The law of conservation of mental energy

Equilibrium, equipoise and equanimity – these are the key principles behind the “law of conservation of mental energy”. We have to maintain our equilibrium in the face of success or failure, victory or defeat, pain or pleasure. The Gita says “that a true yogi is beyond opposites, he is above duality”

This is no idle statement. The ability to maintain our equanimity in the face of failure is extremely important. When we depressed or when we get excited we expend a lot of mental energy. When our mind is under tremendous stress because of pain or when we are too excited overjoyed our mind looses its equilibrium and is in a state of unstable tension. Prolonged excitement or depression can really leave one enervated and exhausted.

Hence it is critical to be able to maintain our mental equilibrium under all conditions. This is extremely difficult to put into practice since we are conditioned and programmed to react with joy to success and feel depressed when hurt or when encountering failure.

We could maintain our poise by telling ourselves that the excitement or sadness will eventually pass. We can then try to view it slightly more dispassionately.

When we conserve our mental energies by maintaining our mental equilibrium we are left with more energy to focus on problems that we have. If we expend all our energies in being overjoyed or in feeling downcast we are bound to be exhausted and we will not have any energy left.

So the key principle in life is to maintain equipoise under all circumstances.