A few days ago one of my friends who had done extremely well in his career was suddenly overtaken by adverse circumstances so that his career gains were wiped out in a single sad and unfortunate sweep. I will not mention the name of this friend or the precise events since a discussion of specific issues surrounding this event may overtake this blog. Rather the intention here is to try and understand the philosophy behind such events in general. Most certainly all of us have faced ups and downs in our lives. When the going is good we tend to take pride in our achievements and/or thank fate, circumstances or the Lord. Usually it is more of the former and less of the latter. As described by a famous Hindu- Muslim (He was both because in reality he did not conform to a religion) saint of India, Kabir in Hindi,
“Dukh main Simran sab Kare, Sukh me simran Kare na koi
Sukh me simran jo kare to Dukh kahe ko hoi”
My translation is,
In sorrow everyone remembers, in joy remembers none
Were one to remember in joy why should sorrow come
It is no doubt a human tendency to feel proud when one has made big worldly gains and when a loss takes place to regard the situation as unfair, even wicked and unjust. A highly spiritual person on the other hand may view gain and loss with equanimity holding that it is the Lord who giveth when it so pleases Him and it is the Lord who taketh away when He so ordains. The term Lord does not imply a regal God like figure here but rather the Universal Consciousness that includes all of the processes that happen in the universe. Certainly if gains or losses are due to one’s talents or misdeeds, the talents or the tendency for misdeeds were not created by a human but by the universal processes that begin at birth and end with death. However, having said what has been said here, it is easier said then done. It is neither easy nor possible for most that the individual consciousness remain a detached and passive observer of events. It is natural for one’s emotions to get involved. The degree to which they get involved however varies and may be a mark of one’s spiritual evolution. There can be a view when gain occurs that it is a result of our hard work and talent and to view loss as the wickedness of the world or a part of the world. Sometimes gains are considered a result of one’s misdeed and the loss as fair restoration. This latter view prevailed when Hosni Mubarak rose and fell and will undoubtedly also prevail when Gadaffi falls. The former view is usually the view of the individual at the center of events and persons close to him or her and the latter that of the world. The truth however may lie somewhere in between or entirely elsewhere. In an earlier post on Karma an attempt was made to understand such situations from another point of view. It was described that at all times an individual faces two types of forces, one a result of his own actions and another a result of the actions of the universe or the world around. After a thorough bath under a tree the cleanliness is a result of one’s own effort but when bird droppings from the tree above fall on one’s head, the dirt is a result of surrounding action. The net result a person experiences is a combination of the two. It is a human tendency to ascribe all good results to one’s own effort and talent and the loss or pain one confronts as misfortune or injustice of Nature/world/Universe/Lord/ whatever. The karmic view however is that both good and bad are a result of one’s own deeds, some from present and some from past and that the Universal Consciousness is just at all times. If you wish to read more about the mystic workings of karma check out older posts (the icon is at bottom right of this page and you may have to click a few times to reach karma posts). Do read the karma posts in proper order though beginning at Karma 1 and then on to Karma 2, Karma 3 and karma 4.
Usually a question one asks after going through karmic laws is - what is the use of worrying about or remembering the Lord when it is all karma? The answer is that an aspect of the Lord is Universal Love and within that love is the capacity to forgive and/or to make the lesson plans easier. The purpose of it all is education. The intensity of this education varies from Individual to individual and the speed is of one’s own choosing. The faster we act the faster karma unfolds, sometimes much too fast for a person to handle. So dear friends come with me to the green and peaceful Himalayas where you can breathe the mountain fresh air slowly and peacefully, while your eyes rest on soothing green surroundings or a wild flower, where you may reflect on the nature of things in peace as you pause to listen to the songs of the birds or the whisperings of a brook, or wonder at the colors of a butterfly’s wings, where karma will unfold slowly enough for you to be able to understand it, for in this world The lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
6 comments:
I don't find anything to vehemently disagree or indeed agree with in your essay, Ashok. We are each free to interpret life as we see best. Or perhaps I ought to say the opposite, and say that we are compelled to interpret life as we see best; in exactly the same way that a man who falls off a ship into the sea is compelled to try and keep his head above the water---or else drown.
So I'm not going to argue as to the interpretation, just as I wouldn't argue whether the man overboard should try to float on his back, swim various types of stroke, or merely tread water, hoping his legs don't get bitten off by a shark whilst he's doing it!
I just wish him luck.
If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!”
Then would I bear, and clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased, too, that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan….
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.
-- Thomas Hardy
"We are each free to interpret life as we see best. Or perhaps I ought to say the opposite, and say that we are compelled to interpret life as we see best"
How very true and profound Vincent. Each of us is made by our experience at a point of different interpretation in this vast universe. John's response appear to be more mysterious. Let me see if I can understand it.
Thanks for sharing that wonderful piece of poetry John. I have not figured out all of it though and will make another attempt, or could you explain the meaning in plain language perhaps?
Well, it is poetry, so it has no meaning and means everything one thinks it means.
When I read it, it means this...
The author is unhappy right now, in this case because he lost someone, presumably a significant other or significant other to be.
He could justify wallowing in self-pity if he could simply attribute the loss to a merciless God. However, if God is to blame for his sorrow, then He is equally to blame for the bliss that preceded it; so God is not mean and not kind, but "blind" to such qualities.
Since he is not at the mercy of an angry God, he cannot accept the pain as his helpless state and must assume it is temporary.
Thanks for the interpretation John. it does capture some of my thoughts that were on my mind in this blog post.
Time is a great healer as has been said often. All states are temporary in the created universe of time and space, especially time because although a thing may fix itself in relative space for finite durations a thing cannot remain in a fixed time.
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