Stress Academy Presents:

Web Series – The Story of Stress

Part 1 – Understanding Stress

Episode 16 – Recognizing Stress within – Positive vs. Negative Stress

In the previous video, we learned how passions can manifest in various forms and generate Active, Dormant and Potential stress. Now, let’s discuss another classification of our passions (Kashayas) that would help us develop strategies to contain, reduce, conquer and prevent stress.

Our passions can also be classified in two other categories: (1) Negative passions (Ashubh Bhav) (2) Positive passions (Shubh bhav). 

First let’s talk about common perceptions about negative and positive passions. It is widely believed that passions that are enjoyable are positive and the ones we don’t enjoy are negative. Classifying behavior as positive solely based on enjoyment factor is not appropriate because a person could very well be enjoying a behavior that is harmful to himself or others such as consuming addictive substances and engaging in unethical conduct. On the contrary, someone may be willing to suffer pain or sacrifice comforts to help others in need. In this case, though one is not “enjoying the act”, they are truly helping others which is indeed a positive act. Therefore, to classify positive or negative passions, we need to look beyond a materialistic enjoyment factor. 

According to Jain philosophy, positive passions (Shubh bhav) include characteristics such as:

1. Feeling of compassion towards other living beings (Anukampa) 
2. Serving others in need (Paropkar)
3. Admiration towards people who have achieved or are progressing towards achieving a passionless & equanimous state. This is known as (Prashastha Raag).
4. Sense of peace and satisfaction due to reduction in passions like Anger, Ego, Deceit and Greed. 

Although positive passions manifest with reduced intensity of negative passions; dependency and attachments to external factors still remain; and therefore, it is not a completely stress-free state. However, these positive passions can help minimize negative stress by suppressing negative passions; and therefore they are considered “positive stress”. For example, to help someone else through an act of generosity requires us to give up or reduce our attachment towards material objects which inevitably leads us to feel content and peaceful. 

On the contrary, negative passions (Ashubh bhav) are the ones that include characteristics such as:

1. Wrong beliefs about our self and consciousness (Moh)
2. Inclination towards sensory material pleasures (Indriya-Vash)
3. Pleasure in violent, unethical and immoral behaviors (Raudra Dhyan)
4. Unpleasant contemplations (Arta Dhyan)
5. Involvement in harmful activities (Du-Prayukta Gyan)
6. Negligence in conduct and actions (Pramad-charya)
7. Hurting other living beings (Par-Paritap)
8. Negatively criticizing others (Par-Apvad)

Like we discussed in video 13, we should aim to become stress-free by attaining a passionless and equanimous state. It is a journey of continuous improvement. Until such a passionless state is attained, it is  desirable to maintain a state of positive passions rather than negative passions to minimize stress.  Therefore, understanding the nature of positive and negative passions would help us make right choices about our goals and actions. It is important that we pay special attention to our passions and underlying intentions behind our external actions. Just because we are physically engaged in a kind or generous activity doesn’t necessarily mean that we are in a state of positive passion. For example, performing an act of charity with some ulterior motive of earning fame or expecting something in return would be a form of negative passion because the intention of giving is not genuinely for the benefit of others. On the other hand, a doctor possessing an intent to save the patient during the surgery is in a state of positive passions despite appearing to be cutting the body. Can you now take a moment to introspect your goals and day to day activities to determine when you are engaged in positive and negative passions?

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Additionally, we can divide these passions into “intentional passions” and “unintentional passions” to better identify and manage stress. Passions in which we intentionally and knowingly engage are known as Intentional passions (Gyat Bhav) and the passions that occur unknowingly without explicit intention are known as Unintentional passions (Agyat Bhav). To engage in cruel and violent thoughts, speech or actions with explicit intent of causing some form of violence is an example of Intentional passions.  However, to unintentionally engage in the act of hurting ourselves or others due to ignorance (Agyan) or lack of diligence (Pramad) is an example of unintentional passions. For example, texting while driving is an example of unintentional passion through negligence because these actions can potentially hurt others and land the person in serious trouble even though there is no intention to hurt others. Therefore, we can say that intentional passions lead us to experience intentional stress, and unintentional passions could lead us to experience unintentional stress.

In case of unintentional passions due to ignorance, willful ignorance is worse than genuine lack of awareness. Due to willful ignorance, the person does not even want to know the implications of his own actions and does not want to take necessary precautions to prevent or minimize adverse consequences. For example, there will be consequences of what, when and how we eat even if we are not aware of the ingredients and nutrients of the food. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to understand and introspect the manner and the consequences of our actions. We will discuss the nature of intentional and unintentional passions in detail in future videos. Can you take a moment to introspect your activities and think when you might be going through intentional as well as unintentional passions?

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Let’s look at the stress diagram, again after learning these new concepts of positive vs negative passions and intentional vs unintentional passions. 

In the end, we can conclude that:

1. It is necessary to be mindful of the type of activities that we engage in and scrutinize our intentions in order to minimize our involvement in negative passions. 
2. Besides having good intentions, it is of utmost importance to perform actions of mind, body and speech with diligence to contain, reduce and eliminate stress. 

The great Jain Acharya Kundkund characterized Positive passions (Shubh bhav) and Negative passions (Ashubh bhav) in his treatise Panchastikay Sangrah during the 1st century C.E. based on Tirthankar Mahavir’s teaching. Acharya Pujyapad described Intentional passions (Gyat bhav) and unintentional passions (Agyat bhav) in his treatise Sarvarth Siddhi during the 6th century C.E.

In the next video, we’ll discuss the overall strategy to manage stress from within. Stay tuned and don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel.