DISTRACTIONS

Distractions, such as sights, sounds, people, and ideas, are like waves on the surface of a pond.  They deny us a clear view of what is deep within, God.

Commentators on the yoga philosophy of Patanjali use a similar analogy.  They say that if the surface of a lake is covered with ripples, or its water is muddy, the bottom cannot be seen.  The lake is the chitta, the perceiving/thinking mind, while the bottom of the lake is the Atman.

Whenever the ripples of the lake are made tranquil, knowledge of the Atman is revealed.  Christ spoke of this in his beatitude:  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

No one can avoid distractions altogether, but Vedanta, in its doctrine of non-attachment, teaches that they can be managed.   The old saying “in one ear and out the other” is the idea.  It is, generally speaking, to disregard, to give no real importance to, sights, sounds, persons, and ideas.

There is always the risk, however, of a distraction that utterly captures us, something that, for whatever reason, we are particularly vulnerable to, something that we are powerless to dismiss.

The solution, in such an instance, is to acknowledge to ourselves our susceptibility, and to understand that it is a state of mind only, and that we are not our mind.  We are not the chitta.