None of this is Your Business

Sri Annamalai Swami

Suppose you are walking down a busy road. You encounter all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. Little conversations are going on in one place. Perhaps workmen are digging a hole somewhere. Inside a store a customer may be arguing about the price of some goods, while in the middle of the road there may be a crowd of people congregating around an accident victim. None of this is your business, but there is always a possibility that you will get interested in some or all of these activities and forget the reason why you are out on the street yourself. Don't get excited by anything you see and hear. Just walk steadily towards your destination.

Your vasanas are all the sideshows in your head that can drag your attention away from your main business, which is being aware of the Self. If you have no interest in them, you will walk straight to your goal. If something temporarily distracts your attention, bring yourself back by asking yourself, 'Who is interested in all this? Who is getting interested in this distraction?' This will deflate the distracting desire and it will bring you back to an awareness of your true purpose.

Remember, nothing that happens in the mind is you, and none of it is your business. 

You don't have to worry about thoughts that rise up inside you. It is enough that you remember that the thoughts are not you.

Q: That goes for all kinds of thoughts?

AS: Whatever kind of thought arises, have the same reaction: 'Not me; not my business'. It can a good thought or a bad thought. Treat them all the same way. To whom are these thoughts arising? To you. That means that you are not the thought.

You are the Self. Remain as the Self, and don't latch onto anything that is not the Self.