Joys and sorrows are source of strength and wisdom

“There is sorrow, there is death, 

There burns the fire of separation

Yet there is peace, yet there is bliss

Yet flows unending life.” (Tagore, Achhedukkho, ache mrityu)

Life flows with opportunities and disappointments, and we pray only for it to be blessed. 

But sometimes blessings come disguised as hardship and we do not realize then, but may be years later we realize that God’s generosity in not fulfilling our heart desire, and saving us from ourselves.The joys and sorrows that come to our doorstep are there to teach us something. We have no power to stop them. We can only welcome life as it comes, do the needful, learn the lesson, and then let it go. But sometimes they do not go. And when misfortunes hang over us for a long time we feel depressed, discouraged and hopeless, and then we are left with no energy to lift ourselves out of it. 

Such a situation can be explained only by law of karma and reincarnation. Nature’s law is that what we give comes back to us in many folds – or has often been said across many religious texts – what we do to others, we actually do to ourselves. In taking another’s life, we imprint the horror of killing on our own soul. This karmic knowledgeabout the connection between personal energy and action should make us very careful, not to use our thought, action or speech in a way that would cause damage to others, and thereby ourselves. This knowledge also can give us inner strength to face the many challenges of life. When we realize that through our suffering, we are cleansing our multi-lifetime karmic debt, we feel much lighter, and can view suffering not as bondage but as a path to freedom.

On the whole, life can never be monotonous, because joys and sorrows; success and failures, all these opposite currents ebb and flow through our lives.

This changing pattern of life’s events can be a great source of wisdom and strength, if only we have an open mind, and a positive attitude to learn the lessons within. Material life and its energetic flow is eternal and like ebb and flow of waves, our lives also appear and disappear in the eternity of the ocean of consciousness. But when we view it from a narrow perspective of an individual, all the joys and sorrows are as big and real as a wave at any one moment. As a result, either we get overwhelmed with joy, or are drowned in sorrow. 

Often we see people in power and with possessions - and the fear of the loss of those tumbles them into the loss of their emotional balance. They often become arrogant or insensitive to others, or fearing uncertainty, they wrap up their lives in seclusion, which is devoid of joy and freedom, and can only generate fear, anger and hatred. The attachment to power or possessions is the act that denies us the joy and freedom they were meant to bring.

On the other hand, when unending suffering continues, we lose hope and confidence and feel suffocated under the pressure of life’s misfortune.  But if we introspect deeply, we will understand that our experience of the reality of our lives – both in material and in emotional terms, is our choice. And no matter the circumstance – be it hardship or luxury, the experience is what makes it so and that is, or certainly could be, in our own command. An orientation towards attachment, greed, jealousy, hatred, etc., is the real cause of our suffering. Adverse situations may aggravate and may provoke our negativity, but in essence, we are responsible for our own life experience, regardless of its material composition. When wealth, wisdom, happiness is shared, it is amplifies our own experience of it, and when we support others in their misfortune by giving of ourselves, we do not become less but in fact, generate more of what we gave. That is the law that governs the human experience. We are comprised of what we consume, and what we give. We are finite beings surrounded by infinity in every direction – and there is such great abundance of energy in this universe that to protect what is ours is like building sand castles on a beach. It is more meaningful to channel the blessings of the countless unseen souls of the past, the joy shared by all sentient beings in the present and the energy that will shape the unborn – to add a drop to that infinite ocean of energy and give form to the blessings that fill up this human planet with more joy. We are all interconnected in this world, so it is our obligation to give back something to society, and for the betterment of all conscious beings using our evanescent human form. This attitude will enrich our personality with great human qualities like compassion, cooperation and creativity. 

Suffering is a great teacher. Pain makes us tender, and ready to be cooked in the cauldron of the greater collective consciousness, and to achieve a state that our cognitive mind, by itself, cannot. The pain of losing our dear ones, or our much valued possessions directly teach us about the impermanent nature of this world. It inspires us to be kind to others, to have self-control, to have the power to discern the subtleties of our physical and emotional experiences. These lessons are the seeds of spiritual awakening. Suffering makes us humble and understanding. Difficulties soften our heart, make us more empathetic. It also motivates us to find out some new ways, through which problems can be solved. Bhagavad Gita refers about it as, different kinds of endeavor (vividha cha prthakchesta), chapter 18, verse 14.

Through different endeavors, our consciousness get energized to a higher order.According to our karma, whatever comes in our life is urging us to learn something for our souls to evolve.

Life is ever new, with new hope and with new possibilities. Though life’s events are not in our control, surely we can transform the experience of each moment to a higher order than simply pain or pleasure.  Gloriousness and wretchedness are complementary to each other, when one inspires us, cheers us up, and make us happy, the other softens us, teaches us to be steady and courageous. But in the end, they are but attributes that are our own.

Bhagavad Gita teaches us, neither to be overwhelmed with joy, nor to be heart broken in sorrow. While facing challenges of life we should learn to keep our mind as calm as possible. In happiness in misery, in profit and in loss, in victory or in defeat we should keep our mind as calm and steady as possible, because all good works are done only through a calm mind and silent steady disposition. “Heaving made pain and pleasure, gain and loss, conquest and defeat, the same, engage yourself then in battle. So shall incur no sin”.  (Sukhadukhe same krtva, labhalabhaujayajayau)” Chapter II, Verse 38.

Edited by Prodeep Bose