Braving an unbearably hot and humid day, around a thousand devotees gathered at the YSS Noida Ashram's pandal on July 8, 2018 for a satsanga by Swami Smarananandaji.

The attendees were aptly rewarded with the inspiring words of Swamiji on 'Overcoming moods by right attitude.'

The Sunday satsanga programme began with devotional songs sung by devotees that lent an aura of peace to the entire place, following which Swamiji began his satsanga. He pointed out that "being swayed by moods is not natural for our soul nature, being overpowered by moods and becoming depressed, helpless, greedy is absolutely not what we should be prisoner of."

Swamiji explained that the moment we become unhappy, we not only make ourselves unhappy but also our environment. Thus, it becomes essential to get rid of the negative emotions as soon as possible.

Quoting our beloved Gurudeva Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda from his writings in Man’s Eternal Quest, Swamiji reiterated that it is imperative to overcome malignant moods. While there is no control over the events in our lives but we surely can change our attitude towards it, he said, adding that the way we handle it is in our hands.

Swamiji explained this through a story of a king who dreamt that all his teeth were lost and then he consulted a scholar about this dream. The scholar told him after consulting a lot of scriptures that he would lose all his relatives. The king was extremely annoyed at this and he punished the scholar for being so pessimistic .The king felt his dream should be interpreted hence he called for another scholar. Another scholar explained to him that his dream meant that he would live a long life and serve all his relatives and dear ones. The king was very happy with this interpretation. Swamiji said that though the meaning more or less remained the same, it is just how the information was deciphered that made the difference.

If we sometimes wonder why we have to face so many trials though we are on the right path, or in our spiritual endeavours, it is because we are fighting our karmas all the time, he explained. Citing the life of Gurudeva, he said that even Yoganandaji had to face many difficult experiences in his life, though he was completely on the spiritual path. What was his response to these trials? He single-heartedly prayed: “Let Thy will be done.”

Swamiji urged the devotees to always remain calm in every situation, adding that is the mental balance one should have. While it is obvious for the mind to be swayed by the moods, one must remain calm, meditate more and thank the Lord for all the blessings.

Guiding the attendees of the satsanga to possible solutions, he suggested that one could counter these mood swings by giving it time, like: "I would be upset for another hour, or till the next meditation." This, he said, helps the mind to train itself and not be bogged down by moods. Sometimes we are faced with a critical situation, and it may seem that there is no way out of it. In that case, the only thing to do is to remain calm, and our mind and body gradually gets used to it, he explained.

Another method to overcome moods is to engage in a constructive activity at that time, like cooking.

Swamiji’s lecture inspired the devotees to follow their spiritual practice with renewed enthusiasm.

After the satsanga, prasad was distributed to devotees by Swami Sadanandaji and Brahmachari Sheelanandaji, after which they were served Guru Langar.

Many devotees also sought counselling from Swamiji.