In today's world we seem to control everything. We have become masters of everything that we see around us. Our constant efforts that we have put in developing various things can be seen in speedy progress that has led to various achievements in each and every sector of our lives. Irrespective of whether it is science, technology, art, music etc..... we can see a drastic improvement and enormous achievements in all walks of life. This change has been brought up in a period of time. This whole achievement and mastery thing is however related and just confined to outside. Today we can control everything that is outside and master them but when it comes to mastering oneself we can hardly do anything. Most of us don't even know what self mastery is. This is because we never concentrated on this particular field. We were never told to do so nor were we taught anything related to it. Today our education system covers everything that will help a kid to progress and achieve everything he aims for but does it cover any topic of mastering one self. A period or two for moral education is kept in schools but rarely any teacher conducts the class. They do not even know what has to be taught in that class and thus some teacher who is behind his or her portion engages that class. Importance is given to each and every subject but the most important class which had to be paid special attention is been ignored the most and thus kid never learns what self mastery is and since a nice foundation was not laid, building so been built may not be that strong.

Self mastery is control over one self. One has to become master of oneself. This itself is the only truth that exists. Rest everything is illusion. We tend to master everything that is around us without even realizing that everything is mortal and thus we cannot claim them as ours forever. We try to control others and make them do what we want them to do and when we fail at some point or the other we remain miserable as our expectations were not met. Mastering outside is not that very important as mastering one self. It is an internal change. Till date we tried to change and control everything that is outside us, thinking that we are perfect and do not need any change. This is because controlling outside is easy. All we need to do is make others change so that they can meet our expectations. However, working on oneself and bringing changes in oneself is the most difficult part. One who conquers himself need not conquer anything. He will always remain content and happy as he reaches state of self contentment. He now do not have any thirst for outer achievements as he has already acquired everything. He will work the way others do but will be free from effects of fruits he will reap from his work. Conquering one self makes him like a king. No other king is as strong or as powerful the way a person is who has conquered oneself. No other victory is as glorious as self victory is.

Today everyone is in need of happiness. Ask anyone around us, no matter of what age group they are, the answer will be same. All of us today are in search of happiness. Ask a kid what he wants in life and the answer will be good marks or good grades so that his parents, teachers will be happy and in turn this will make him happy. Ask elderly adults what they aim in life and their answer will be to achieve success by reaching a certain goal, to buy certain materialistic comforts etc..... and all these efforts they are making so that they can provide happiness to their family and themselves. Thus, everybody today is in search of happiness. No body is really contented today. They are searching it outside and have made it dependent on other souls or on materials. Nobody even knows where they have to find it but keep looking for it. No body knows how to retain it once it's been found. One requires a complete knowledge to actually understand what happiness is and once they have the knowledge they need to bring it into action i.e., become wise. Happiness only comes to them who have achieved wisdom and have lots of endurance. This is the reason that self-control should be given importance. All the great men who achieved wisdom had given lots of importance and practiced discipline to control one-self.

One can only control oneself if one has the urge to do it. First one has to have the knowledge and should know how important it is to master one-self. In absence of urge, nothing is possible. All the efforts one puts in will go in vain if the endurance is lacking. One has to live a disciplined life. We all have the ability to do so but we are unaware of how powerful we are. We need to concentrate and bring together all the forces we have by uniting them and this can only be done if we have enough amount of self-discipline in our lives. As the discipline increases so will be the power. Our mind starts thinking in multiple directions. Our thinking ability widens from narrow lane. We will now have the purpose in our lives which is very real. Power increases in both our action as well in our thinking ability and overall we start feeling as very powerful. We until now were unaware of how powerful we were. We used to search for power outside us but soon we will start realizing that we ourselves are packed with power. Till date we would feel that our hands were not in our control, thus we used to get engaged in conflict. We used to give excuses that our tongue and other sense organs were not in control and thus we had no control over them and we spoke ill-words or have done something that we were not supposed to do. By building control that on our self we will help us realize that it is all are energy and the master of that powerful energy is we ourselves. This energy flows through the whole body. Soon we will realize that until now sense organs which used to control us are nothing but just voluntary organs and they no longer can control us. We now will become masters of our sense organs and try to control them rather than letting them control us.

