Your head, your heart

Horace Walpole wrote many years ago, “...this world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.” Slings of shallow and absurd relationships, including ingratitude, where benefits are repaid through even doing harm, inextricable attachments and falling victim to guile and deception — these often befall simpletons and those who excessively use ‘ heart’, in preference to ‘ head’ (that is, ‘ feeling’ to ‘ thinking’). In this category also fall those emotional entanglements, including romantic escapades, where love can be blind.

Precision, balance and clarity are products of a detached perspective. Vivekananda, while exhorting, “...be not attached, be not caught,” notes, “reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved...” This ‘detached’ perspective (sakshi bhava) would enable you to counter cruelty and unfairness, where these cannot be pre-empted, through needed corrective action in good time and where required, even punishment (sama, dana, bhedaand danda). In fact, Mahabharata, is all about this! Applied to daily living, be clear in your dealings. Keep records, especially those involving money, straight. In short, be practical and authentic.

However, in this approach to appropriate blend of ‘head’ and ‘heart’, do not, ever, overbalance towards ‘head’. There, indeed, would be many, who would be worthy of your largesse and kindness. Of the rest, be wary and cautious. Indeed, ‘head’ and ‘heart’ should go together — one never to the detriment of the other!