Discipline

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�

I play the guitar to meditate

The vijῆāna bhairava tantra talks of this. Consider sutra or kārikā 73 and 41 that relates to music. See this post if there is interest:

http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/sho...5&postcount=10

praṇām

[Eastern Mind]

lol this would be true if it weren't for the fact in kentucky...the meat is not alone!

Everything on the plate is smothered in the gravy of the animal.

Chicken pot pie meal 1 (plate of chicken in clear gravy and vegetables covered in biscuit crust.)
Roastbeef and gravy on top of buttered toast was meal 2
chicken fried steak in sawmill gravy meal 3
Cheeseburger and steak fries meal 4 (the fries undoubtably fried in the same place as the burgers)

on and on....

even the green beans here are filled with ham pieces or bacon.

Vannakkam: I think Canada is more open and catering to vegetarians. Not sure why. But ask about the bacon bits. Cheaper ones are the fake ones. The more we ask, the more things change. I'm in Winnipeg at my daughter's house and we just ordered gluten free pizza. So there is flexibility hera nad there. You just haver to know where to look.

Aum Namasivaya

[Arjuni]

Namast�,

Not to derail the conversation completely, but EM: gluten-free pizza?? Who in Winnipeg offers this? There are days when my apartment mailbox seems to exist solely to collect coupons and flyers from pizza joints, yet I certainly did not get the memo about gluten-free choices.

NayaSurya, your post made me laugh, because you've described old-school Louisiana "vegetables" as well. Nowadays, it's less meat and more cream and cheese; we sometimes joke that the way to make anything "Cajun" is to cover it in pepper and then burn it, and to create "Creole" food, just smother it in cheese, cream, and butter.

Back to the actual point of this post, which is discipline, hence that I'm not currently eating any of these luscious foods I describe.

Indraneela
===
Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.

[Mana]

Namast� yajvan

Ahhh, pertaining to music my interest waver only for vibrato, such an incredible knowledge of scripture; Thank you.

praNAma

mana

[arjunah]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

I am very happy you posted this. I'd like to see the responses from the HDF community.
I see discipline as self-control, as yama. More can be said later on this matter as others post their ideas.

Yet one way of building this discipline ( that I have found) is asking yourself a simple question: Look at your behaviors, look at your goals. Does your behavior (actions) match your goals ? What a simple ~test~ of alignment! It is by aligning ones behaviors to one's goals that offers self-control; your intent ( not your whims) is the driver.
One is not thrown off track by distractions. It is the distractions , and the chasing thereof, that keeps one undisciplined. Discipline ( to me) does not mean being rigid; it is all about remaining one-pointed.

praṇām

Pranam

to use the old adage, practice make perfect, seemingly difficult task can only be achieved through total dedication.

Arjun having heard the Lord describe the practice of yoga, describes it as difficult as catching the wind.

Arjuna said: O Krishna, You have said that yoga of meditation is characterized by the equanimity (of mind), but, due to restlessness of mind I do not perceive the steady state of mind. (6.33)

Because the mind, indeed, is very unsteady, turbulent, powerful, and obstinate, O Krishna. I think restraining the mind is as difficult as restraining the wind. (6.34)

The Supreme Lord said: Undoubtedly, O Arjuna, the mind is restless and difficult to restrain, but it is subdued by Abhyaasa (or constant vigorous spiritual practice with perseverance), and Vairaagya (or detachment), O Arjuna. (6.35)

One whose mind is not subdued yoga is difficult.But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by right means is assured of success.That is my opinion (6.36)

Jai Shree Krishna

I consider myself a weak minded person. Ever since birth I have been a quitter. I have never put my whole soul into any sort of work and always take the easy way out.

I will say to myself, 'tomorrow I will be different', but tomorrow comes and I do not change.

How else can I garner self discipline? Any more advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[devotee]

Namaste Arjunah,

I consider myself a weak minded person. Ever since birth I have been a quitter. I have never put my whole soul into any sort of work and always take the easy way out.

