When Vedic kings faced an emotional dilemma or a moral crisis, they sought the wise counsel of Vedic sages called as Rishis. These Rishis, also called as Rajagurus or Royal Mentors, had a unique approach to counseling, which often empowered these kings to resolve their adverse situations simply by decluttering and calming their minds.
Rishis often advocated the fact that there are only situations, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ are only the interpretations of the minds. When the mind is disturbed all situation appears ‘bad’; whereas for an elated mind everything would appear ‘good.’ Rishis therefore taught the need for having an equanimity of mind; a state of mind which is neither sad when the situation appears to be unfavorable nor happy when situations appear to be favoring. This state of mind is what they called as Stithaprajna – Living in Consciousness.
Unlike other philosophies Rishis & Rajaguru always held on to the belief that if you have a problem, then only you can find the situation by accepting it. Others can only provide you with assistance or support. But even the best advice and fine assistance would fail if one’s mind is persistently disturbed. Calm mind is, therefore, always the key.
The assistance offered by the Rajaguru was through this unique approach of counseling, which was also non-medical in nature. They prescribed no medications. This unique counseling approach, taught as a part of our Vedic Mind Management Course, was about helping the kings to understand their individual thought processes and emotional triggers to work on them through a self-counseling technique to calm the mind every time it is disturbed.
This approach to counseling and self-counseling is relevant even to this day because even though a great many external situation and circumstances have changed remarkably with time, the human mind has remained the same. Besides this, prevailing knowledge disciplines have almost no understanding of the mind. They even confuse the mind with the brain. Rishis have proved beyond doubt that even though “the mind stems from the brain and dies with it; mind is not the brain.” Hence the conventional approaches of trying to attain a calm mind through medication or meditation is a little more than a temporary relief without any scope of achieving a lasting calm state of mind. You have to keep meditating or medicating to calm the mind by this approach.
Counseling and self-counseling approaches taught by the Rishis and Rajaguru are based essentially on the following seventeen principles. Anyone who can understand and master these principles can make the most of it. These are:
1. You are neither the Body nor the Mind.
2. Brain is an integral part of the Body.
3. The body is tangible. The mind is not.
4. Ailments of the body can be cured by medications, but not the ailments of the mind.
5. While the mind stems from the brain and dies with it, the mind is not the brain.
6. When the mind is calm, the body is healthy. But when a mind is disturbed even a healthy body becomes infested with diseases.
7. Emotions come from the mind, whereas thoughts are driven by intellect.
8. Relationships are made possible only by the mind.
9. Mind when accepts something as a fact or fiction, it becomes a perspective.
10. When a perspective is held on to for a long time by a mind as a fact or fiction it becomes an obsession.
11. The mind is incapable of adapting to change, naturally. Fear is nothing but an inability of mind’s willingness to change.
12. All the problems that are identified with the mind can only be resolved by the mind.
13. What brings a sense of happiness to the mind end up bringing pain to it, eventually.
14. The mind is naturally incapable of contentment.
15. Most often problems perceived by the mind is owing to the inability of the mind to achieve calm.
16. The only way to achieve peace in life is by having a calm mind. And the only way to achieve a calm mind is by realizing your conscious true self to overwhelm it.
17. Our own true conscious self is always in bliss – the happiness and sadness only pertain to mind.
