Better to face life than run away from it

Sairam friends,

I am happy to present this beautifully written article by Sandyya U and Prita Pradhan, India. Hope you enjoy reading the words which I believe came from Sai to make you feel confident to face the difficulties in your life!

Life is a unique journey, full of surprises and loaded with lessons. Each day is unique, bringing forth a myriad of varying circumstances, while tossing and testing our beliefs systems, our upbringing and our endurance. In the current age, where the nannies’ care overtakes mothers’ love, money defeats morality, rivalry defeats fraternity and to top it, the media consumes us all, the intensity of the infectious competitive spirit is unsurpassable. There is a constant need to prove ones worth, as for one who does not meet everyone’s expectations is looked down upon as a failure. And it is not just for now, struggle, has always been an integral part of survival, and is always the quintessence of living. This is what scientists placed in the theory of the natural selection; it is only the fittest that thrives.

As is well known, life is never a bed of roses and whenever we human beings face difficulties and hardship, we end up thinking from an emotional angle, which robs us off a logical perspective. The baffled mind, tired of being incessantly judged, at cross-roads of life, wondering which path to trod, discouraged and disheartened, many a times decides to take the extreme step. But the brighter side it is that, just like the night is darkest just before dawn, most of the trying times are the toughest, just before things are about to fall back in place. And as we face the difficulties of life, we are constantly learning as well as building our character and courage.

Moreover, when we run away, we are all the more likely to be judged, chided and forgotten. Faith, perseverance, patience and hope, in adverse situations, act as our dedicated companions that never left the Pandora’s Box, which in amalgamation act together like the magic ingredients to tide over crises. All that we need to do is to look for them, in silence and solitude, clubbed with moments of introspection. A mind that gains composure alone can help us heed calls from the heart. Only a strong focussed and meditative mind, a robust value system inculcated as a part of the routine upbringing and understanding of the deeper meaning and worth of life can actually face life head-on. As Elizabeth Kubler-Ross puts it,

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

Nobody gets to question adversity. Though life doesn’t always offer too many choices, it is too beautiful to cast off on our will. Difficulties once met with, have to be accepted and faced. One easy solution to this is to ask oneself a simple question-What did we bring when we first arrived, that we are terrified of losing.

Life is no gamble and equanimity can be restored only when, instead of succumbing to intellectual and moral bankruptcy we turn to a more powerful force for succor namely, spirituality. Faith (Shraddha) and Patience (Saburi) can tide all probable difficulties. It is any day better to face life than run away from it or to put it another way; run towards a better world, a better tomorrow. One needs to imbibe the teachings of the spiritual giants and inculcate not only the materialistic but also the moral dimension of education. All that one needs to fear is the conscience, for that is the Lord’s voice.

An important step in facing the world is willingness to take the responsibility for one’s own mistakes, mending them and thereby inspire people. Once people are inspired, order will follow and ultimately the lost balance will be restored. If we face we achieve, If we achieve we inspire, If we abandon, we lose. As Swami Vivekananda says,

“Let a man go down as low as possible; there must come a time when out of sheer desperation he will take an upward curve and will learn to have faith in himself. But it is better for us that we should know it from the very first. Why should we have all these bitter experiences in order to gain faith in ourselves?”

In the Mahabharata, Arjuna, at the battlefield saw his own family, lost his focus and composure, fell weak and eventually, refused to fight. He did not want to face the situation and wanted to leave. The advice that Lord Krishna offered in the form of the Bhagavad-Gita, dishevels the Absolute Truth as having three phases, namely the

Brahman,

Paramātmā and

Bhagavān.

He prescribes detachment from the material world and oneness with the Lord, and proscribes inaction as much as expectations of the results.

Each of us is born to perform a certain set of duties and accepting all the challenges that come forth, we need to unrelentingly strive to keep working. This is because all the key players, namely, the circumstance, the action required and the consequences of the same, are all essential elements of the Supreme plan. He plays the Maya and we think we are the doers. Only the enlightened soul would be able to see beyond and understand that everything has to be faced and duties have to be performed equipoised, forgoing all anticipations of success and failure. That is the only way of deliverance. – Chapter two; Contents of the Gitā Summarised; by Sri Prabhupāda, in: Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 2010; Edition-2; Pages 67-145.

So, each day of life needs to be lived and faced as it comes, for each day is a gift from the Lord. Most of life becomes what we make of it. Surrendering oneself to the Divine plan, we need to try and do our duties to the best of our abilities and leave the rest. Only by accepting wholeheartedly all the flavours of life one can relish the joy of living and the appreciate beauty in every creation of the Lord.

Hope you liked this article friends. It took more than 2 month for me to actually post it as I kept excusing Prita that I don’t have time for it. Finally, I posted and also made these beautiful Social media cards to make you get inspired!

Sai blessings to you and your family

Venkat