I will say to myself, 'tomorrow I will be different', but tomorrow comes and I do not change.

How else can I garner self discipline? Any more advice would be much appreciated.

1. You must stop believing that you are a weak-minded person. You become what you think of yourself. Please remember the "you" within yourself is nothing but bundle of thoughts. So, thoughts must not be taken lightly. Your thoughts decide your successes and also failures to a great extent.

The essence of you is omnipotent ... layers of thoughts have made you a person with limited capability. It is your thoughts which is the primary cause of your present body-mind entity. Every thread of thought is important. How to stop the cycles of negative thinking ? There is no easy way. You have to keep reminding yourself what you essentially are & that no limitations can ever bind you. In spite of that such thoughts would spontaneously arise in your mind ... because the mind has deep impressions created over many lives (may be) which keep generating such thoughts. If such thoughts arise in your mind ... be a witness to such thoughts. They are arising within the body-mind entity but not in the untainted omnipotent Self that you are. Don't take the ownership of these thoughts. Thoughts which are disowned by you cannot do any harm to you.

2. Assess your present situation. Don't make a promise to yourself which is difficult to fulfill. Start with simple promises/vows towards disciplining yourself.
Once the promise is made it must be fulfilled. It is better not to make a promise than make one and not respect that. Remember, not respecting your own decisions weakens your spiritual strength. It is better to allow some deviations in exceptional circumstances to take care of difficult situation when you can't adhere to the discipline. That way you will have some freedom to take liberty in certain situations. It is ok, if you are 90 % of the time successful in keeping your daily routine etc.

3. Notwithstanding to whatever I said above, all types of addictions must be left once for all if one wants to get rid of that addiction. No allowance of breaking rules should be permitted when it come to dropping an addiction. The only way to leave an addiction is "PratyAhAr" meaning you should not even entertain the thoughts of objects to which you are addicted and you want to get rid of.

4. Every success increases your self-esteem ... & every failure undermines your self-esteem. So, make sure to be successful.

5. If for any reason you fail in a certain situation ... don't make an issue out of it & keep cursing yourself. The damage is already done. Forgive yourself after some reasonable punishment and do an analysis why you failed and what measures should be taken not to repeat the failures. Remember your successes and tell yourself that You Are Going To Succeed ... such stray failures can't deter you.

Follow the above guidelines ... there is nothing which can stop you from succeeding. Good Luck !

OM

[Mana]

Namaste arjunah

You have some very wise words there, from devotee.
If I might add a few thoughts to the wisdom of this thread.

Could it be that you are strong hearted, and that your heart is overriding your mind, pulling you into another direction? It is your ego which leaves you thinking and feeling that you are week minded, because it is losing its grasp on you; this is good, at least can be a good time for renouncing the things in life which are causing us pain.

The underlying vibration which drives these thoughts is in your heart, it is that; it is OM, which you must learn to hear and nurture. Your actions will seem so much better directed once you understand from where these thoughts are coming.

Quitter, who taught you that word arjunah?

Thank you for bringing my attention to this thread, I have some reading to do, which I had forgotten about. There, that is Karma in action already.

I am an emotional learner, only able to work towards goals when my emotions allow for it, often fairly disorganised. Yoga is a way to take the reigns and yoke theses beasts, which are our emotional senses and our ego and guide them to our future, allowing you to devote your time to better practise, and dare I say it; a better future.


praNAma

mana

[Eastern Mind]

I consider myself a weak minded person. Ever since birth I have been a quitter. I have never put my whole soul into any sort of work and always take the easy way out.

I will say to myself, 'tomorrow I will be different', but tomorrow comes and I do not change.

How else can I garner self discipline? Any more advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Vannakkam Arjunah: You are most likely not as weak minded as you might think. Sometimes a strong willed person perceives themselves as weak, and a weak-minded person perceives themselves as strong. The mirror isn't necessarily the best judge. So the whole issue of looking at oneself is complicated.

