Here is a story we must all be familiar with.
We waste our day in some way or another. Fix our minds that the next day would be better.
We make grand plans that we will wake up early, we will complete our works early in the morning, we will spend quality time with our family, we will take care of our skin, we will eat healthily, we will use our devices only for a certain period of time, we will have a night routine before we sleep.
We convince ourselves tomorrow’s day will be better, more healthy.
We sleep with a feeling of pride that, “tomorrow is my day, tomorrow is shall carpe diem”
Then we wake up in the cold morning, comfortable blankets on us, soft pillows surrounding us, the warmth of our beds protecting us from the harsh and cold mornings.
We say to ourselves, five more minutes I will spend in bed, just five.
Then we wake up at the time we usually would.
In guilt, we spend half our day and another half we spend in hopes that tomorrow will be our day.
Whenever we make promises to ourselves to do certain things that are hard, struggles of various kinds and intensity rise up. We know things must be done, it is better for us if we do them. We are strong and capable enough and yet, we struggle with small tasks that we do only for our benefit. Why is this the case? An old parable helps us understand our situation.
There is an elephant and there is the mahout (the elephant rider). The mahout knows where to go, and how to go, the mahout is the one who can read maps and follow directions. The elephant has no idea of the higher purpose the mahout is aware of, it only knows that it needs food and shelter.
Yet who is stronger, the elephant or the mahout? Of course, it is the elephant. If the elephant wants to listen to the mahout, it will, otherwise the mahout’s skills and understanding is of no use. The mahout cannot force the elephant to do something, the mahout cannot drag him to the destination. The elephant will do whatever it wants to, even at the expense of the mahout.
This is our condition. The elephant is the mind/body complex. The mahout is the intellect. The intellect knows what is right and what is wrong. The intellect knows what it must do, what is needed, not only for its own satisfaction but also for the satisfaction of the mind/body complex. But the mind/body complex doesn’t speak the language of the intellect. It only understands what it needs and is helpless to the whims of its own nature and gets that, at the expense of the intellect.
What is needed here is the training of the elephant. The elephant doesn’t respond to words and explanations that rationality provides. The elephant must be trained using what it knows it needs, food and safety. A trained elephant would be a happy elephant for it would get what it wants and has a human it can depend upon. A trained elephant would listen to the mahout on it’s own accord. So can the mahout depend upon the elephant to take it places. Theirs is a relation of symbiosis, not one of master and slave. They know they need the other for their needs.
Standing from the high altitude of the intellect, thinking our mind/body complexes to be our slaves, or even worse, not knowing the mind/body complexes as different and distinct entities with their own needs, we make the decision of waking up early. Then in the morning, the mind/body complex intrudes, it asks us “Who agreed to your decision? We know for sure we didn’t. You made the decision, now you get up from the bed and go do what you want to, let us sleep.”
We must realise that as intellectual beings, we are highly dependent upon the mind/body complex to bring our high ideals into reality. For that, the training of the elephant, which is the mind/body complex is required with what it knows it needs. A relationship must be established where the mind/body complex trusts the mahout, which is the intellect and the intellect looks upon the mind/body complex as a partner, rather than a slave. A symbiotic relationship will result in ideas flowing from the intellect, realised in the world effortlessly.
We at Veda Wellness, Luxury Retreat & Rehabilitation Centre base our healing on these principles and work to create a symbiotic relationship of the mahout with the elephant. Many clients have reported the extremely positive effects once they left the centres.
Contact us, or visit the nearest centre to feel the effects first hand.
– Nihar Laljani
– Content Writer For Veda Rehabilitation and Wellness
