Mindfulness According To Vivekananda And Yogananda

Here’s Swami Vivekananda on the subject of mindfulness. He wrote that the goal of Vedanta—and we might also say that it is the goal of life—is to achieve and maintain ‘an eternal calmness … which cannot be ruffled, the balance of mind which is never disturbed, no matter what happens.’ He also wrote, ‘Neither seek nor avoid; take what comes. This is freedom—to be affected by nothing. Do not merely endure; be unattached.’ So, a mindful mind is a balanced, unflappable and imperturbable state of mind; it does not react to what comes and goes from one moment to the next, but instead remains unattached and unaffected by what happens in or outside us.

Paramahansa Yogananda’s advice is as follows: ‘Live quietly in the moment. … Be detached inwardly from whatever happens in your life and consciousness. … No matter what happens, look at things with non-attachment.’ He also wrote, ‘Live each moment completely and the future will take care of itself. Fully enjoy the wonder and beauty of each moment. … To live mechanically is to be dead inside though your body be still breathing!’ 

Then there’s this gem from Yogananda: ‘Retire to the centre of your being, which is calmness. … Remain clam, serene, always in command of yourself.’ And this one: ‘Stillness is the altar of spirit.’ So, as the Bible also says, ‘Be still, and know …’ (Ps 46:10). Note the connection—first, you get still, then you know. True knowledge—or wisdom—comes when we are still. Yogananda wrote, ‘Each minute of life should be a divine quest.’ Yes, a quest for stillness and spiritual knowledge.

Both gurus made it perfectly clear that true spiritual knowledge was costly. ‘Until we give up the world manufactured by the ego, never can we enter the Kingdom of Heaven,’ wrote Vivekananda. ‘None ever did, none ever will.’ In a similar vein, Yogananda wrote, ‘To humble the ego or false self is to discover one’s eternal identity.’ He also spoke of ‘false identifications’ with body sensations as well as thoughts, feelings, and other mental images. Elsewhere he referred to these things as ‘false egoistic limitations’—those ‘I’s’ and ‘me’s’ that we mistakenly believe are the ‘real’ person each one of us is. Yes, the ego or false self—which we tend to generate almost every moment of the day when we are not living mindfully—stands in the way of our seeing things-as-they-really-are. The ego or false self needs to be crucified, with deep humility, on the altar of mindfulness. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, ‘Put out self, forget it. … Get rid of the little “I” and let only the great “I” live. … The little separate self must die.’ Or, in the words of Paramahansa Yogananda, ‘Salvation means freedom from ego-limitation, which is imposed on the soul [mind] through attachment to body-consciousness.’

Stop holding on to your little separate selves. Let them go. Let them die on you—mindfully.