Stop the Madness of Self-Discipline
The Art of Meditation: Personal Development and Spiritual Growth:
Everywhere you look nowadays the new holy grail of success seems to be self-discipline. From, diet plans, to sports, to the stock market, to the arts and also, most unfortunately, even in the practice of meditation, yoga and the related spiritual sciences. Raw material enters boot camp, is put through the patented regiment, and out comes a finished product. Discipline yourself to eat right, exercise right so you can get healthy, discipline yourself to sleep less so you have more productive time, discipline yourself to sit endlessly hour after hour watching your breath so you can gain enlightenment. Is this the way? Is self-discipline necessary? I don’t think so. Let me tell you a story…
Story: The War of The Rice Farmers
In a small village far from the hustle and bustle of the city, there lived a rice farmer, Barbary Rao. He was a simple man and had a small rice paddy, which he would tend to diligently and which rewarded him with ample harvest to support his family. Now Barbary loved to farm. He was born to farm. He loved to hoe the land, build irrigation canals, study the weather patterns, research fertilizers, and most of all he loved his rice…. yes eating it also. He knew all about farming rice. From end to end he was an expert farmer. Barbary had also developed new systems to improve the quality and quantity of his dear crop and other farmers would often visit him and his farm to learn from him new techniques in de-husking, storage, aging, packaging etc etc. One such visitor was Coolun Das.
Coolun Das was from a neighboring village and he was a very strong man. His body was strong, his will was strong and most of all his ambition was strong. Coolun was eager for success and worked very hard to make his farm productive and profitable. He knew that Barbary was his main competition in the region and so worked very hard to learn his systems. One season, there was great excitement among the villages, that Barbary had developed a formula for new hybrid rice seeds that would double the yield of the harvest. Upon hearing this news, Coolun was very disturbed. What if Barbary refused to share the formula? What if he decided that this was too good to give away, as he had done with his other discoveries, and using it made himself the richest and most powerful of the region? Coolun began to have nightmares. So one night he snuck into Barbary’s farm and stole the formula and seedlings. Barbary was unable to reproduce the stolen formula and eventually moved on to other work.
Coolun utilized the formula and had a bumper crop that year and in the common market, where all the farmers would bring their crop and samples, he sought out Barbary to gloat. Much to his surprise and irritation Barbary was quite undisturbed by his success. Barbary congratulated him on having such a good year and began discussing with him new techniques in polishing that he was working on. Coolun wondered how come he was not as contented as Barbary. He decided it was probably due to the fame Barbary had in the region, so Coolun made up his mind to achieve greater fame than Barbary and thus greater gratification. Coolun knew Barbary worked very hard so he decided to discipline himself to work even harder. He started sleeping in the barn so that the dawn calls of the cocks would awaken him. He trained himself to eat only one time a day, so he would be even more time efficient. He learned to concentrate and work through pain, discomfort and fatigue becoming a non-stop farming machine. All that hard work brought him great success and in a few short years he became the richest and most famous farmer in the region. But alas, every year that he met Barbary in the market, he would be reminded that he was not the happier of the two.
Coolun tried everything, he had a huge estate built, purchased large farm lands, grew in political power, gave away rice to the hungry, all the time using great self-discipline to achieve these successes, but even when old and gray whenever he met Barbary, he know there was something he had missed. Eventually, they both grew very old and as luck would have it they passed away on the same day. In the line outside the pearly gates, Coolun and Barbary met again. As usual, Barbary greeted him happily and began discussing the latest research on creating vitamin enriched rice. Finally their turn arrived to meet the Big Boss.
Once inside the Big Boss turned to Barbary and said, “Well done my boy, here come take a seat you need the rest.” He then turned to Coolun and asked, “Any questions?” “Yes,” Coolun replied, “How come you have asked him to rest and not me? I have worked just as hard, if not harder than him, throughout my life. Also, how come Barbary was always happier than me, even though I achieved so much more success, so much more wealth, power and fame?” “Well that answer is really very simple,” replied Big Boss. “You, Dearest Coolun, were meant to be a wrestler not a rice farmer. So your work is yet to be done. Off you go…” and with that Coolun was sent back down for another go.
