Emotional Stability: Path-way towards Emotional Stability: Chapter 3

   Emotions play a large part in our life. western philosophers wrongly interpret that "no mind is peace. But the truth expounded by Yogeswar Krishna' is "balanced mind is bliss!

one can read the previous two chapters to know about the emotions and emotional balance. This chapter is explaining the technique to achieve Emotional balance &balanced mind.

Path-way towards Emotional Stability: 

The Bhagavad Gita states that individuals achieve emotional stability as a result of managing/controlling (a) their senses (Chapter II, Verse 58), (b) their desires (Chapter II, Verse 55), (C ) their anger (Chapter II, Verse 56) and (d) their mind (Chapter II,Verse 57).

 Let us now discuss how these factors may be controlled, according to the Bhagavad Gita.

(a) Control of the Senses (Gunas) - Senses Management:  

INNER ENGINEERING'

The senses of a person consists of three vital elements (gunas), namely, sattva (reflecting the characteristic features of knowledge and calmness), rajas (reflecting the characteristic features of activity and desire) and tamas (reflecting the characteristic features of laziness and ignorance) (Chapter XIV, Verses 5 &17).

The three gunas are present in every individual in different proportions and they constantly act among themselves . In fact, the gunas are the foundations for evolving the personality features of individuals (Chapter XIV, Verses 11-13). Therefore, with the purification of the senses, the individual's personality is developed.

STEP BY STEP. According to the Bhagavad Gita, senses-control/senses-purification is an individual‟s internal process of experience from a pre-dominantly tamasic level to the rajasic state, and from a pre-dominantly rajasic level to the sattvic level of experience/existence (Chapter XIV, Verse l8).

This inner journey is effected by doing any work/action based on one‟s own intention/ duty and not based on the result of the work/action (Chapter 11, Verses 47-49).

 (b) Control of Desires (Kama) - Desire Management \:

 According to Indian tradition, desires may be of two kinds, namely, desires in accordance/approved by ethics (dharma) and desires in variance & not approved by ethics.

The first kind of desires are termed as positive desires, while the second kind of desires are termed as negative desires. Therefore, when the Bhagavad Gita mention about desire-control, it refers to the negative desires.

According to the Bhagavad Gita, the negative desires of individuals are the greatest impediments towards progress (Chapter III, Verse 39) and these can be mitigated by the control of the senses (Chapter III, Verse 41).

 (c) Control of Anger (Krodha) - Anger Management:

It is common knowledge that anger causes emotional disturbances in individuals. According to the Bhagavad Gita, anger causes individuals to forego the all important power of discriminating capacity, leading to their ruin (Chapter 11, Verse 63). The real cause for anger is due to unfulfilled desires (Chapter II, Verse 62).

Therefore, when individuals manages/control their desires, the power of anger is controlled.

(d) Control of Mind (Manas) - Mind Management:

Mind is an important component of individuals. The Bhagavad Gita states that the general nature of the mind is always fickle, oscillating, ever fluctuating and unstable. The mind is continuously activated by two forces, namely, attachment (raga) and aversion (dvesha). This situation limits individuals to experience tranquility and peace (Chapter II, Verse 64).

According to the Bhagavad Gita, the unstable mind may be managed/controlled by the spirit of renunciation (vairagya) of temporal factors/ gains and the repeated practice (abhyasa) of the same (Chapter VI, Verse 35).

To Sum Up: The Bhagavad Gita clearly deliberates on the state of emotional stability and its resultant benefits. Further, it also clearly presents the conditions and the factors to be controlled to achieve the state of emotional stability.

 Conclusion: From the above discussion, we are able to clearly understand the importance of emotions. A discussion on emotional intelligence in the light of the Bhagavad Gita brings out the following important perspectives:

(a) emotional stability is not merely a skill but a state of existence/experience,

(b) emotional stability is not merely managing emotions in a general way, but is involved in controlling different facets such as senses, desire, anger and mind. It is more specific as well as more comprehensive, and

(c) emotional stability is an intra-personal necessity in the new world order. In conclusion, we may state that the Bhagavad Gita‟s enlightened perspectives on emotional stability, involving the management of the senses, desire, anger and the mind, would enhance the skill-set of individuals in the new world order.

This would result in the personal development of individuals, thereby positively impacting productivity and effective inter-personal communication in work place and society.