being calm and peaceful when everything’s calm, everything’s peaceful, has no meaning. Being peaceful when everything’s peaceful is dull and boring. It’s too easy. You should create some harmless trouble and have some fun. You should create some innocent mischief.

A bottle of water has value in the desert.

When everything’s absolutely fine and peaceful and quiet, being peaceful has no meaning, but when everything’s falling apart, then being quiet and peaceful has value.

A bottle of water has more worth in a desert than when you’re surrounded by water. When you’re sitting by a spring, then a bottle of water is of no value to you. One handful from the spring is good enough to quench your thirst.

When there’s chaos, there’s confusion; when there are problems all around you, then calmness is needed the most. Wisdom is most valuable then.

When life’s a challenge, all the skills within you are needed.

When people blame you, when they don’t understand you, that’s when you need the inner strength to smile. When things don’t go the way you want them to, that’s when you need the endurance, strength and courage to remain unperturbed.

What brings that courage in you is exactly what Krishna said: equanimity is the test of your yoga.

There is an incident involving Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi’s life companion, Kasturba Gandhi, was on her deathbed. Doctors had given up hope. They said, “Just a few hours or minutes – that’s it, for her to live.”

At that time, Mahatma Gandhi came out of his house and told Sudhakar Chaturvedi, “Read that verse from Bhaghavad Gita for me.”

After he recited it, Gandhi said, “Today’s your Bapu’s test. Today’s my examination. I’ll know whether I’ll be able to handle the loss of Kasturba.”

As he was saying this, tears rolled down his eyes. “Whether I’m equanimous or not, today is the testing day.” Yoga brings that balance, so that any event doesn’t shatter you.

Your equanimity puts your yoga to the test.

Just observe how your mind goes: it flares up, for nothing! It creates a mess all around. One moment it’s high, another moment it’s down.

Bipolar is an extreme condition, but those who aren’t doing yoga, they’re all, in some manner, in a mild or strong bipolar state. Yoga’s the answer for these psychological troubles, as long has they haven’t become pathological and dangerous in the extreme.

“Equanimity is the test of your yoga.” Yoga is the equanimity that wells up in you. It comes up in you and helps to stabilize your consciousness.

The above excerpts come from Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s commentary on the text of the Bhagavad Gita, a classic spiritual scripture.