Commentary & Analysis of Passion vs. Self-Discipline
One of the most important things in life is to figure out what you really love to do. This is not always easy. What makes it harder is that what you love to do is not necessary what you want to do. You may want to spend all your time sitting around watching TV, or playing World of Warcraft, or golf. This does not mean you have figured out what you love to do. I am not saying you don’t do the things you want to do either, its just if you have not figured out what you love to do in life, you will do these things to escape from the tedium that your life will eventually become. So how can we figure out what we love to do in life? That is your first and foremost challenge and I have found the following questions to help with that process…
Questions to Help You Discover Your True Passion:
- What is it that you like to do for its own sake, without any concern for reward or compliment? Do you like the joy of building things? Do you like to just create music? Do you like to teach? Do you like the challenge of watching your thoughts in action?
- If you won the lottery, I mean the really, really big one how would you like to spend the rest of your life?
- If you were informed you are about to die shortly, what would you regret most as not having spent your time doing?
- No matter where on Earth you are. In a rich, first world country, in the bush lands of Australia or high up in a Himalayan village what do you see yourself doing regardless of location?
- What activity do you always find yourself coming back to throughout your life?
- What activity can you just not see yourself doing without?
One important thing to remember is that nowhere am I saying that what you love to do is going to be easy. It may be very hard, very challenging, but what I can assure you is that you will do the hard work, with a smile on your face and not needing a shred of self-discipline.
The passion for the work will carve its own discipline. It is like a river carving its own banks, making its own path, no outside influence is required. Similarly when you are doing what you love to do, you don’t need to impose any external discipline. You just do what you love to do. Pay attention to the demands that the work makes on you and you will find your life being given great order by that.
Self-discipline being imposed from outside is violence. It is not born out of intelligence and the natural demand of the work at hand. You can look at it this way, either you are devoted to yourself and, like Coolun, discipline yourself through will to attain what you believe you need to succeed in life, or like Barbary, you are devoted to your passion and you do what it requires from you. One leads to frustration and one to contentment. Time to stop the ugliness of imposed self-discipline and embrace the path of wisdom and grace.
Hi Galya,
Glad you enjoyed this story.
Best,
Anmol
I guess it’s true that you never know when you will find something meaningful, something you can take with you. Thank you very much for this story – very inspiring!. Will share with my students.
Hello Anmol!
So, you say about independence and freedom that valued over all, i`m understand this and do not even why – when i`m reading your amazing articles i`m realizing that i`ve folloved a right way! I`m now trying to end dependancies, everyone of them. But what about love? Yes, i`m 18 years old but i`m saw almost 5-6 years ago that the life is more than society tells us. I loved one girl in 11th class when i`ve studyed at school, but i do not allowed myself to say this to her, i was under the cage of awesome insane fear that everyone will laugh on me, i`m packed this inside myself and allowed to self discipline take furious control over me, but only thing i`ve found that it hitted only me, hitted me hard, and i`ve started to rebel against such feelings, to one day say this to her, despite the fact that we study in different institutes and i saw her every day. I`m very sorry for overload you with this… But after that article or perhaps much earlier i`ve decided to fight, i`m tired of getting included in this physical life that brings sometimes pain like this, pain that you carry sometimes through your life. This was a final point when i`ve decided to fight, i`m tired of this cages about meaterialism stupidity. I`ve began my meditations a month ago, and as you say began the SM meditation cource, facing everything with a smile, passion, will to learn a truth and in some day, collect enough courage to say her everything i`ve wanted to say long ago, that pressure i`ve tolerated for years, being almost enslaved by “self-discipline” that has not allowed me to say this, self-discipline that was controlled by others, several times i`m almost was an “exile” in my class beacause of my progress in different areas, everyone used every chance to hit my nerves. All that moral, psychological cage that held me for years. I`ve started to learn spiritual things, and follow this way, and have some advanced i want to say about in my next posts, and meditation has helped me – and in suddenly in one of the meditation i`ve thinked about life, all that i`m holding and for what? this was after i`ve an experience with light as i`ve described in Opening the 3rd eye topic, but in one moment i`ve felt how much energy and happy time i`ll lose if i will live and keep it, at one moment i almost began to cry, but when this cry come to me, something changed inside of me, like great stone was kicked off, tored apart, blasted to lot of pieces and this awakened inside me how once you`ve said – “righteous anger” or even something more than the anger, and sudenly said to myself – it`s my life, and i`ll not keep something that destruct me and inflicts a pain to me, and i`ve released every bad, every painful thing that was under the broken stone. I`m fulfilled with passion to seek truth, advance in spiritual way that keep me away from destructive self-discipline that once hold something that was more precious for me than anything else. And i`m going to say to this girl everything i`ve wanted to say, but this is 2nd priority target for me, the main target is to seek the truth, master meditations and yoga.
