Day: October 26, 2024

Swami ji said…

Man cannot control how his life unfolds. Contrary to his ego’s belief that he can make a lot happen – the truth of the matter is that – he cannot turn even a single strand of hair from black to white – at his will. What he can do – is only try. What he gets out of those actions – are never in his control.

Thus, life, as he experiences is never really in his control. And this lack of control, this inability to ascertain what will happen and when, makes man feel powerless and helpless.
Whatever happens to him, good or bad, is rarely anticipated by him. It is just that he hopes that ‘good things’ happen to him and ‘bad things’ do not.

Yet, man can ever be heard saying the words – “I am very happy with all that life has given me… I couldn’t have asked for more!” ” I have everything that I ever needed… I’m so grateful to God for giving me all that I wanted !” “I understand that things only had to happen that way!”

Since society is greatly enamoured with ‘material’ progress – in terms of one’s wealth, status, power etc – we put in everything possible – physically and mentally – to be the best among the best. So fearful are we of losing what we have gained – that we are willing to undergo great mental duress to retain what is ours – at all cost. The fear in us – to ensure that nothing goes wrong for us – drives our daily mechanical actions to a large extent – giving us hardly any time to – realise what we actually are ; what we can be. Do we ever try to guage how rich we really are in the ‘heart and mind’ ? How full is our heart with contentment and love? How calm and unbothered is our mind with the ups and downs of life – focussed on God ‘s will and His ways ? For this is the way we had been created by God – originally. But did we let ourselves remain that way – pure, calm , at peace, content ?

Not many of us can vouch that we are content, satisfied and genuinely grateful – for all that life has given us; blessed us with. Many of us might have never felt and experienced the bliss and peace – that a thankful sigh of deep contentment – can evoke within us. Instead, we allow the constant clamoring of dissatisfaction, annoyance and worry – reject any possibility of contentment – to make its home within us.

Acceptance is the secret of contentment and non – acceptance is the cause of bitterness. How life has turned out ; how it is proceeding – instead of resisting – all and whatever that is happening in our lives – we must learn to accept it – as it is. Acceptance is not meant to be thought of as – ‘accepting defeat to life’. Rather, it , is but the first step towards acknowledging our circumstances, and, adjusting to them in the best, possible way, that we can. Instead of always trying to ‘control’ what is happening in our lives – as it is not possible to do so – keeping the unpredictable nature of life in perspective – we must focus on how we ‘react’ to it. That is when true living begins. That is when we start experiencing life truly, and become masters of our own ship.

Acceptance is also key to spiritual development. For acceptance can only be there, if , we truly surrender our fate to God. It means that whatever is happening, we attribute to Him. And, live life as if answering to His call. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in – it is simply Him – engaging with us. It is His way of directing us, gauging us. ‘Difficult times’ in such a case will mean that God is looking at us to act boldly ; make changes in our way of living that will benefit us. ‘Good times’ will tell us that God is seeing how we react on having more resources at our disposal. Will we act in a manner that’s responsible? Will we forget Him altogether? Will we become unprincipled? Or do even more good in such suitable circumstances?

We must remember – ” जब हम हर परिस्थिति में संतुष्ट रहते हैं तब हम खुश और बेफिक्र रहते हैं और जीवन का आनंद लेते हैं…” “स्वीकृति की भावना से जीने में हमारा जीवन अच्छा हो जाता है!” But we create more problems for ourselves when – “हम जीवन के उथल-पुथल को; अलग-अलग परिस्थितियों को स्वीकार ही नहीं करना चाहते हैं…
हम ये भूल जाते हैं कि परिस्थितयों को स्वीकार करने से हम संतुष्ट रह सकते हैं… हमें ये समझना चाहिए कि जिंदगी की हर परिस्थिति हमें कुछ ज्ञान देकर जाएगी और हमारे कौशल को बढ़ावा देगी … हमें बेकार में छोटी-छोटी बातें से परेशान होने के बजाये, उन्हें स्वीकार करना चाहिए…हम हर परिस्थिति में संतुष्ट रहेंगे , हमें यह तैय कर लेना चाहिए ..”