Spiritual journey is not undertaken to cure depression, anxiety or getting material success or for that matter anything of the worldly nature. One can pray to God for that but there is a difference between praying for certain benefits and undertaking a spiritual journey. The purpose of spiritual life is to realise God regardless of the difficulties in the way, which are often quite a many.
Rituals don’t help either. One has to correct the problem where the roots lie. The roots of worry and depression lie in thinking too much about oneself. As a result one begins to notice all that one wants and does not have. People who are vitally strong go out driven by ambition to get their desires fulfilled. People who are not so strong vitally feel underconfident, give up effort easily. But though they escape the effort, they continue to harbour desires leading to more and more self-pity, unhappiness, poor self-worth and thousand worries.
The remedy lies in course correction and change of attitude towards life and world. This comprises mainly an inner shift from a life in pursuit of material success to a life in pursuit of inner and outer progress. The lesser one thinks of oneself, especially of one’s depression and worries, the sooner they will leave. Of course one has to work and earn one’s livelihood but that should not become a constant preoccupation for us.
So my advice will be stay busy, do regular exercises, learn new things and progress, remember God and have faith that He is there with you always. Read uplifting books such as The Gita, Savitri and other similar books. When waves of anxiety and depression come try to push them away and instead give positive affirmations to yourself. Turn your mind away from the depression and it will leave you.
If you are unable to do all these then take some medicines as prescribed by the doctor for the depression and worry.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
