V: 19

Chapter 5, Verse 19

"Those whose minds are ever serene
Win the victory of life on Earth.
God is pure and ever one,
And ever one are they in God."

Sir Eknath Easwaran:

"What usually happens with most of us is the opposite of even-mindedness. When someone pleases us, we get a sense of exhiliration. When someone says no to us, we get dejected. These fluctuations of the thought-waves reduce our capacity to deal with the challenges that crop up in the course of daily activity. Dealing optimally with difficult challenges requires that we preserve our equilibrium and not get agitated.

When we burn with fear, it feels like this fear will last forever. If we could but quench the consuming flames of fear by remembering that in a little while we will have forgotten our fear, we would not psychically move away from the people who push our fear button. By moving towards instead of away, we strengthen both the other person and ourselves. Living in peace and harmony with people who are agitated, because of us or not, is one of the greatest services we can render them. It is the capacity to bear with people which is the secret of the capacity to love."

Wendell Berry:

"When despair for the world grows in me,
And I wake in the night
At the least sound,
In fear of what my life
And my children's life may bring,
I go and lie down
Where the wood drake rests
In his beauty
On the water
And the great heron feeds,
And I come into the peace of wild things.
All my stirrings
Become quiet around me,
Like circles in the water.
My tasks lie in their places
Asleep like cattle.
And then
What I am afraid of comes,
And I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
And the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song."