Stop! Quickly face your internal conflict discomfort the right way

The words internal conflict invoke a thought similar to what Victor Hugo had spoken about:

“He was troubled; this brain, so limpid in its blindness, had lost its transparency; there was a cloud in this crystal.”

Correctly pointed out by Hugo, internal conflict results in clouding up our thinking. We usually think that conflicts are external to us. Conflicts are supposed to be verbal/physical in nature. We believe that conflicts should leave behind a physical or mental stress/trauma. Not all conflicts are of such a nature.

We’ll revisit the other types of internal conflict in sometime.

All of us know about the global spread and effect of the novel Coronavirus. This epidemic has turned out to be bigger than what we expected it to be. All of our movie fantasies are now coming true. Zombie apocalypses, deadly virus outbreaks and quarantines. We have now seen it happening in front of our eyes. What was external till now has become a matter of internal conflict now. A lock-down of such a global scale has not been witnessed in this generation. Entire economies have been shutdown. Staying and working from home has become a norm. It is slowly but surely also turning into a habit for the people.

Internal conflict in the epics

In such times of death and disease, India decided to ease the quarantine lives of its citizens. The Indian government decided to have reruns of the old Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The inspiration for this article comes from both of these.

These epics, combined together, contain within them everything a human goes through. It portrays all the qualities, behaviors, actions and traits possible by a human being. Internal conflict is also one of the characteristics.

Take whichever epic and the story-line is the same. Whether it is Maharaja Dasharath in Ramayan or Maharaja Shantanu in Mahabharata. Maharaja Dasharath was faced with a checkmate decision. Either he let his entire clan’s glory go to shame by not abiding to a promise. Or he send his beloved eldest son Ram to exile for 14 years and take away the right to the throne. A similar situation is faced by Maharaja Shantanu as well.

The common underlying theme in both these situations is that of internal conflict. These conflicts are generally not fought with anybody. These conflicts are fought inside the mind of the individual. It’s a vicious battle between the heart and what is true and right. Internal conflicts take place when responsibilities clash with feelings. It is a difficult situation to be in. Even the strongest of men can breakdown under the burden of internal conflicts.

In the initial stages, internal conflict does not even manifest itself physically. The individual might be fighting a battle internally for a very long time. With the passage of time, the signs start showing up.

• Low energy.
• Headaches.
• Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea.
• Aches, pains, and tense muscles.
• Chest pain and rapid heartbeat.
• Insomnia.
• Frequent colds and infections.

A unique perspective of the battle

The epics are not mere stories. They are a true telling of internal conflicts of many great individuals. It is interesting to note that the epics have captured this essence. To understand this situation, we need to look at a visual.

This is the image of the Kurukshetra war battlefield in Mahabharata. Both sides have gathered at the battlefield to wage war.

In the beginning we spoke out battles not always being physically manifested. Imagine the above visual inside the head of an individual. There are always two sides to a situation of internal conflict. These situations are the perfect recipe for the setup of a battlefield.

In such situations, the mind takes up different roles/characters. The mind, simultaneously, becomes the hero and the villain at the same time. In this way, all the characters from the Ramayana and Mahabharata start manifesting inside the mind. This is a testing and challenging frame of mind to be in. Whatever we feed, positive or negative, starts to grow on us.

As seen above, if internal conflicts are allowed for too long the effects can be dangerous. Like a termite infestation, internal conflicts can eat up the individual from inside.

The Kurukshetra lies inside all of us.

It doesn’t matter if Kurukshetra is an historical place or not. What does matter is that the battlefield Kurukshetra is inside all of us. We manifest different personalities and qualities at different times. It is essential that we address and face our internal conflict discomfort right away.

Addressing the issue

To address the issue isn’t an easy task. People are different. Situations are different. Timeliness are different. They may appear different, yet the underlying issue is the same. To tackle internal conflicts in the right manner calls for internal restructuring.

• The first step calls for cleansing of the mind.
  • This can only happen through focus. Focus can be achieved through many different ways. Chanting, household chores, flame of the fire, name of a god, a mantra, a word or a specific meditative kriya. This step is important and this is a time taking process. You will need to be patient with this step.
• The next step includes embracing the silence coming from the focus. With the help of this silence, the inner voices can be segregated. There’s always a small voice of the gut instinct. This voice is always right. It must be our primary objective to hone this voice. Train it to come out more often.
• The next step is the segregation of ‘What’s needed’ and ‘What’s wanted’. The need can primary or a community or a national need. On the other hand, a want may be very self centered and for a personal gain. The first two steps shall be instrumental in arriving at this step confidently.

The final word

The above mentioned steps are difficult to follow. Yet, they are definitely doable and require patience, practice and perseverance.

Not every wound is visible and not every harm comes from outside. A lot of damage can be done internally as well. It is up-to us to recognize our own battlefields, our own Kurukshetras. We must make the conscious decision of choosing which personality to feed. In this time of lockdown, it is best to dig in deeper and look inside. Scrub out the noise and in the stillness of the mind, let the intellect arise and awake.

The Bhagwad Gita spoken during the Mahabharata war holds many pearls of wisdom. Here’s on of them

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि || 47 ||

karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi

Which translates to:

“You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.“