What is ‘Discipline’? In life we need a good routine, some control or restraint over our behavior, and an aim to achieve something worthwhile. To achieve these, we need discipline.
It is choosing to do something that may be difficult or unpleasant to do but is good for us in the long run.
Why? If we care for our destiny, we need to be careful about what we think. Disciplining our minds and thoughts is the first step for achieving our goals and becomes the key to our success in life.
"There is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind and
There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind.”
Gautam Buddha
How and when to start disciplining a child?
लालयेत पंचवष ण दशवश ण ताडयेत् ।
ा ेषु षोडषे वष पु े िम वदाचरेत् ॥
Treat a child up to the age of five
with lots of love and tenderness.
From five to fifteen years raise a child with strict discipline.
After the age of 16 behave with them as friends.
In the cartoon movie “Kung Fu Panda" a Panda bear goes to learn Kung Fu from a teacher -
‘Yoda’. The martial art of Kung Fu requires a lot of discipline - control over the mind and focus - before a student can become proficient. Panda bear had a great weakness for food.
Yoda shows Panda's favorite food - a rice dumpling. As soon as Panda tries to grab the dumpling, Yoda takes it away. This goes on till Panda gets over his weakness. Then only Yoda starts his real training and Panda bear becomes as agile as Yoda. To learn anything worthwhile one has to give up all other desires and focus only on gaining knowledge and training.
Likes & Dislikes
We all have certain activities that we like and some that we don’t like. When we avoid activities that are important - like getting up early in the morning - and avoid them, then it is not good for us in the long run. To overcome our strong ‘dislikes’, we may select a project we dislike and are ‘putting it off’; give it a priority and give your best shot.
सुख ःखे समे कृ ा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।
ततो यु धाय यु
नैवं पापम् अवा
स ।।
In this struggle (battle of life, develop equanimity
A balanced mind)
by accepting pleasure and pain, success and failure
(as part of life).
Give your full attention to the effort
and then you will not incur any sin
(feeling of guilt or sadness).
Bhagavad Gitā II, 38
We lose our capacity to make good decisions when we are under stress. Equanimity is very important, especially when we are dealing with some stressful situations.
We also need to develop tolerance for unpleasant conditions like hot and cold, taste for certain healthy foods and even unpleasant people.
मा ा श ः तु कौ ेय शीतो सुख ःखदाः ।
आगमापाियनो अिन ाः तान् त त
भारत ।।
O descendant of King Bharat (Prince Arjun),
when our sense organs come in contact with objects,