One of the greatest expectations from a human being is that of adaptability. Adaptability means the ability to be flexible; the ability to adapt to changing circumstances so that we can respond to the world around us, in an appropriate and a just way.

Since the world is constantly changing, we too are required to change and recalibrate our responses to it. But very often we find it difficult to do so. Sometimes the change is too much or too quick, and many a times it’s simply too uncomfortable for us to adapt to the change. It makes it all the more challenging when the outcome of the change is highly uncertain and/or confusing.

In situations like these, one at first hesitates, then resists, and gradually over time, takes to the maladaptive behavior when he is unable to adjust and adapt to the change.

Maladaptive behaviour is always problematic, not only for others but for us too as it can cause us serious trouble personally, professionally and mentally too, if not addressed properly and in time. But behind the maladaptive behaviour, are our maladaptive thoughts, feelings and actions. How do we control these? Do we have enough power to do so? Let us explore!

According to Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan, an enlightened being our mental and/or physical activity is all a result of previously sown karmic seeds. That is, whatever happens in this lifetime is an output of whatever we have programmed in previous lifetimes. Our thoughts, actions and feelings too are part of this. They have been determined by us previously and right now they are just playing out, like a song that plays on the radio. This means that we really have no control over them right now.

But our thoughts, actions and feelings by themselves do not hold potential to cause much harm or trouble. They become powerful when backed by the strong opinions and judgements given by our intellect in favour of the current situation over the new one. These prevent us from accepting change. However, it is the power of our response in turn, which ultimately determines how much power they hold and what influence they wield.

Let us look at an example.

Suppose we are to relocate to a city where everything is different, right from eating habits to clothes, timings to transport, it is all a totally new way of living. We are naturally uncomfortable and even a little scared. The thought of cancelling the move crosses our mind so many times. Yet, say we somehow relocate. Even thereafter, the thought of going back to the old place where we lived still continues to cross our mind. All of this is an effect of our previous causes; it’s nothing but a result of our past karma. Now if, on our part, we do not give much importance to such thoughts, and not paying heed to them, continue to keep faith and a positive mindset to adjust to this change, then eventually, in course of time, we find that we’ve settled down and are even surprised to see how much we’ve started liking this new place now. This is called our healthy response to change.

However, if we exercise the overpowering prejudice against new city or lifestyle, or being too emotionally attached to the current place where we live, do everything in our power to resist the change, get stressed, become obsessed about little things, give more than appropriate priority to those thoughts which show us the red flags, and ignore whatever hope or acceptance we find in ourselves regarding this change, then we’ve rendered ourselves powerless against our maladaptive thoughts, feelings and actions.

Thus, we can see that in both the cases, one experienced doubt and uncertainty that propelled hesitance to change in our thoughts, feelings and actions. We can’t control the presence of these thoughts, feelings and actions as it is determined by previously sown karmic seeds. But it is in our hands whether we choose to respond by adopting maladaptive means to resist the change or we respond by taking the path of faith and patience and adopt adaptive means to assist the change. We are thus not entirely powerless in the face of maladaptive thoughts, feelings and actions.

And in case, we adopted maladaptive means and hurt someone, even then we do have the recourse of doing pratikraman and regaining the power. Pratikraman means a heart-felt prayer to God, “Dear God, I am sorry for having such maladaptive thoughts, feelings and actions and also for hurting people through these. Please forgive me and grant me strength so that I do not ever repeat these mistakes.”

After doing pratikraman, it may happen that these mistakes repeat; because, as mentioned earlier, they are a result of previously sown wrong seeds of karma. We burnt one seed of karma through pratikraman, but there could be numerous such seeds that may have been sown. But each time a new seed comes for fruition and a maladaptive thought or feeling crops up, we shall immediately do pratikraman and burn that seed. This way, we’ll soon regain our power to respond positively by adjusting and adapting to every circumstance in life.

Furthermore, if we attend a Self-Realization Ceremony, we’ll realize that, “I am the all-powerful Pure Soul and my nature is only to see and know.” With this, our belief that, ‘I indeed am the one who is having these thoughts, feelings and actions’, also shall drop.

This is only a two hours ceremony called Gnanvidhi and it is totally free of cost. Here, Gnani, the Enlightened One, with his spiritual powers and his divine grace, separates the Soul (our real Self) from the thoughts, feelings, actions, intellect, ego and everything else which is not our real Self. Thus, it becomes easier then to get seated into our own most powerful seat of Pure Soul as per the guidance given by Gnani; and from there, see and know all maladaptive thoughts, feelings, actions, intellect, ego, etc. and also get the above-stated Pratikraman done in a pure manner by maintaining the separation. This is when we come in total control of the maladaptive thoughts, feelings and actions, rendering the latter completely powerless! Thus, Self-Realization Ceremony is a must-attend, game-changing event in every person’s life.