9 Life lessons I learned in 52 years of exposure to Advaita Vedanta

James Swartz
By James Swartz in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God,
1. First understand that Life is a zero-sum game. 2. The objects you seek don’t contain satisfaction/happiness. If they did the same object would produce the same joy or suffering for everyone. 3. Objects are anything you seek other than yourself. For instance: feelings, thoughts, events, situations, relationships, etc. 4. It’s natural to seek objects, but the results of your seeking are not up to you, although you can influence them. 5. So do your very best and don’t ignore the moral dimension of reality. 6. Look for the lesson in unwanted results, take them cheerfully and correct what you said or did that produced them. 7. Without compromising your principles try to accommodate yourself to the situations presented by the field of life. 8. You will inwardly react personally to what happens, but it is wise to keep negative reactions to yourself. Life is impersonal and doesn’t care what you think. In so far as people take things personally, it is best to not express negative reactions unless they are requested. 9. This wisdom and the attitude it encourages is called Karma Yoga. It works. The benefits are: it removes the anxiety for results which usually compromises your skill in action, which allows your karma stream to efficiently and happily carry you to your goal.    
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