We often mistake happiness with comfort. Self mastery is something that will teach us the difference between two. Materialistic achievements can definitely provide comfort cause they are meant to do so but mistaking it for happiness is a real foolishness. We try to possess everything we see around us. The more we possess, the more greed increases. It is okay to go for worldly possession but the purpose behind achieving them should be clear. If one tries to achieve them so that they will give him happiness than that purpose will never be fulfilled. It is a mortal, non-living thing and it can only provide what it is designed to provide. We are the one who creates this feeling of contentment after we possess that materialistic good. Some one other might not even look at it cause it may not be of great importance to him. Thus, if that good had power to give happiness then it would have done it all the time and to everyone who comes across it. Mastering one-self is the real achievement and greatest possession one could ever achieve in one's life when compared to other worldly materialistic comforts.

Today we seem to do anything in the name of impulse. We blame it and very well try to escape from the situation. We say that we did not wanted to speak harshly or abuse someone with whom we may have seem to come in conflict with, but we could not stop ourselves. We say that we did not wanted to raise our hand on so and so but it was done just before we knew it. We say we did not wanted to get involve in something evil or did not wanted to see something wrong but it all happened in a flash of impulse. Why do we fall prey to such an impulse? Why do we allow it to rise to such a level? We do not stop even for a second and try to correct ourselves. We never seem to analyze the whole situation so that we can understand where we went wrong, what our fault was, how can we overcome it and how not to repeat it in future. We are too busy in our lives and keep playing the blame game. Our mind is home for both good and evil characters. In each and every situation, we need to choose between these two. If we want we can easily get rid of evil one and use goodness in us. If we want we can easily let evil one to make control on us. It is we who has to ultimately decide. We can't get away by swaying our hands that we were not left with any option. There's always an option every time the situation arises. We are the one who lay the foundation and allow our impulse to rise and if we want we can keep it under our control. Moreover we will always regret if we allow evilness present in us in no matter what form it is present to take control over us. We may achieve a lot in material world but when it comes to self contentment goodness always wins. Uncontrolled emotion is always destructive.

We all know what we have to do. Whenever a situation arises all we have to do is close our eyes, think for couple of minutes and we will get the answer. Solution to everything no matter how difficult a situation may arise is present within us. We do not have to go to some wise person and ask for his help. Our inner self will provide us answers and solutions but we leave it unheard. That solution given to us will seem very impractical to us to be used in our so called practical lives. The whole idea, the whole answer or solution will be there by rejected by saying that it does not work in today's life. This is where evilness in us takes hold of everything. When we do not try to master our inner self, all the negativeness and evilness will master us. Each and everything that happens in life is based on a just cause. If we do something wrong to ourselves or to some other soul, this is because we let our evil character to completely overpower us. Mastering one's inner self will lead to mastering of one's senses. It will help us to master all the evilness and thereby these evil characters will no loner find a room in our minds. We will be totally free from them but for that complete mastery is required. Sometimes people use very superficial techniques. They try to control their anger, try to remain calm, get involved in spirituality, always chant high sounding words or phrases that show moral ideas they learn etc..... Change has to be permanent, from beneath. Evilness has to be completely eradicated otherwise any difficult situation that will arise in front of him will force him to burst in anger and will lose all his patience. He has to work on fundamental principles of life.

Happiness is something that we already possess inside. We need not search it outside in the form of some possession or achievement. We should not make it dependent neither on worldly materials nor on any other soul. Our happiness is within us and it is a quality of mind. Throughout our lives we run behind one or the other thing so that we can make ourselves happy. If we succeed we create a feeling of contentment which we badly mistook for happiness and when we failed miserably we felt that we had no right to remain happy. Instead of programming ourselves that we will be happy if we get it, we should program ourselves that we are already happy and now we have to get what we want. Our happiness does not depend on our achievements. Irrespective of whether we achieve or not, irrespective of whether we succeed or fail miserably, happiness is an inner quality of a soul and one should use it to the fullest as being happy and cheerful will help one to cross hurdles without any pain.

We all have a role to play. Sometimes we play too many roles. For example, a lady in her life is somebody's  daughter, wife, mother, teacher, mentor etc..... She does play all her roles well. But the most important role i.e., role of a soul is almost forgotten. No body even wants to remember it. If one desires for fruitful action then he has to study his inner self i.e., his deeper nature. It is always beneficial to pause for a minute or two and think wisely in times of doubt, rather than regretting for something. This is because once done cannot be undone. Although one can learn from their mistakes but it is always better not to commit them if possible. Mastering one self seems very difficult task as till date we have always tried to bring changes outside. We never have even thought of doing something that would bring remarkable change to us. This is because all of us believe that we are perfect the way we are and it is the outer world who needs a change. Another fact is changing oneself seems a little difficult. Thus, we have always tried to bring changes in others. However, we cannot control others or something that is outside us. The only thing that we can control is our inner self. It is a very important necessity of our lives. Everything around us might be peaceful, everybody around us might be at harmony, but if our mind is not at peace, no matter in how peaceful situation we are, we will never experience it. In the same way, other way around is also true. If we are at peace, no matter how chaos it may be around us, we will never feel any of it.

