The Sublime and the Base

A sublime thought elevates the mind and expands the heart; a base thought excites the mind and renders the feelings morbid and dark. Those who have a little control over their thoughts and speech will have a calm, serene, beautiful, charming, face, a sweet voice and their eyes will turn brilliant and lustrous. –   Swami Shivananda

Hello friends, when I read the above quote, got me to start reminiscing my mother ‘s words. When we were kids , she used to say that our face is like a mirror which reflects exactly what we are thinking and contemplating inside. If one nurtures happy and benevolent thoughts, the person’s face will automatically glow. I used to wonder, how it is possible!! But after all these years and the experiences, I come to know the real import of it.

I must give you an example, of a famous actor of yesteryear, of Hindi cinema, Amreesh Puri. He had an imposing personality, tall and having a voice of formidably deep baritone. He acted both as villain and in the roles of a doting father or grand father. I used to watch in awe,  how a menacing and terrifying face of villain would undergo such a make over when he was a enacting a positive charecter. As a doting elderly,  he esed to look so benign and affable! The difference was only in the way of his expression of the emotions of the character he was, enacting.

As I told you earlier that how much, dark and brooding thoughts pollutes our heart and mind. It’s better for our own well being if we succeed to cast them away. If we are a little mindful of controling our thoughts and moderating the subsequent speech in positive manner, our faces would reflect the beauty, people around us wuold like to admire.

It’s absolutely true that beauty lies in the eyes of a beholder,. If one perceive someone as friendly and genial, all the shortcomings is overlooked and the person is pronounced a beauty. In the contrary, a real beauty could be trashed, if the person has a vain attitude and sinister and diabolic thought patterns.

If we think before we speak, a lot of misunderstanding and feeling of hurt and animosity can be eliminated. Because people tend to remember the indelicate words of indiscretion,  it gets stuck into their hearts, which are really tough to erase, however hard we may try afterwards. There are few outbursts in my life too, which I had uttered in a spate of anger and came to regret deeply. Though I have mended the creases in the relationship to a large extent but traces of the words still linger somewhere in the background.

Actually we get agitated by the injustice done to us and tend to strike back with a vengeance,  but if in that crucial moment,  if we handle the matter more sensibly and calmly, we could put across our unhappiness and humiliation in calmer and saner way. This can make the person realise his or her mistakes and mend accordingly.

It’s just the matter of tact and discretion on our part, which can salvage any tricky situation from going downhill. Let’s us all remember to apply them, when we are really angry with something or someone.

Featured photo: Riya.

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