Finding Inner Peace, for Dummies

Finding Inner Peace, for Dummies

By

Murali Murthy

I feel the daily irritants are killing me more, than anything else.

It could be the errant and unruly drivers in the traffic, indisciplined citizens, lawlessness, unrestrained behaviour, reckless people, noisy neighbours, politicians, Governance, corrupt mindset, intolerance, oblivious to humanity, hatred, venomous tongue and toxic minds.

And the co-killer: Occupational stress, working under extreme pressure situations, frustrating outcomes, lone battles, demanding and draining.

All these stress and anxiety ends up altering the temperament and behavioral changes, leading to displaying wrong emotions, impulsive expressions, even with the loved ones.

Ofcourse one solution to wipe out all problems is to go solitude, away from city life and work life. Back to simplicity, back to the nature, back to the roots, back to the basics.

While that looks far fetched, what's the intermediate solution?

To insulate myself from the irritants and not to let it consume me, my character, my persona and my temperament, the philosophical suggestion I will get is "Don't let them bother you, ignore the irritants that's not in your control"

Err, Thanks for the tip, but how!!??

What would ideally help me? Is it councelling or spirituality?

Either of them might help in training me to ignore the problems around, and in the typical voice "Calm your mind, calm your senses and focus on your goals, do not fret over things you cannot control. Find inner peace, dwell into yourself, find yourself".

All these sounds funny, and I think I myself can come up with all these gyan. People just want to hear such gyan from others to push themselves. Probably because of the stressful life we all lead, such new age godmen, inner peace factories have mushroomed in the last decade, capitalising on the weak minds.

The question still remains...how do I find peace?

Spirituality still could be the answer.

Does such inner peace factories really help, who basically takes bits and pieces of our Vedas, Scriptures, Bhagavatha, package it with good English, add Yoga, and a pinch of meditation classes, the recipe is ready!

What if I choose to find answers in my own root dharma? In my case Madhwa Philosophy.

The problem there is it's way too technical, academic. Everyone in this domain, I find them busy with the procedures, rituals and practices. The blind following of procedural aspects will actually scare away dummies like me from God and spirituality. Especially when someone like me who treats God like a Friend and the first thing I say when I see my favourite God is "Hey Buddy".

A visit to holy sites surely inspires, rejuvenates and calms the mind - only as long as am there. Once back to the grind, nothing changes.

Probably, I am my own doctor, I am my own philosopher. I need to yell at myself, when I am done frowning at others.

I need to customise my own spirituality, I need to guide myself, I need to find my own way.

What do you do to find inner peace?