Remaining Calm in the Face of Difficulties and Opposition

Facing the difficulties and obstacles presented by the exte
al world to our ego-personality, we frequently become disturbed and react with anger, frustration or some other indication of a lack of peace. We tend to “become” the reaction. Someone cuts in front of us on the road and we become angry, in some cases expressing ourselves through what is known as ‘road rage’ or at least mentally engaging in some type of upset reaction. If we reflect on our daily reactions, we can easily identify situations where someone has angered us, someone has insulted us, where things occur that distress us, where we have relationship, financial or other setbacks, where flights get cancelled, where we get delayed for a meeting, etc.

Each of these situations creates ‘ripples’ in the mind-stuff and the nerve channels. These ripples disrupt our ability to receive and channel the higher energies with light, clarity and serenity. For the spiritual seeker, therefore, it becomes even more essential to be able to separate oneself from the exte
al personality and its reactions and maintain calm, peace and a serene receptivity to the spiritual forces that are the focus of the aspiration.

Practitioners of the integral yoga, who aspire to transform life rather than escape from life, are faced with the practical need to stay securely in a spiritual consciousness while engaging the exte
al being in the actions of the body, life and mind in the exte
al world. When the seeker slips into an exte
al consciousness, he is subject to all the disturbances that take place in that arena. If he is fixed in the uninvolved witness consciousness, he can observe the play of Nature without being upset, depressed or discouraged.

The best way to develop this serenity actually is to face the situations and observe and modify the reactions. Withdrawing to the cave, the forest, the monastery, the desert, the mountains or going on retreats may be useful for a short time to ‘tune’ the being to the peace and serenity needed, but over the longer perspective, the opportunity to remain calm in the midst of pressures represents the best way to measure one’s progress.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “There can be no firm foundation in sadhana without equality, samata. Whatever the unpleasantness of circumstances, however disagreeable the conduct of others, you must learn to receive them with a perfect calm and without any disturbing reaction. These things are the test of equality. It is easy to be calm and equal when things go well and people and circumstances are pleasant; it is when they are the opposite that the completeness of the calm, peace, equality can be tested, reinforced, made perfect.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 1, Calm — Peace — Equality, pg. 16