And thank you for your articles and advices, they finally have broken those furious control of self-discipline that inflicted a pain to me, i`m now even more human and even more alive than i was, such a lightness is felt, i`m feeling better than ever.
All the best,
Andrew
Hello Anmol!
I`ve read this and really do not know what to say, what i`ve found for myself? Perhaps something like a building 3d models, programming in the language like C++ (but as 18 years old guy i`ve decided that i not want to dise sitting in front of the computer and i`ve tried the yoga, despite the difficulty in the beginning in trying to get in the poses – i`m finding myself that i`m ready to face more of them, harder poses, advanced poses, learn spiritual knowledge and spiritually develop myself with a smile, with courage, interest, and other things like this)
I`m building my site, and i`m an administrator on the other site, but the main thing – when i lead the people to work – everything is fune, work is in progress, and site rising to the first 10 top sites rank or even 1st 4 rank. What is that, i`m not really sure…
Hi Andre,
Very well put. Glad you enjoyed the article.
Cheers,
Anmol
Great article. Richard, maybe the point of this article may de for you to find what you like the most doing/studying in your course. If there’s nothing you like in your course maybe, just maybe, you may correct it by changing your field of study, if you are at the beggining. If not, you can always start working in your area, evaluate that experience, and consider at the same time to graduate in another field. At the same time remember there are plenty of things you can do after graduating, and one of them may be suitable for you. Give yourself time to think calmly, and to brainstrorming at your own pace. I found the questions in this article very good, and they helped me confirming what i suspected. Besides Einstein, Confucious, Socrates and Plato, among others, expressed the idea in this article by their own words. I really think that this stuff is crucial, and that the world would be a better place if everyone found their own nature in spite of getting blind by the ambition for money. This is usefull not only for what you want to do in life, but also for the things related with leisure. Set goals! Thanks for this article Anmol. It was the right thing in the right time! Very useful stuff!
Hi Richard,
This is actually a great debate. What is practical – where does one draw the line? Don’t drop out of college of course :-), but stay tuned for an article regarding this topic, which has been brewing in my mind for quite some time now.
I would suggest though, to see how closely you can align your education with your passion.
Best,
Anmol
Great advice but perhaps not that usefull in the context of everyday life. Following that logic i should drop out of college.
Hi Tania,
Thank you for your feedback and am glad you are enjoying Mastery of Meditation & Yoga. Yes I do have a suggestion :-D. Perhaps instead of trying to find the perfect “doing” you can immerse yourself in just “being” for a while and see where the currents of the moment take you.
So I don’t suggest making any drastic lifestyle changes, such as job etc, but instead just embracing entirely what your life currently is and taking the stand of an third party observer for a while and seeing what happens.
In addition I suggest Zen Meditation Practice.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Anmol
Hi Unnikrishnan,
Great to hear you are finding the Mastery of Meditation useful and thank you for your good wishes and feedback.
