One of the most frequent questions I am asked is, “How do I know if I am making the right decisions in life?” I do not believe there is any such thing as a ‘right’ decision. To make a decision I need to be right inside; clean and clear, and this requires having access to my conscience. By doing so I develop the extremely important power to discern or discriminate between truth and falsehood, right and wrong, that which is benevolent and that which is not.
The trained eye of the jeweller can spot an imitation jewel from one that is authentic. In the same way, I can develop the ability to detect the virtue and truth in a situation, or within a person, and know instinctively what is needed; what word should be said, what action taken, without projecting my own desires and wants onto the moment. It requires being able to read signals.
Signals are in front of us all the time in life. We only need to attend to the signals of the moment. Just as if I drive a car from one city to another, the signs of how to get there are not given to me all at the same time, as I leave my front door. No, I am shown the way every few kilometres, and so am able to navigate my way in peace and clarity.
To cultivate this power of discernment, I need to find time to contemplate, meditate, to clean the mind and intellect of waste thoughts. Then, I need to acquire knowledge, of human laws and spiritual laws. For example, if I deeply understand the law of karma, I will take great care to be clear and clean about what actions I take.
Thirdly, I need to make sure I am not wasting time or energy with thoughts that have no purpose, that cloud the intellect. Thoughts of the past, or of doubting myself, superficial internal comments of how others look or how they are behaving – all these waste thoughts keep us spinning and we completely lose focus. They cloud the intellect and mind, and I cannot recognise myself anymore.
I need to learn to be able to put a full stop to these inconsequential thinking patterns. The sign of having too many waste thoughts is a loss of balance. We become irritated, angry, frustrated and lose the ability to retain a neutral, balanced perspective — we become emotional.
Daily meditation creates an elevated vibration within and keeps the intellect clean. We can start the day with moments of silent meditation. Before we start something, we can have some moments of silence that give us perspective and clarity. When we finish the task, we can take a few more moments to clean away any debris of thoughts and feelings, and thereby avoid carrying baggage from that activity to the next.
There is a well-known and beautiful analogy of the swan and its divinity. A swan picks the pearls from the pebbles, the jewels from the stones. Let me recognise the virtue in everything and everyone. When situations become complicated and difficult, let me ask what virtue is this situation or this person asking of me? When I recognise that, I will be ‘right’ inside and will be able to trust the decisions I make.
Gopi Patel is a spiritual educator and senior Rajyogi meditator with the Brahma Kumaris, specialising in spiritual pragmatism in all areas of life.