In life, we fight many battles. We win some, we lose some. External battles come and go, but the biggest and longest battle we wage, is against ourselves. This inner war is long drawn out, seems never ending, and results in a lot of internal wear and tear. Clear thinking and right action seems almost impossible to come by. Why did I do that yesterday? Why did I make the wrong choice? I wish I had taken ‘A’ course of action instead of ‘B’. I wish I had studied harder when I was young, so that I would not need to struggle so much now. I wish I had married someone else. I wish I had had my child earlier/ later. I wish I had had more children/less children. I wish I had stood up and spoken my mind that day. I hope everything turns out well. I wish I hadn’t gone there that day. What if something goes wrong? What if I come down with some dreaded disease? What if my spouse gets seriously sick? What if I lose my job? Do I have enough money to see me through life? How can I become smarter, better looking, and more appealing to people? What can I do to achieve fame and money? How to earn more? Why is my mother in law behaving like this? Why can’t my brother understand? What wrong have I done to deserve this? And so on and so forth. These are some of the common thoughts that plague us, and keep us at war with ourselves. No matter what course of action we have taken in the past, no matter what we have done or not done months or years ago, no matter how hard we tried in the past to better ourselves, every human being is ever asking these questions and trying to find answers. This war, which goes on in our minds, slowly and steadily wears us down, tires us, frustrates us, depresses us, and makes us seek peace and joy, which somehow seems very temporary or highly elusive. And this is not the story of one or two individuals. This is the story of mankind. There must be no man or woman who is not constantly at war with oneself. Thought after thought keeps coming without any let up, relentlessly. And these thoughts are not only about oneself, they are about a whole lot of other people too. Why did he do like this? Why did he insult me? Why did he not help me in my hour of need? Why did my dad prevent me from becoming a doctor or architect? Why did my mom force me to marry this girl/boy? Why does my mom or dad seem to be favouring my sibling more than me? Why did my friend get cancer at such a young age? How does one end this inner war? How does one achiever peace and balance? Why is our life riddled with worries, anxieties, misgivings, guilt, anger, frustrations, resentments, fear and greed? Is this the nature of human life and are we cursed to live like this, or is there a solution? Is there some way to reduce all these inner battles and become more peaceful? Yes, there is a way. But the way is not easy. Nothing good in life comes easy. The bad or evil comes very fast. A loss comes much faster than a profit. A failure comes much easier than a success. Poverty comes much faster than richness. Disease comes much more easily than good health. So, anything that is good is never easy. To become a millionaire by doing honest work will take decades; to become one by doing illegal activities will take only a couple of years. So it is with life, the bad is quicker than the good. In order to quieten the mind and to reduce or stop this inner war, one has to have some anchor, some lighthouse which can give us courage, hope and encouragement. People find their anchor in different things. Many find it is work or hobbies. Many seek this peace through drugs or alcohol. Most turn to God or religion, to prayer and rituals.
What is needed to achieve some semblance of peace is deep trust and acceptance. All our battles exist because we do not trust and we do not accept. Trust and acceptance are the two wings on which the human being can survive, but if these two qualities are replaced with other qualities---fear, anxiety, greed, worry, guilt---then, they don’t function as effective wings and the flight of the human bird is very erratic. If we were to put kerosene or water into the fuel tank of a petrol car, we know very well how the car will run. In the same way, if we live our lives without the right fuel—trust and acceptance---but replace them with other ineffective fuels, life is going to be one long drawn out battle with oneself. Complete trust and acceptance in the power of the Universe---God, existence, divinity, Nature, unknown force, spirit—you can call it anything you want---is the only way out of this mess. Whatever happened to me, whatever is happening and whatever is going to happen is according to some divine plan, and will not and cannot change. This plan is designed by none other than the creator or designer of this Universe, which has been in existence for millions of years. Everything that exists is but a manifestation of that divine force. By wanting something different than what exists, we are challenging the very plan of God. When we want a different set of circumstances that what exists, remember that you are at war with the creator who created these circumstances for you. And obviously, you can never win. It is only with deep, unconditional trust that problems are not seen as problems, but as occurrences designed by destiny. Why different people have different destinies is not an easy question to answer, but once we accept this fact, that our life is not being led by us, but is being led through us by some divine force, we are not doers but are only instruments through which everything is done, one will automatically get peace and joy, for then there is no responsibility for our failures or success. The ego or I sense evaporates and with it disappears a whole load of problems and issues that we have been facing. And without the ego, with only a deep trust in existence, there is no one inside us, to fight these inner wars.
In life, we fight many battles. We win some, we
ReplyDeletelose some. External battles come and go, but the
biggest and longest battle we wage, is against
ourselves. This inner war is long drawn out, seems
never ending, and results in a lot of internal wear
and tear. Clear thinking and right action seems
almost impossible to come by.