Best,
Anmol
Firstly, I think this website is absolutely amazing. What a resource and what generosity of spirit you have to share all of this with people all over the world.
What you are saying in this article really resonates with me. I see how my friends passions carves their discipline and when they do what they want to do they don’t need to impose any discipline they just simply do what they do. In fact, when I’ve asked some of them, like the artists and actors I know, what drives them they have said they have no choice – they have to do it. They couldn’t do anything else. I have spent 11 years doing something by sheer act of will not through my hearts longing and passion. I’ve disciplined myself to do a job I didn’t feel passionate for and I have spent a long time reflecting over the Questions you include ‘to help discover your true passion’ and I have to say that I have drawn a blank with all of them. As I have done for the last 11 years. I don’t know what I feel passionate about. That’s not to say I’m completely lacking in passion! or that I am deeply unhappy. I have a good life filled with much love and happiness. Its just that I can’t say that there is one thing or even a handful of things that I really really want to do or can’t live without doing. Which leaves me wandering aimlessly and feeling quite purposeless sometimes. While I am happy, I sometimes feel a bit of a hole in my life. I have explored many many avenues but none of them make me feel like YES! This is my souls calling. Do you have any advice for people like me?
Thank you very much.
I’ve been using more than reading all the information you have spilled on your website..may all the good karma come your way & may you reach the ultimate goal of enlightenment.
Hey Teddy,
This is the great challenge we all face, to which I have found meditation to be the only solution. It reveals to you your True Nature, which is whole, complete and infinite. That then brings an end to the restlessness. Ambition, otherwise, is unquenchable.
The meditation I would recommend to start with is Zazen. Here is the URL…
Zen Meditation Technique
If you really are ready to break through, try the following advanced insight meditation technique…
Silent Mind Meditation Technique
There are also many articles that discuss desire/ambition/greed in great detail on this website. You may wish to check out the following which are TAGGED with “desire”
All articles tagged with tag – desire
Best,
Anmol
Anmol,
I think I feel like L. My ambitions are very high, and I think they are indicative of insecurity. How can I be content with who I am, without having to accomplish some extraordinary task.
Hey Alex,
We probably are not that far off in our thinking with regard to self-discipline here. In the story I was indicating that self-discipline that comes from within driven by the passion, is the kind one wants to have, as opposed to self-discipline imposed artificially from outside (which is generally driven by some end goal).
Thanks for sharing your thoughtful comments and adding to this interesting discussion.
All Good Wishes,
Anmol
I agree with what you’re saying, but not all of it. Having self-discipline is different than comptetition, self discipline, to me is the opposite of lazy, it is needed to get something done. Not too much is needed, just enough to get good results from something. Like in the story, if barbary had no self-discipline to think, he probably wouldn’t have come up with that rice forumula. Anyway, many things you said are very true, but i had to disagree on that one.
Great Article
Chapagain,
Thanks for your positive comments. I am glad you found the questions useful.
Best,
Anmol
The “Questions to Help You Discover Your True Passion:” are really great !!
Dear L,
Thank you very much for sharing with us your experiences and thoughts.
I don’t think I implied everyone needs Zen. I certainly don’t believe that either. In the above article I am indicating that the natural discipline that arises through doing what you love in the way to go, rather than the imposed discipline of simply ambition.
Zen is a profound science and certainly one you should explore, but, given your state of mind currently I would suggest taking up Pranayama (breathing exercises as well). To help alleviate depression please try the following practice for at least a few months (as your depression is long term). This practice has proven to be very effective is helping cure depression.
Kapalbhati Yoga Breathing Exercise
In addition please do the following when practicing this pranayama…
1. Sit in Gyan Mudra. Which means index finger and thumb tips are meeting and wrists are resting gently on the knees with palms facing slightly upward.
2. As you do the exhalation engage your mind and visualize all negative emotions leaving your body.
Please let me know if you run into any issues or have any question.
Best,
Anmol