How to Come out of a Low Mood

Question: For most of us, all we know is our mental reality. How can we be less identified with the mind, especially when we are in a low mood?

Answer: When you find yourself overwhelmed with a thought that isn’t beneficial, try to go back to the point where it started. See what you discover – maybe you ate too much in the evening and slept poorly after that, and the mind became disturbed by kapha and tamas. Understand the origin of your low feelings, why do you feel bad, when did it start? By recognizing the source, you can distance yourself from it: “This isn’t me.”

Or you can fill your mind with something else. The mind cannot hold two things in its awareness at once. The quickest way to fill the mind with something else is in association. By sharing with each other, we come out of a negative mindset. Have a talk with an inspiring devotee. If no one is around, maybe you can meet over the internet, although in person is best. This helps immediately. When you’re together with a really enthusiastic person and allow them and their bhakti in, it works wonders. Ramanujacarya says, “If all the sadhanas you’ve tried have failed, there is still one sadhana that will work: association with devotees.”

Question: What is the difference between spiritual bypassing or emotional repression, and not identifying with the mind?

Answer: Yes, many people try to ignore the mind and emotions. However, feelings will not go away like this. They will stew inside. Therefore, you first have to accept whatever is there, before you can transform it. If you don’t accept your feelings and state of mind, and always try to bypass it, you can never hope to change it. You have to sit with it, give it a place: “This is the reality, I have to open my eyes and look at it.”

Then, the second phase is: see if you can come to another place that has strength and is real. For a spiritualist this is always the meditation, “I am a part of Krsna.”, and then take things on from there. From that position, new thoughts can arise, such as: “How do I feel about my envy, as a part of Krsna? The other person is also a part of Krsna. Why am I envious? It means that I have not really understood that I’m a part of Krsna because from that understanding I’m alright, I have no problem… Hm… Aha, I have no faith. This is what I need to look closely at!”

See from where you can draw strength when you’re weak. And it has to be from a real place, not an imaginary mental projection, a passing feeling. You have to enter the world of the spirit. We are spiritual beings in this material world.

Let me give you another concrete example: At one point in my life a doctor told me that I have cancer. I became very fearful, so I went to Radha Madana-mohana and prayed, “I’m afraid. Please whatever may happen to me, I give myself over to you. You are my Lords. I am your eternal part. Please accept me.” And saying this with great faith pacified me, because I had touched a real spiritual space that gave me real strength. When you touch real spirituality, it gives you strength which makes you deal differently with the world.

We need to deal with our feelings and then go to a position of strength and try to let the mind hold it, this way you can bring good consciousness into the troubled emotions. It has to be real though.

Form a lecture by Sacinandana Swami at Simhachalam, May 6th 2023.

Srila Prabhupada: When one is unaffected…

When a man is non-envious and does not desire ill fortune for anyone, he is equipoised. For such a person, all directions appear happy.

Purport
Prabodhananda Sarasvati said, visvam purna-sukhayate: when one becomes Krsna conscious by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, for him the entire world appears happy, and he has nothing for which to hanker. On the brahma-bhuta [SB 4.30.20] stage, or the platform of spiritual realization, there is no lamentation and no material hankering (na socati na kanksati [Bg. 18.54]). As long as one lives in the material world, actions and reactions will continue, but when one is unaffected by such material actions and reactions, he is to be considered free from the danger of being victimized by material desires. The symptoms of those who are satiated with lusty desires are described in this verse. As explained by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, when one is not envious even of his enemy, does not expect honor from anyone, but instead desires all well-being even for his enemy, he is understood to be a paramahamsa, one who has fully subdued the lusty desires for sense gratification.

Srila Prabhupada’s translation and purport on Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.19.15.