Get rid of depressive tendencies

We all get a little low at times and we then feel life is too much. Now that is quite human.

It is but satan in us that suggests any kind of self-harm and we should never yield to this wicked suggestion.

I live in India, my younger son studied and lived in San Francisco. I have seen pictures of the Golden Gate bridge there. I think it is so beautiful, an engineering marvel. But just think how many try to use it wrongly, to kill themselves! I thought bridges were meant to help people cross, and not drown themselves, but alas! I was watching the movie ‘The Bridge’ where I actually saw some in the act – it’s so bad, such lovable souls perpetrating such a heinous act! I read that in one year alone, as many as 24 people terminated their lives by jumping down the bridge, and many more thought of, or attempted, it.

Can we blame the bridge for it, no – not any more than we can blame the knife for killing, or the atomic energy for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WW-II. Give the same knife to a surgeon and he will save a life, or you can similarly use well the same atomic energy in a nuclear power station – we just need the wisdom to meaningfully use the power of that scientific knowledge, that technology. Well, suicides occur everywhere; in India, many poor, debt-ridden farmers kill themselves by consuming handy insecticides – it’s sad and terrible.

The world is a school, life is all about learning, each experience is a lesson. Those who commit suicide are drop-outs. And what happens to students who drop out? They repeat the class.

We can appreciate how people with suicidal tendencies feel, the agony and frustration that they undergo. They need our love and encouragement. But they also need to understand that by making a timid escape from life by killing themselves unnaturally and cruelly, they will only repeat that ‘class’, with the disadvantage of an extra karmic debt for killing. A murder is a murder, let us realize, whether one kills another or oneself. Suicide, in a way, is the murder of the worst kind, because love like charity must begin at home, with oneself.

It is rather so selfish to run away from life like that. Everyone has problems. It is how we look them that decides whether they becomes a ‘ladder’ or a ‘snake’ in life’s game. Those we leave behind, were not having a cake-walk anyway; they had their challenges. If one had relationship problems with them, they must have had problems with that person too because it is usually mutual. By suddenly leaving them like that, one makes it even more difficult for them – more lonely and saddened.

Nor is there any fun for the person concerned. The whole thing is so sad but avoidable by just a change in the way we look at life and ourselves – one only needs to pause for a moment and take another perspective! We are not what we gain or lose here; my Master taught me these are just dream experiences. We need to keep identified with the observer or dreamer, not the observed or dreamed.

What then is the game behind this creation, what is the mystery? Is there God and if He is, what is He trying to get out of all this mess? Can there be a meaning to it all?

Why a perfect, loving God who sends loving, beautiful prophets like Krishna, Christ, Buddha and Mohammed to earth, permits such pain and suffering for so many, why doesn’t He interfere, instead of indifferently watching all this nonsense?

Why a loving God permits cruelty, pain and suffering? We often wonder why a God, so kind, merciful and omnipotent, still allows so much sorrow, suffering and cruelty in this world.

Well, this situation is our choice, not His. In any picture, there are light and dark shades; in the film shown by a projector, there is a mixture of light and shadow. To make a creation, God had to mix the darkness of delusion to His divine light – the One had to appear as many. You can’t make ornaments from pure gold anyway; you have to add a bit of copper.

This world is a play of mere appearances. What appears is not true, what is true does not appear so. Quantum physics now says the same thing about this world.

We can enjoy this play if we keep up our remembrance of a divine origin. Through ego and ignorance, by siding with the satan in our minds, we get too involved in this play of appearances and we think all this is ‘my’ show, all this is real. The moment the thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ come in, there is trouble.

But God gave us reason and the ability to develop deeper intuitive understanding so that we can escape the delusion and heal the situation. But we must make the right choices. We are, as a poet put it, made strong enough to stand but free to fall. If we choose to fall, why blame Him? Here is a story someone posted on the net that gives an insight by comparison.

A man visited a barber’s shop in his neighborhood to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they started a casual conversation. They talked about many things.

When they eventually touched on the perennial subject of God, the barber was quick to say, ‘I don’t believe that God exists.” ”How can you say that?” the customer asked. “Well, you only need to go out in the street to realize that He doesn’t exist. Tell me, if He did exist, would there be so much pain and suffering, so many sick, unhappy people and hapless, abandoned children? I can’t imagine a loving God who would permit these things, or be powerless to control them.”

The customer paused, he didn’t really want to start an endless argument. The barber finished his work and the customer paid up and left. Shortly after he stepped out, he saw a man in the street with long, matted, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.

The customer quickly turned back and re-entered the barber’s shop. He said to the barber who had meanwhile started attending to another customer, “You know something? Barbers really do not exist.” This naturally surprised the barber. He asked, “How can you say that? I am a barber, right here, and did I not just work on you?”

“No, no!” the customer insisted. “You see, barbers do not exist because if they did, there would be no such people with long, dirty hair and untrimmed beards such as that man outside.”

“Ah, well, barbers of course do exist! What can I do, if people do not come to me?”

“Yes, Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is people don’t turn to Him and do not look for Him. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.”

So well, let us not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if we are not willing to even move our feet. God will not declare from a roof-top that He exists. He is too shy and humble for that; besides, He has given us freedom to choose.

He wants to see if we would love Him just for His own sake, and not merely for the sake of His many gifts of life and loved ones, food and water, rain and sunshine….We fail to thank Him even as we consume these. Whether we believe or don’t believe that He exists, He loves us all, just the same, like even an earthly parent who would love his/her child, regardless of whether that love is reciprocated! Wouldn’t the hHeavenly Father’s love be much deeper, much more unconditional, than an earthly one’s?

Happiness is about making right choices. Depression comes from making the wrong choices. We only need to change our consciousness. Look for love – give it to receive it, seek God in the cave of your heart, count your blessings and be grateful for His many gifts, tame your ego…and you will see how beautiful the same life can be.

Well, let us now look at specific things we can do to fight depressive/suicidal tendencies:

1. Exercise everyday. Do anything – brisk walk or jogging, yoga, swimming, long cycling, gym workouts…a combination of brisk walk and yoga (especially, the 12-posture Surya Namaskar series) may really be the best.

2. Get minimum 15-20 minutes’ sunshine every day; choose an hour when the sunlight is reasonably strong – not weak or too strong.

3. Several times a day, do deep abdominal (diaphragmatic) breathing.

4. Eat plenty of seasonal greens/fruits and honey with almonds. Chewing almonds with honey, or slowly chewing previously water-soaked almonds followed by a glass of orange juice really helps.

5. Don’t just think positive – FEEL positive. Feel the blessings of life, be grateful for all that you have received. Think who digests your food, who ensures you do not forget to breathe and your heart does not forget to beat when you are deep asleep.

6. Do some work, keep busy but not too busy – take sufficient rest and sleep.

7. Avoid all addictions.

8. Keep affirming love and forgiveness to all, seek God’s forgiveness for all our ignorant acts.
Remember, what goes out, comes back. Send out only thoughts of love and compassion. If you just feel kind inside for others, if you inwardly affirm love, you will see them responding better and relationships will improve, even if you say nothing.

9. Learn and practise twice daily some Pranayama techniques – this is a very potent remedy for depressive tendencies.

10. As you slowly grow positive, meditate everyday.

Take care. Love yourself.

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Hans is a chemical engineer  who  worked in sales/marketing for 28 years.  Thereafter, for the last 8 years, he has been a motivational speaker, yoga coach and corporate trainer. In his personal life, he has been practicing yoga-meditation for close to 25 years.