The BlogTalk: 9th Question: How to stay calm and mentally strong during the lockdown?

The Master’s Guidance Continues

Acharya Mahendranath
(The Master)

As the corona virus pandemic rages on, the entire country is in a lockdown. All students have been missing the joy of coming to the training centres, practicing in a group, interacting with the teachers, and of course meeting the Master. Everyone has also missed having our monthly “Master’s Talk Session”. But Master says that physical lockdown need not mean lockdown of our lives. We can still do the same things, but do them differently. Which is why the Master has given a schedule for daily practice of Martial Arts, Yoga and Reiki Energy Healing, and all students have responded really well. 

Our activities over Instagram and Facebook have kept us connected with each other’s energy. So why stop here? Why not have Master’s Talk Session as well, but in a different manner? So we asked students to send us questions and the Master has given His guidance through this blog. So we hope that you all read it, understand it, internalize it, apply it and make your life even better. Please share your comments at the end of each question and of course, more questions are welcome on moxshlife@gmail.com.

Kundan Bhosale

Q. How to stay calm and mentally strong during lockdown period or difficult time or any bad situation? Because we need to be patient in this situation. But we are losing our patience.
— Kundan Bhosale, Student of Keimoudo®— Moxsh® Martial Arts

Master’s Guidance: “I am not sure what you mean when you talk about losing patience and an inability to stay calm. What will you do if you completely lose patience? Will you start dancing at home? Will you rush out and climb the trees in your society? Besides, what were you doing before the lockdown that was so critically important that the world will now suffer because you are at home!” (The Master laughs!)

“Also, all those of us who are from this state, who have a proper house with running water and electricity, and enough food to sustain us for some time, and who are staying with our family should not be losing patience or mental strength. If our situation was like those of the migrant workers, who are away from their family, have no proper place to stay, no money and no food; for whom the availability of the next meal is a question mark, and who are dependent on NGOs (who are doing a good job) for each meal, then what would you have done? Think about everything before you use such terms like losing patience.

These words should not even enter your mind, because they make you weak. Please understand that these are concepts that have been borrowed or have been implanted in us from the society. When we use any such borrowed or implanted words without understanding, then problems do not get resolved. Instead they get multiplied.

If people have not yet understood the gravity of the situation or the deadliness of the virus, then I am very surprised! Just seeing news of the extent of the tragedy in countries like Italy, Spain, France, the UK, and the US etc. should knock some sense into us. Look at the alarming rate at which the virus is spreading. Look at the number of people losing their lives every day. Just watching that should be enough for us to understand the reason for the lockdown and the reason why we are at home.

Nobody is sitting at home by choice. It is not a compulsion either. We are at home because it is our duty and our responsibility towards ourselves, our family, and our society. But if we think of it as some kind of compulsion, burden or a draconian measure, then things like losing patience, calm, and mental strength, etc. come in our minds.

Having said that even I can understand that it is very difficult for people today to stay at home indefinitely and not go out. I can understand that people are worried about many things. Thoughts of the plights of daily wage earners, fear of scarcity of essential items like food etc. in the future, worries about the economy, job, and many more things keep coming in our minds. It is obvious and understandable. But we must bundle all these things together and keep it aside for now. We have no choice but to do that.

The whole world is worried about this situation. Doctors are working day and night to treat the patients. Scientists are working tirelessly to find a medicine for treatment or a vaccine. Governments are thinking of ways to sustain the economy in the best possible manner. But until such medicine is identified, a vaccine is discovered, or the virus calms down on its own, we have no choice but to wait it out and sit at home.

It has just been about a month and a half since the lockdown, but people have been growing anxious and aggressive from the very first day! I said this in my previous blog talk as well. That if we give in to our fears (of economy, daily sustenance, etc.), and go out, not follow the rules of the lockdown and other guidelines given by the government, then we will be in for very disastrous consequences. On the other hand, if we sit at home and have these thoughts—like losing patience and mental strength, etc.—it will affect our health and our immune system, which is very important for resuming our routine life after lockdown.

They say time heals. So, give this some time and develop understanding.

Become action oriented. Then when any situation presents itself—I do not say good or bad situation, because every situation is an opportunity to learn and grow—you will look at ways to work around it and get the best out of it. To help you come on the right track, developing understanding is the only way.

I have said this time and again: This is a golden opportunity. You have actually been given an opportunity to do nothing! Isn’t it the best gift and the best state to be in? You get to be yourself; to rejuvenate and refresh yourself.

But because you are not used to doing nothing, you are losing your patience. So, the next best thing to do is to keep yourself busy. And like I said at the beginning of the lockdown in my article “Don’t let the “Lockdown” Lock You Down!", there are many, many things you can do.

Right from spending time with your family, and learning new skills like cooking, doing domestic chores, studying, reading, or watching movies (preferably comedy movies and cartoons like Tom and Jerry, etc.); to using the internet to gain knowledge about a lot of things that are relevant to your job or career; watching informative documentaries on TV; and practicing martial arts and yoga regularly, there are so many things that you can do. I had asked all my students to make a time table. If you had done that, even 24 hours would not have been enough. You wouldn’t have had the time to lose patience. In fact, you would have enjoyed!

Life’s journey is a constant series of ups and downs and you need to be able to navigate both. Without sadness we cannot appreciate happiness. Without disease we cannot understand the value of health.

Let me give you an example. If you come across a steep rise while driving a car, what will you do? You will judge the steepness and then change gears. You will probably come down to 3rd, 2nd or even 1st gear depending on how steep the climb is. Life is like that. When situations change, you have to change your life’s gear to move forward.

Don’t demand things from life. Become sensible. If you get happiness for 365 days in a year, you will get bored. Similarly, if you get sadness all the time you will be fed up. But life is not like that. There is a balance. Otherwise we would not have valued anything. We would never have saved, or planned anything. We would have squandered everything away because we know we will get it tomorrow.

Finally, I want to give you one more example to deepen your understanding. You must have seen people climbing mountains—either for a reason or because they are mountaineers. You will notice that they have very less baggage. In fact, mountaineers have specially designed equipment that is extremely lightweight. Even if you add an extra kilo to it, it will make climbing that much harder.

This situation is just like climbing a mountain. And you need to keep yourself light. Patience, calm, mental strength, and other things like fear of death, economy, boredom, frustration, etc. all add up to hundreds of kilos and you will get exhausted.

Throw these terms out of your mind. They are the rubbish that are holding you back. Your body and mind are the temple of your soul and it is a gift from God. And just like we leave our footwear outside temples to keep it clean and pure, leave these words and thoughts out too.

In such situations, people often ask me whether meditation techniques or mantras etc. can help them develop patience, become calm, gain mental strength, release stress, and get peace of mind. I tell them that meditation and mantras are for divine purpose and not for solving these problems. But still, if people will do meditation or mantra chanting, they will get some temporary feeling of relief. But as soon as they are out of that state, the thoughts will come back because the root cause of the above problems is still there within. And so, it is important to get to the root of the problem in order to completely uproot it.

And everything I have said in this BlogTalk has been to do just that. Everything I have told you is to make you understand and every example I have given you has been to help you to get to the root cause and permanently get rid of these thoughts. Then you will automatically find the strength and understanding to live life in all circumstances."

— Acharya Mahendranath

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