In our previous article on Karm Yog, we discussed the importance of working or serving without attachment. Extending our learning of how to implement the principles of Karm Yog, how do we learn to de-stress ourselves?

When we are in satsang, we feel relaxed, de-stressed and at peace with everything. But as we leave the satsang and continue with our daily chores, the stress level increases.  How do we relieve stress permanently?

We experience stress because we want certain outcomes, situations and results.  However, the soul is not independent, and it is not within its ability to fulfil all of its desires.  By nature, the soul is a servant of God.  Now, what is the duty of the servant?  To fulfil the wishes of his or her master.  If we surrender to God and think that whatever He does is for our welfare, this attitude of surrender will help us get rid of stress.  A surrendered soul says:

राज़ी हैं उसी में जिसमें तेरी रज़ा है ।
यूँ भी वाह वाह है त्यों भी वाह वाह है ।।

Now, what is the problem in increasing the level of surrender?  Worldly attachments!  We keep on pondering, “This should happen this way; that should happen that way.”  That is the main hurdle to complete surrender.  If we wish to increase the level of our surrender, we need to increase our detachment from the world. 

Before God-realization, there will always be some amount of tension within everyone, because the extent of surrender will not be one-hundred percent.  However, by giving us tension, God signals to us that something is wrong and we need to correct it by surrendering further to Him.  When we put our hand in the fire, we feel pain.  What would happen if we did not feel the pain?  Our hand would burn without our knowing it.  The feeling of pain is, in fact, a form of Grace.  It is a signal that something is wrong, and that we must take the hand out.  Similarly, stress is a signal that we need to increase our surrender and devotion to God.

A spiritual doctor will prescribe you the medicine of submitting to God for getting rid of stress, whereas a material doctor will give you all kinds of medicinal drugs.  However such drugs will not help eradicate the root cause of stress.  By increasing the level of surrender, the source of stress will itself be eradicated.  Shree Krishna states in the famous verse:

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ||

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

कायेन मनसा बुद्ध्या केवलैरिन्द्रियैरपि |
योगिन: कर्म कुर्वन्ति सङ्गं त्यक्त्वात्मशुद्धये ||

kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalair indriyair api
yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṁ tyaktvātma-śhuddhaye

If we follow this magic formula of Karm Yog, stress will be abolished from its roots.