Adversities and evolution

To a dear who sent me a SMS : “Wo path kya pathik kushalta kya, jis path me bikhre shul na ho. Navik ki dhairya pariksha kya, Yadi dharen pratikul na ho.”

No doubt we develop skills, grow in strength and rise on facing adverse circumstances. It is same for external pursuits as well as for inner exploration.

A story. Crop of a farmer sometimes used to get destroyed by excessive rains, storm or lack of rain. One day while he was praying and complaining about his loss, God appeared and asked, "What do you want?" The farmer said that with due apology I want to say that you may have created the world but you have no idea about farming. I can show you how to manage it if you give me power to manage weather. The God agreed. Farmer managed rain and sunshine according to requirement of the crop and of course there were no droughts or storms. The crop grew very well with large balian. But when it was time to harvest, there were no grains. He prayed again. God appeared and the farmer asked him the reason. The God said just take out a plant from the field with its roots and see. The farmer found that all the roots were on the surface – none went deeper – as the water and other nutrients were readily available on the surface itself and there were no storms.

I also got initiated into spiritual quest as I suffered a lot with anger and fear and wanted to be free of them. But for anger and fear and consequent suffering, I would not have had enough motivation to persevere in my quest.

But this is only half the truth.

We know it too well that what we get in the external world is not the result of our intelligence and effort alone. If one pauses and looks around, one would surely find that some times one gets a thing for which one has not worked and sometimes with all the efforts, one fails. There is something mysterious about it.

One also knows that there are more intelligent and laborious persons who have not risen in life whereas there are others who are not that intelligent and laborious and are doing very well.

Another story. After his death Pope went to the door of the Kingdom of God. He found the door closed. He was surprised as he expected that there would be a rousing welcome on his arrival. He waited for a while but no body opened the door. Then he knocked at the door. After a while some body looked from a little window and asked, ‘Who is there?’ The Pope said, "I am Pope". The gatekeeper asked ‘Pope! never heard of anybody in that name.’ Pope now had to introduce himself. He said I am the representative of God in Rome. ‘Rome’ – where is it? Pope told him, it is on the Earth. The gatekeeper had not heard of earth either. Then Pope went on to explain that it is planet in Solar system. Being unaware of that also, Pope told him it is in the galaxy called Milky Way. By this time the gatekeeper was exasperated and asked, “Don’t talk in riddles. If you have index number of galaxy, please tell me, I would try to locate.” Existence is so vast that this galaxy in which light takes a few years to reach earth from some of the stars is insignificant. Such a vast Existence is managed by some energy. Millions of stars continue to be born and die.

When galaxy itself is insignificant what about our earth, our town and our contribution for its progress and sustenance?

Those who have known the mysteries of life say that in the external world we will normally get (by way of relationships, material things etc.) what we are destined to get as per our Prarabdha. Some changes are possible through some practices given in Shastras or blessings of saints – they may not however always work – it depends upon how powerful one’s Prarabdha is.

This being so when our aspiration or effort is in harmony with what we are destined to get, we have illusion of succeeding. And when our aspiration or effort is not in harmony with what we are destined to get, we either put the blame of the failure on others (or fate) or have illusion of failure on account of lack of effort.

There is thus nothing like success or failure. They are illusions (difficult to understand through the conscious mind but true). It is all a mysterious play.

Another view I would like to share with you is that all of us [our bodies (beauty, shape and size of limbs), intelligence, skills and other attributes like laziness, perseverance etc.] are the products of genetic coding and social conditioning (both external – as Kabir says "Mera mujh mein kuchha nahin"). There is, therefore, nothing to feel proud or ashamed of. If we understand it deeply, an acceptance for Self will arise. Once we develop acceptance for ourselves – as we are – it will be natural (in due course) for one to accept others as they are. And the tendency of expecting or bringing improvement in others - which causes all discord in relationship - will vanish. We can then live in harmony!

The life is mystery and everything here is a play of existence – limited ego of a person wants to believe as if it can make a difference and suffers when things do not go the way one wished for. One who takes life as a play of existence and takes part in the play with sincerity (making reasonable use of the attributes of body and mind with which one is endowed with) but at the same not getting involved in it (because it is a mere play), acts in a relaxed manner and enjoys the play (life as it is).