Once upon a time, I had the privilege of coaching a pretty decent high jumper. He would repeat the same story day after day. We'd go out, and slowly the bar would go up. Eventually he'd miss, and the anger at himself would begin. With each miss, it would get worse. I used to say, "Mike, do you think you can jump over the moon?"

In contrast to a younger child, Mike was mad. The younger child was so very happy that he got over the bar at all, at any level. Now, the main point here is that :No matter what level you are at, you can view it as a success or a failure.

So it is with self-discipline. Look at the things you CAN do, not the things you CAN"T do. But this has to be realistic. There is this false positivity run rampant in psychological circles and positive thinking con men these days. Statements like, "You can be anything you want to be as long as you try hard." This is a blatantly false statement. No smart person should ever buy into things like that. It's not true.

I recall my superiour, a superintendent of schools, coming in to a staff meeting one day, and staring a few teachers down with the statement, "Their (referring to the students) best HAD BETTER be good enough for you."

Devotee has given you excellent advice. Mine would be to look at yourself, and what you've accomplished so far. You're on this forum asking questions, aren't you? That in itself is a great accomplishment.

The other factor is the idea that we see the temporal as permanent. Some days we are in 'loser' mode, and other days we are in 'winner' mode. Awareness moves hither-thither. Perhaps you're just on one of those 'lower' days.

Best wishes.

Aum Namasivaya

[Jainarayan]

I think the biggest disciplinary struggle I have is fulfilling what Sri Krishna says in B.G. 12.13-15 (the bolded passages):

"One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me�such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me."

"He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anyone, who is equipoised in happiness and distress, fear and anxiety, is very dear to Me."

Without sounding arrogant, I envy no one. Occasionally I find myself judging others and thinking I am better, however. The biggest problem is disciplining myself to remain equipoised in happiness and distress, fear and anxiety. As I have general anxiety disorder (clinically diagnosed), I find myself finding it very hard to remain calm and balanced in a distressing or fear-inducing situation.

That's when I especially need to focus on Krishna's help, love and grace. I suppose we all have our disciplinary failings.

[Jainarayan]

Namaste to all.

I consider myself a weak minded person. Ever since birth I have been a quitter. I have never put my whole soul into any sort of work and always take the easy way out.

I will say to myself, 'tomorrow I will be different', but tomorrow comes and I do not change.

Rather than thinking you are weak-minded, perhaps it is a matter of simply seeking your own level, as water does.

I tormented myself for the longest time (aw, I still do) over reaching too high because "I had to" and not being able to reach it.

Case in point: guitar playing. When I started learning to play I wanted to learn all there is to learn. Steve Vai, Slash, Jimi Hendrix... all "shredders". Hey, I gotta learn that because everyone does, but I didn't want to. Conflict! Something's wrong with me.

I wanted to play just about every song I've ever liked, from The Beatles to Warren Zevon. But some songs were just not doable. Conflict!

Ohmigosh, I'm stupid, I'm lazy, I don't want to learn pentatonic scales but I have to because everyone does! Conflict!

It took me a long time to realize I'm a "lazy" guitar player; not a bad one (hearing me play would make that last statement a bold-faced lie ), just lazy and proud of it. Why lazy? Lazy relative to other players, but I play what I want to play. I'm just a cowboy-chords rhythm player, and that's what's most fun to me. Conflict resolved. Call me Water because I found my own level. Yet relative to other players, I'm a kick-butt player, and because I taught myself chords and keys theory.

OK, I could have probably said all that by saying "if you think you're weak-minded, are you comparing yourself to some standard or someone, something else? Don't do that!". But we know I couldn't be that concise.

Namaste Arjunah,

1. You must stop believing that you are a weak-minded person. You become what you think of yourself. ...

4. Every success increases your self-esteem ... & every failure undermines your self-esteem. So, make sure to be successful.

5. If for any reason you fail in a certain situation ... don't make an issue out of it & keep cursing yourself.

It takes a long time to let this sink into our heads. The mind is like its own tape recorder. It records and keeps whatever you tell it.