8. Burn Your Worry!
This text was machine-transcribed from the printed book and may contain errors. Select the words and choose “Report a mistake”.
What is worry? If we think about the question deeply we understand that we have no answer.
We can come up with a long list of reasons for worry. Still, word worry will elude definition. If we list reasons that cause us to worry it keeps growing. There is no end to it. If we look at our lifestyle, it will never help.
If we work on the reasons for worry there is no end to it. Only if we work on the subjective experience of worrying, will we get rid of it. We chase our lifestyle intensely and we cannot relax until we reach our grave. Even in the graveyard we will be worrying about the kind of tombstone that will be put up for us!
When we are bothered about lifestyle, we keep running continuously, till we fall into our grave.
A small Zen story:
A person wanted an acre of land to grow vegetables. So he prayed to God. Satan appeared in the form of God. Satan said, ‘I give you more than one acre of land. Just run from morning till night. All the land you cover will be yours.’ The poor man became very happy and started walking the next morning. His initial aim was to cover 10 acres so that he could live comfortably. As the day progressed his greed took over and he wanted more and more. He thought he could own a small kingdom. He forgot his food and water. He denied himself the basic needs of his body. He would not even sit down for a few minutes to rest. Towards the end of the day he saw a beautiful graveyard across a river. He wanted to acquire that too. So he pushed himself to swim across the river to get to the graveyard. Alas! As he reached the graveyard his body could take no more. He collapsed never to get up again.
Look deeply. This happens in our lives too. We neither relax nor enjoy our lives. We postpone enjoyment. When we are studying, we say ‘I will enjoy after marriage’. After marriage, we say ‘After I have children.’ After children we say,‘After his education.’ Then we say ‘After retirement I will enjoy social security.’ We are trained to run continuously, and we have created within ourself the mental set up that will never let us relax and enjoy.
Become deeply aware of mind and thoughts. That alone is enough to burn worry!
