How to Develop a Positive Mental Attitude: Prajnaparadha

August 6, 2017
PRAJNAPARADHA
I learned this Sanskrit word on my first Ayurveda training at the Sivananda Ashram in Paradise Island, Bahamas. My teacher Lalita Devi discussed this during our section on causes of imbalances and dis-ease.

Prajnaparadha - incorrect belief, believing in separateness, duality, "other", forgetting our divinity, that we are a soul having a human journey, that we are a human 'being' living on this earth feeling pain, love, happiness, regret, grief and all the other emotions that are part of every human journey.

Because we are the same amalgamation of body, muscle, bone, blood, brain and spirit. We are stardust. It's taken me a long time to fully comprehend this concept, but once you know, how can you forget? I think it's the secret to the universe. Because I don't think the secret of the universe is some arcane, esoteric concept. It's something we intuitively know. There's a reason children understand this so instinctively. They haven't created all this division and separateness. I've been thinking of Bob Marley a lot lately and his quote "one love, one heart, one destiny." People so identified with the message of one love because we know it to be true...it's just harder in action.

"Love is the divine force of this universe. The purer you make your heart, the greater will be the power of your love. Be kind, be compassionate, be humble, be tolerant, be good, be just, be natural. Love the eternal in every being. Make no distinctions between one being and another." -Sivananda

"Love, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow wayfarers through this round of existence - that we all are overcome by the same law of suffering." -Buddha

"In every eye we meet, there is a world unspoken of, a world of unhealed memories of suffering, anguish, losses and pain, humiliation or abandonment, in need of understanding and a soft space that nurtured and heals. If in our love we can offer a buffer for their pain, and can master our listening, their suffering will be eased and their joy reclaimed. Be the container, the soft space, and the nurturing mother of all beings in need of refuge. Be ready to offer your heart as a gift, as a place for those in need" Prem Sadasivanda