It is not necessary that we have to sacrifice our desires. This is not a per-requisite or requirement for self control. One can desire for anything in their lives. They can make goals and work hard to achieve them but in that journey they should remain stable Whatever the results they obtain they should remain detached from it. Being detached means maintaining inner stability. Positive results or success should not over boost an individual building up a lot of ego in him. Negative results or failure should not disappoint him in such a way that he completely breaks down and loses hope. Success should be seen as a pay back of hard work and failure should be seen as a chapter from which one has to learn from one's mistake and try harder next time with more enthusiasm. Our higher purpose should always be working on one's self. Rest all desires should be united with our higher purpose.

Once we master ourselves completely, there will arise no question of calculation. Anger, lust, greed and other evil characters will no longer reside within us and thus we need not worry or even think what if I lose my temper or speak ill words as these things are never going to happen. This is because of complete self transformation. For an example, one can look at saints or holy men. They are in a state of complete self control. It's like they possess themselves. Nothing can touch them or bother them. They are like those huge rocks which remain immobile even in drastic weather conditions. Such is their stability. They are free of all senses of aggression, irritation etc..... They have mastered their passions as well as appetites. Their mastering art has brought them to the light and now there is no scope of any darkness in their hearts. They have completely given themselves and united with the Holy God. This kind of complete transformation will leave no possibility even for a small spark of anger to ignite or any sort of evil character to reside.

Spirituality is not a philosophy or mere words or theory regarding which question has to be raised. It is something that has to be experienced. It is something that we have to evolve inside us. Once we master ourselves we will understand its meaning completely. Most of us believe that spiritual world is complete different from the world that we live in. It is nice to learn spiritually inclined quotes but very difficult to inculcate them in our day today lives. They separate spirituality from our practical lives. In real sense, there is no difference between them. Spirituality is a knowledge about soul i.e., knowledge regarding one self. Understanding about who we are, understanding our relationship with other souls and then connecting soul with Supreme Soul. It helps a person understand about who he actually is , helps him to conquer himself and once he has conquered himself then outwardly possession never actually matter to him anymore. Once a person becomes aware he uses this awareness throughout his course in his life time. If it is learned and if not used in day today lives, then there is no purpose in gaining knowledge. Thus, these two cannot be separate worlds. We feel that it is not right to mingle our spiritual knowledge with practical world as too much goodness will not yield us good results. However, this is not right. We get what we give. If we are giving goodness definitely we will yield great benefits. Once we become spiritually enlightened we have to help others with the same. Whatever we give, we get it first. If we are spreading positivism, definitely it will fill in us before it gets spread to others. High ideals will develop within us and the distractions and turbulent energy that disturbs us a lot will be of no matter any more.

Mastering one self does not occur overnight. It requires constant efforts. Initially we may find it difficult and changes may bring us a little discomfort. Gradually as the time will pass by, it will start seeming more natural than anything else. Once we have reached the highest level of consciousness i.e., when we have shifted form body consciousness to soul consciousness, everyone around us too will change if not spontaneously but gradually. This is because positivism does vibrate. Every one too will start benefiting. However, initially they may become impatient and do not accept us as we will appear different to them. This is the rule of nature that any change is viewed with intolerance initially and thus is not well accepted. However, everyone is in search of happiness and bliss and thus everyone wants to reach highest state of consciousness. However, only proper knowledge and guidance is essential.

Mastering one self is a state where our heart, mind, thoughts and whole body only focuses in uniting with God. It is the highest level of consciousness that we can rise and also help other souls to do the same. It is a state where one starts possessing his inner self which was never really given importance or taken care of . Body and mind fills in with lots of power which is purely divine. Mastering one self is a secret of complete contentment and fulfillment one ever desires in his life. No strength one will ever obtain in one's life will be as packed with power as compared to the strength one will obtain by self conquest. One thus will always depend on one's inner strength, no matter what circumstances arrive in one's life. If one desires to conquer the most powerful entity ever present in this world then one must start con-questing oneself. This conquest will be glorious and victorious as it will confer contentment. It gives supremacy to soul and helps it to possess sovereignty of whole world as it is able to conquer pride, lust, anger, wrath, differences etc..... In short, one has become master of one's soul.

• Written by Reena.
• In category Miscellaneous.
• 8 years ago.

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