• In :
• May 2020 LP

Sanitising the thoughts
Living through a pandemic is difficult and stressful. Most of us are quarantined, managing our activities from home, staying out of the virus’s way, and keeping our health safe. It isn’t just our physical health that needs to be looked after but also our mental health. Our mind feeds on thoughts and guides our actions throughout the day. With limited exposure to the outside world, one tends to be consumed by the worrisome news filtering into their life through various channels, plunging them into a world of uncertainty and restlessness. It is easy for one to fall prey to anxiety and despair during this time. 

The WHO has released guidelines for people to maintain a healthy mental and psychological condition:

• Follow a healthy diet: Since our immune system is our best defence against the virus, it is imperative that all of us follow a healthy diet plan including all the micro- and macronutrients.

• Maintain a sense of routine: Follow the familiar routines or create new ones. Exercise daily as it has a direct impact on your mental well-being, and indulge in fun and creative things apart from working and watching TV. 

• Limit your news intake: A near-constant stream of news reports about an outbreak can cause anyone to feel anxious or distressed. It is important to seek information and updates at specific times from health professionals, but one should avoid following or spreading unverified updates. Read about the positive news—feed your mind good thoughts.

• Be kind to yourself and others: Don’t judge yourself if you feel unsettled, lonely, or frustrated.Add micro-lifts in your routine to do something that generates a sense of achievement. 

• Move away from your screens: Whether you are working or enjoying a game or a movie, don’t spend long hours sitting in front of screens and using your smartphone devices. The blue light from them can disrupt your sleep and overall well-being.

• Stay connected: Be in touch with your friends and family. Seek and extend help. We are all in this together.

• Explore the present moment: Notice your breathing as well as your surroundings. Look around and notice what you see, hear, touch, and smell. Right now. Be grateful for all that you have right now.

Dadi Janki leaves for her heavenly abode
“When there is a change in you, others are inspired to bring a change in themselves,” said Dadi Janki, who herself changed thousands of lives through her enigmatic presence and wise words at the Brahma Kumari centre. Sadly, the magnificent soul left for her heavenly abode on March 27, 2020 at 2 a.m. in Mount Abu, India. She was 104 years old. 

One was enamoured by her powerful and authoritative voice which diligently rang out with three ‘Om Shantis.’ Dadi was a tireless server who guided people from all walks of life to realise the ‘soul’ purpose of human existence and work together towards a collective consciousness and world transformation. She dedicated her whole life to serving humanity as a companion of God. 

Born on 1 January 1916, in the northern Indian province of Sindh, now in Pakistan, Dadi Janki was spiritually inclined since her childhood. She used to listen to Ramcharitmanas recited by her father and uncle and learnt about Sukhmani Sahib from one of her neighbours. When she was a teenager, she got to know about Brahma Baba who was the founder of Brahma Kumaris. Dadi was motivated to go on the path of spirituality, but her family resisted her decision. Later, she took a bold decision of leaving her marriage and joining the Brahma Kumaris to serve society. After Dada Lekhraj’s (fondly remembered as Brahma Baba) and Brahma Kumari Mateshwari’s (Dadi Janki’s spiritual mentor) death, the huge responsibility of running the organisation and continuing its legacy fell upon Dadi’s shoulders, along with other elderly Brahma Kumaris. She became the chief administrator and spiritual head of the organisation in 2007.

According to people who knew her closely, Dadi was like an electrician who knew how to connect the wires to the right place to let the current flow. When Dadi was with someone, she made them feel special and nobody else mattered in that moment. She always asked her followers to consider three questions; “Who am I?”, “Who do I belong to?”, and “What is the task of this time?” 

She spread the philosophy of the Brahma Kumaris known on a global scale by taking its spiritual services to the West. Somewhere around 1974, she inaugurated the first overseas Brahma Kumari centre in London. Today, the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual Organisation has more than 8,500 established centres in over 130 countries, and the credit largely goes to Rajyogini Dadi Janki. She can also be attributed for being a key figure in establishing the Brahma Kumaris as the world’s largest women-run spiritual organisation. In 1978, scientists at the Medical and Science Research Institute at the University of Texas, USA, declared her as the ‘most stable mind in the world’ based on the brain wave pattern she projected. She was also appointed as the brand ambassador of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.’

Mind Mastery Breakthrough
Our life is our own manifestation: the achievements, the problems, the good and the bad days have all been attracted to us by our thoughts and beliefs. The affirmations that we crowd our mind with, unknowingly, on a daily basis, bring us the desired or undesired things in life. Career, money, relationships—all the roadblocks that we encounter in these aspects and others have their roots in the subconscious mind. 

Nitin Mohan Lal, an author, NLP coach, motivational speaker, and reiki grandmaster, says, “Consciously, we are all aware of the things we need to do to maintain a healthy body, to improve our social and professional life, but we still don’t follow through these things. The reason lies in the fact that the knowledge of our conscious hasn’t been absorbed by our subconscious.” Speaking to the participants in his workshop, Mind Mastery Breakthrough, he compared the human body to an organisation where the conscious and the subconscious mind act as two departments of the same company. He says, “It is of utmost importance that the two departments communicate smoothly for the growth and betterment of the organisation. But most of the time, our conscious and subconscious are in conflict, leading to a confusion in the signals and vibrations that we send out to the Universe.” 

We experience our lives through our audio, visual, olfactory, and kinaesthetic powers. Owing to our past experiences, we distort events in our minds, thereby creating a new event different from the first one. It is in the second event where our pains, fears, phobias, beliefs, and memories come into play. Nitin says, “We fluctuate from positive and negative states all through our lives through the series of events that occur in our lives. And these fluctuations are caused by our thoughts and perceptions. Recognising the unhappy state and knowing how to transition from there to the happy state is the key.” 

According to Nitin, our diseases are a reaction to these states our mind fluctuates between. Science researchers say that an average person releases the same amount of adrenaline when faced with a lion as one would on receiving a Facebook notification. So, when our blood pressure fluctuates, there is nothing wrong with our body; it is a mere reaction to a situation that has triggered us in some way. Therefore, it is not the disease that needs to be treated but the thought, the thing that is being triggered so that there is nothing left to trigger.

Everything indeed originates in our minds. So let’s guard our thoughts.