Integrating Ancient Wisdom in Modern Life: An Inner Wealth
- The god Brahma is said to dwell (vihara) in these four forms of love, they are known as Brahmaviharas, translated in English as “divine abidings.” They are metta, karuna, mudita, and upekkha. In English they are commonly known as loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity.
- This is what is called Emotional Intelligence in psychology today – cultivating friendliness towards happiness, compassion towards suffering, goodwill towards virtuous, and neutrality towards evil make the mind more pure and peaceful. Love doesn’t have to be dependent on ideal circumstances; rather, we can learn to recognise, awaken, and develop it so it becomes the natural dwelling place of the heart.
- We all have the potential to abide in loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. When we know how to do this, these capacities become an inner wealth, more valuable than any outer riches. How we see and anticipate is a reflection of mind. If we become alert towards this we can use the mind to become Emotional Intelligence being. With Emotional Intelligence we can use our emotion to become more sensitive without identifying with the person or circumstance then our emotional energy is directed towards self-realisation. If not then we will remain as a self-identified person only.
- There are 6 ways by which our mind gets distracted – Adherence, Envy, Vengeance, Censorious, Unforgiving, and Resentment. With Emotional Intelligence we can transcend above 6 distractions.
- Cultivating friendliness towards happiness will transcend Adherence and Envy. Friendliness is the quality of our inner being, which keeps the surrounding environment calm and enjoyable.
- Cultivating Compassion towards their suffering – compassion means be sensitive towards their suffering without any identification of suffering and sufferer. This will transcend Vengeance.
- Cultivating goodwill towards virtuous – will transcend Censorious. Goodwill for virtuous means without evaluating and judging regarding their circumstances for or against, according to us.
- Cultivating neutrality towards evil – be in the middle for evil will transcend Unforgiving, and Resentment. Neutrality towards evil simply means we become aware of their limitation towards themselves.
- The power of the Brahmaviharas comes from the intention to love, not just the feelings or emotions themselves. Each time these intentions are evoked they become stronger and more readily available to motivate our actions in the world.