Why did I do that yesterday? Why did I make the
wrong choice? I wish I had taken ‘A’ course of
action instead of ‘B’. I wish I had studied harder
when I was young, so that I would not need to
struggle so much now. I wish I had married
someone else. I wish I had had my child earlier/
later. I wish I had had more children/less children. I
wish I had stood up and spoken my mind that day.
I hope everything turns out well. I wish I hadn’t
gone there that day. What if something goes
wrong? What if I come down with some dreaded
disease? What if my spouse gets seriously sick?
What if I lose my job? Do I have enough money to
see me through life? How can I become smarter,
better looking, and more appealing to people? What
can I do to achieve fame and money? How to earn
more? Why is my mother in law behaving like
this? Why can’t my brother understand? What
wrong have I done to deserve this? And so on and
so forth.
These are some of the common thoughts that
plague us, and keep us at war with ourselves. No
matter what course of action we have taken in the
past, no matter what we have done or not done
months or years ago, no matter how hard we tried
in the past to better ourselves, every human being
is ever asking these questions and trying to find
answers. This war, which goes on in our minds,
slowly and steadily wears us down, tires us,
frustrates us, depresses us, and makes us seek
peace and joy, which somehow seems very
temporary or highly elusive.
And this is not the story of one or two individuals.
This is the story of mankind. There must be no man
or woman who is not constantly at war with
oneself. Thought after thought keeps coming
without any let up, relentlessly. And these
thoughts are not only about oneself, they are about
a whole lot of other people too. Why did he do like
this? Why did he insult me? Why did he not help
me in my hour of need? Why did my dad prevent
me from becoming a doctor or architect? Why did
my mom force me to marry this girl/boy? Why
does my mom or dad seem to be favouring my
sibling more than me? Why did my friend get
cancer at such a young age?
How does one end this inner war? How does one
achiever peace and balance? Why is our life riddled
with worries, anxieties, misgivings, guilt, anger,
frustrations, resentments, fear and greed? Is this
the nature of human life and are we cursed to live
like this, or is there a solution? Is there some way
to reduce all these inner battles and become more
peaceful?
Yes, there is a way. But the way is not easy.
Nothing good in life comes easy. The bad or evil
comes very fast. A loss comes much faster than a
profit. A failure comes much easier than a success.
Poverty comes much faster than richness. Disease
comes much more easily than good health. So,
anything that is good is never easy. To become a
millionaire by doing honest work will take decades;
to become one by doing illegal activities will take
only a couple of years. So it is with life, the bad is
quicker than the good.
In order to quieten the mind and to reduce or stop
this inner war, one has to have some anchor, some
lighthouse which can give us courage, hope and
encouragement. People find their anchor in different
things. Many find it is work or hobbies. Many seek
this peace through drugs or alcohol. Most turn to
God or religion, to prayer and rituals.
What is needed to achieve some semblance of
ReplyDeletepeace is deep trust and acceptance. All our battles
exist because we do not trust and we do not
accept. Trust and acceptance are the two wings on
which the human being can survive, but if these
two qualities are replaced with other qualities---fear,
anxiety, greed, worry, guilt---then, they don’t
function as effective wings and the flight of the
human bird is very erratic. If we were to put
kerosene or water into the fuel tank of a petrol car,
we know very well how the car will run. In the
same way, if we live our lives without the right
fuel—trust and acceptance---but replace them with
other ineffective fuels, life is going to be one long
drawn out battle with oneself.
Complete trust and acceptance in the power of the
Universe---God, existence, divinity, Nature,
unknown force, spirit—you can call it anything you
want---is the only way out of this mess. Whatever
happened to me, whatever is happening and
whatever is going to happen is according to some
divine plan, and will not and cannot change. This
plan is designed by none other than the creator or
designer of this Universe, which has been in
existence for millions of years. Everything that
exists is but a manifestation of that divine force. By
wanting something different than what exists, we
are challenging the very plan of God. When we
want a different set of circumstances that what
exists, remember that you are at war with the
creator who created these circumstances for you.
And obviously, you can never win. It is only with
deep, unconditional trust that problems are not seen
as problems, but as occurrences designed by
destiny. Why different people have different
destinies is not an easy question to answer, but
once we accept this fact, that our life is not being
led by us, but is being led through us by some
divine force, we are not doers but are only
instruments through which everything is done, one
will automatically get peace and joy, for then there
is no responsibility for our failures or success. The
ego or I sense evaporates and with it disappears a
whole load of problems and issues that we have
been facing. And without the ego, with only a deep
trust in existence, there is no one inside us, to fight
these inner wars.