How much does the external world disturb you

[IcyCosmic]

Namaste glorious HDF members!

Just a general question, yet again.
How much does the external world effect your mind state?
I've been improving drastically in understanding that my happiness is reliant on I, and not the external as a collective, and I've been through some ups and downs and felt certain light through gods mercy and also some very enlightened beings who have helped me move forward.

However when I see certain things in the world I can't help but feel anxious, restless, disturbed, even angry. For example, I find it sad how certain and almost everyones lives these days operates on lust, and only lust. Animalistic lust. When I see things revolving around that a feeling of sadness engulfs my body. Obviously this should not be an issue.

So how perturbed can the external world make you? Tell me your feelings and opinions, I look forward to reading them.
Take care everybody.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�

To know the world you forget the SELF, to know the SELF you forget the world - śrī nisargadatta maharāj

praṇām

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Icy: This is a long complicated topic. For some people who are greatly affected, they need to do things like avoid TV, reading of newspapers, going to certain place. The external affects them is such a nasty way that they are practically unable to function, go outside, and live in a constant state of fear.

For me personally, it doesn't have that much effect. If I do react to something, it usually passes within hours, because eventually I'll come around to viewing it on a much deeper level, from the observer's perspective.

There are many ways I do this .. seeing it as all temporal, seeing it as karma, recognising that some jivas aren't yet mature enough to live according to dharma, remembering that I was once there. All these philosophical things really help.

I have a story about the temporal one. I was a counsellor for awhile at a school. Before school started, a group of kids stopped by my office, and told me about how there was going to be a big fight at recess, how everything was all messed up, blah blah blah, adrenaline in the air. So I go ahead and plan how to calm the situation, talk briefly with the principal, and spend half an hour or so preparing for the worst. Then recess comes, and the same group comes by, and says, "It's okay, Mr. M., we all made up."

I know this is just one small story, but in essence, from stuff like that, I try to remind myself just to 'be the watcher'. One of my Guru's quotes was ... 'The universe is in a perfect state .... of evolution." And as Yajvan alluded to, there is only one permanent thing.

Aum Namasivaya

[AmIHindu]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�

...to know the SELF you forget the world - śrī nisargadatta maharāj

praṇām

Namaste,

So it is not possible for people who live married life - worldly life to get Self Realization ? or people who live worldly life are much more involved in family matters than required ?

[JaiMaaDurga]

Namaste Icy,

Perhaps considering this perspective may prove fruitful:

One may look at the general state of modern human society, and choose to
reinforce one's awareness of the asuric tendencies driving much of human
behavior by the unconscious method of emotional association- in your
particular case, a great feeling of sadness. Yet, once the description of an
aspect of your external environment has been absorbed, processed, the
question becomes: What is to be done? Your mind, your heart, your body,
is the only mind, heart, and body able to be directly shaped by your
choices.

What you think, how you react, what actions you take, will be what effects
those around you. This responsibility can be perceived as both a relief, and
a heavier-than-expected burden, to those who are just beginning to accept it.

Your post itself is, in a sense, a good example of taking this responsibility-
instead of merely burying or dismissing this issue you find yourself struggling
with, you have said "I am experiencing this. What might be done?" in a
place where beneficial concepts are likely to offered for your consideration.

JAI MATA DI

[Leena]

Namaste Icy,

I feel very similarly as you about people acting upon their lust and other negative behaviour. Then there is corruption that is everywhere in the world, as well as violence. It's enough to bring anyone who has a conscious down, but it should also be the motive to living your life in the best way you can because you see what it does to these people, and you can see what you would become if you let yourself fall into their despair. It's a balancing act in a way, I suppose, of seeing the negative but remaining as positive as you can so as to not only see the bad things in life. The most troubling thing about how bad the world is today is how bad it's going to be in the next birth. How far into hell will the world be the next we're here? That's the biggest worry for me. Hopefully things will turn around, but it seems unlikely.
All the best.
Leena