Commitment does away with boredom

If you are only thinking about yourself, about how much more joy or pleasure you can get for yourself, you will get bored, because you will not get it anywhere. However, when your heart beats for others, for something higher, something finer and something more meaningful, then there is no boredom. 

The commitment level in our life indicates our enthusiasm or our boredom. If our commitment is low, boredom is bound to set in. If our commitment is higher, then boredom will never be anywhere around the corner. Boredom will never be anywhere near you. 

A practice or Abhyasa is again a repetition whose purpose is to destroy the boredom and reunite with the Self. In this process, practice itself creates boredom and as you continue, it penetrates the boredom and destroys it once and for all. Whether the practice gives you joy or boredom, it must be continued. Only the practice or Abhyasa can annihilate the Mind. 

Self is Love and Love is always repetitive. That is why love letters are simply repetitive and there is no boredom there. If you are bored with yourself then how much more boring you would be for others. 

Also, only a conscious, alert and dynamic person can get bored. A dull and inert person doesn’t get bored. If you get bored, it indicates you are more alive and human. It is a sign that you are growing, that you are evolving. An animal, for example, keeps doing the same thing. It never gets bored. Cows, horses, birds do the same things over and over all their lives. People eat, watch television, change jobs, change partners to escape boredom. And they get frustrated. And frustration takes them back to inertia and unconsciousness. Only in two states the boredom does not occur: in a state of total inertia or in a state of Divine Consciousness. If you are bored, it indicates you are evolving. Boredom moves you. 

Root out the boredom in you through deep and continued meditation.

— The writer is the founder of Art of Living Foundation  and can be reached www.artofliving.org