Late Night Chat with Jeff: Maintaining Poise, Jan 12, 2025, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered!

Maintaining Poise

Dear folks of Baba,

Baba has written in many places about the importance of poise. It is so difficult to maintain poise in the midst of what is happening in the world today and in our personal life. Yet, as Baba has said, poise is so necessary for expressing love for others and in the world around us. There are many things common to all of us that disturb our poise: each of us has particular issues in ourselves and with others and in outer situations that invariably get a “rise" out of us. Baba seemed to have cleared out most of the triggers that would disturb His mandali, and I was amazed at how accepting and tolerant they could be. The continual self-reference that most of us are addicted to seemed to be relatively absent in the mandali. I always say, as long as Baba can still get a rise out of me through others and circumstances, His work in me is not complete! Some of the most common experiences that disturb the poise of Baba lovers are: witnessing injustice, unkindness, self-serving behavior, double standards, dishonesty, betrayal, feeling unworthy, criticalness of oneself and others, domineering personalities, loud voices, imperviousness to constructive criticism—there are many more examples, for sure! With all of our impossible expectations, most of us struggle to accept life as it is and so we miss opportunities where we can actually change things for the better.

Baba has said, "All these lives you have made a habit of looking [out for] yourself. If the slightest thing goes against your habit, you are upset...What you have been doing always is thinking of yourself; so now you must not think of yourself, but think of others. This is what is called love. But it needs character, poise, perseverance. Poise — what is it? That state of mind where nothing excites you, nothing upsets you. Only [if you have poise] can you help others, then only can you make others happy. That means love. Thinking not of yourself but of others.”

What kind of behavior in yourself or in others do you find most disturbing? What things trigger you the most? How have you worked to rise above reacting and maintain your poise? How has Baba helped in this effort and struggle? Do you find that there are unhealthy situations where the loving response is to avoid them when possible? Do you often resolve some disturbances by steering clear of certain persons or situations? Does that usually work? Do you sometimes write situations off with the thought that it is "all an illusion,” a truth you may know intuitively, but probably not yet experientially?

Through Baba’s grace and through our continuing efforts, we gradually rise above our reactions and attain to a state of poise, which makes our lives more and more balanced and harmonious. The world--do we dare say generously?--offers myriad opportunities now to maintain the poise that Baba speaks of. And most of all, through poise, as Baba says, the love in us can flow out to others and the world more freely and with less impediment.

In His Love, Jeff

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