Depression. It’s a very common subject. We hear that very often in the modern days. That has a lot to do with the way we live and the way we think, the way we interact with the world outside. And grossly speaking – expectations. Expectations are the root cause of most of the sorrows. The more expectations we have, we are prone to more disappointments.
So, how is depression happening? It’s to do with our interaction with the world outside, during the waking state. We have a gross body, and we have a subtle body and we have a causal body. We have the gross body, which is the tangible, physical body, which is prone to various wears and tears and various situations. And we identify ourselves with this gross body; people identify us with this gross body. But we have a subtle body, which is basically the body that experiences, using the gross body and the senses, which consists of the mind, intellect, ego, most of the koshas, the sheets, etc. So, that’s the subtle body. And then we have a causal body, which is not even experiencing anything; but it helps the subtle body and the gross body to experience. But it is not connected to any of these, so it’s not affected. The causal body is not affected, ever.
When we interact with the world outside, we usually interact with a lot of expectations; our positioning, our likes and dislikes, which are controlled by the patterns, our disposition, our behavioural patterns, our character, our constitution. All these are kind of orchestrated by our inclinations and desires. So, when we move in the world outside, we move with a lot of baggage such as social positioning, education, and various aspects that determines or decides our position in the world; we carry this burden.
When disappointments happen many times, we call that a failure. We call ourselves a failure. Sometimes, society calls people losers, brands them. And many people cannot handle it. They can’t handle failures; they can’t handle expectations. When that happens, they have great disappointments. Big anxiety happens in life. We can see in children, the examination time anxieties. Which questions will come? What will I answer? Will I be able to perform? All these kinds of things. And this is more or less everyday feelings, all these are everyday feelings, you don’t have an escape.
So, what is the root cause of depression? Unfulfilled expectations caused by patterns. And it gets repeated, it keeps repeating. And our dependency on people, places, gadgets, all these keeps us bound to the world outside. We have a great world inside which is free – an unbound world; the causal world. And this world is your refuge, that’s a good place to settle down. So that helps us to stay away from depression. The world that is stable, constant, unaffected from anything outside, even inside, that’s the right world to settle down.
So, how do we come out of depression? Start walking inside. Start connecting more and more to the inner world. First, as I said, the gross external world, which we are dependent on during waking hours which consists of materials, people, objects, visible world, a world of vision, a world of sounds; this is one aspect. Second is the inner world, which is the world which processes all these experiences, which is also a seat of memories, impressions, and it provokes or it displays the character, constitution and all those things; that is the subtle world, the inner world. And then we have the causal world which is activating all the other worlds. So, if we have that clarity, we understand that the people, the places, the time, the materials outside are applicable or enjoyable only when we are awake, and that’s not permanent. They all come, they go. We can watch them, we can witness them as they are, just like a feature film. We are watching it, we are experiencing it, but we are not participating in it. We can do that. We are fully involved in it but without expectations. If you involve with anything without expectations, immediately you will feel a great difference.
Life brings us to situations. Destiny brings us to situations. And that’s more or less inevitable, you don’t have control. Each time, each situation, each interaction, each experience; we don’t have really much control. Let it be. No problem. And inner world brings forth many, many experiences such as dreams, desires, thoughts; so many things. Let it be, let it be, no problem. So where is the problem? When we have ownership on it. When we say, ‘I do it. I am responsible. I own’. That’s where the whole burden comes. If you think or if you understand you have no control on situations, and it’s happening in front of you, inside you, and you are just an actor, you’re playing the role, and you’re having the corresponding experiences, and you enjoy it, whether it is good or bad, doesn’t matter, enjoy it; then each experience, they will come and go, time takes them away. Time brings the picture, scene, scenario, and time takes it away, whatever time brings, time removes.
So, you’re actually witnessing and watching the show, without any baggage from the past, you’re not carrying any remnants, even memories, which are not so essential, you can remember sometimes but not with attachment. Keep moving. Let it move. That way, you can stay away from states of depression. If expectations are reduced through awareness, (major awareness is everything moves on, everything passes), if we handle life with that understanding, with that awareness, with that attitude, we will not have too much of depression.
Another thing I have experienced myself is the judgment of people. People judge you whether you like it or not, they have opinions about you. And sometimes they go to the extreme, such as character assassination big-time, scandalizing, character assassination, gossiping. And that if you believe, or if you endorse, you’ll suffer. That’s the only time you’ll suffer. Understand that people are people, they may have full view, partial view, no view; they may have their own opinions as per their character, as per their constitution. And actually speaking, we have nothing to do with it.
But this awareness should be constant. While we are experiencing the blows from society, we may not remember all this, we will feel miserable because that’s exactly what they want us to feel. They want to destroy us. Due to whatever reason, it could be jealousy, it could be anger, it could be hatred, it could be revenge, whatever, it doesn’t matter. But they have decided to put us down or pull us down. What do we do? Again witness. What time brings, time takes away. The cruelty that the society inflicts on us, we got to really watch and let go. This is because if you interact, it aggravates more inside you than outside. When you take it in, it makes you suffer more than what’s happening in the outside world. The effect is terrible. So, you should let it go, let it happen, let it finish.
There must be a cause behind all this, as I said earlier, it could be jealousy, anger, hatred, revenge, anything; let anything be the cause, we are not involved. It’s not something which we created. So, something which we have not created, we are not responsible for. If the society decides to harm you in this way, I’m not telling you to be passive. I’m telling you to witness it, and step aside as much as you can or lie low until the storm is over. Stay safe. When I say safe, it’s inner safety, don’t expose it too much. When people talk bad about people, I always say, I don’t want to know. I do not want to know. Why should I bring contamination into my space? We have that option.
So, social pressure, social insecurities, social dependencies or their opinions; all those things are not important. We got to understand that we are unique. We will live our lives in a unique way as we are created. We are unique specimens. And we have the right to do that. I only talk about violence as avoidable. We should not endorse, engage and sponsor violence. Violence is not good because it hurts inside, more than outside. And consistent, continuous violence makes us insensitive, and to become sensitive, it takes a long time. So, we got to live sensibly, sensitively and consciously.
So, if we start accepting ourselves with all our weaknesses and strengths, there won’t be much depression. If we constantly reject, resist, and we constantly punish ourselves for anything happening around, thinking that we are responsible, instead of time being irresponsible; again, we will have depression. This is not something which we consciously do; it’s a pattern at work. So, how do you change the pattern? Have nothing to do with it. That means, watch, witness, let go. And you be yourself fully, settle down yourself fully. Spend more time to connect to yourself. Spend more time to be within. Like that, we can come out of states of depression and even prevent it.
I’ll leave you with these thoughts. Have a great day and a great week ahead.
Lots of love. This is Mohanji for you.
Transcribed by Ulla Bernholdt
Proofread by Rekha Murali
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