According to an anecdote from the life of Lord Krishna, one day, when he was a toddler, Yashodha maa caught him eating mud. She got upset, and opened his mouth to clean it, but was shocked to see the entire Universe there instead.
This anecdote, written by Masters of lore was a way to tell us that our entire Universe is within each one of us individually. So, extrapolating this knowledge, what is within is what we ‘see’ on the outside. Therefore, our external is a reflection of our insides.
We also know that we are masters of our own existence, and with the knowledge that what is within is what we project externally, we come to a realization that if we change what is within, our external will change accordingly.
The question now is how do we change that which is within to change that which is outside? To do this, most important are: our thoughts and to help our thoughts, our company.
Starting off with constantly being aware of what we are thinking and doing (remember – every thought is also an action) we start creating neurons in our brain to reflexively think thoughts the result of which will bring us happiness by way of the Law of Karma. The easiest way is do, like Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. This way we only think those thoughts which we would like others to think of us.
All this requires constant vigilance of our thought processes, and requires practice. Initially, it may appear daunting, but over time it becomes second nature, as with repeated practice, our primitive brain – the part of us which controls our fight and flight mechanism gradually gets trained.
Soon, situations which bring us angst and pain reduce in quantity, while those that bring us genuine happiness increase. So, by constantly watching our ‘inside’, we change our ‘outside’.
Photo Courtesy : http://th02.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/012/3/3/calm_before_by_qaysa-d5raz8o.jpg
