Appreciating Life in India

 

“If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.”-Gerald Good

It is hard to feel gratitude continuously as our rational mind complicates the situation every moment. My life’s journey till date has taught me that unless you feel thankful, expressing gratitude, serves no purpose. In my adolescence, I resisted to accept that I am suffering from goiter. 2 years of medications had passed but my thoughts were still locked in finding ways to get rid of the bulge on my neck. Although my physician was working to reduce the complexities of my ailment, I was restless. And I think my impatience towards my indisposition, forced me to find out what this life is. I was then consumed in a voracious quest for understanding this life. Whatever I read about it, I understood it superficially. Years passed, but my question was still unresolved, until I traveled to Matheran where I met my project guide on an internship program. He happened to shower on me all his life’s learning. Lord Krishna, he would start his sentence as, this life is a gift and Lord Krishna is the giver. He would say, look how lucky we are for getting a chance to transcend through this life in the best living. He would say wake up and enjoy your precious gift. I kept reflecting on his ideas as they seemed conflicting to my naive mind. He sometimes shared knowledge that was absolutely mystic. The words sounded fascinating, but as I gave them a deeper thought, I came across a new dimension of life.

Through him, I stumbled upon the holy book of Bhagwat Gita, where Lord Krishna answers Arjuna’s queries about life. sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah -Quote from Bhagwat Gita Lord Krishna in this quote asked Arjuna to surrender unto Him and then Arjuna would be free from all his sins. Arjuna, if represents every other common man, I wondered how his surrendering to Krishna would give him the most coveted freedom. I pondered what do the surrender and freedom words mean. The word ‘surrendering’ was like giving up my ego and it was differing with a recently well absorbed quote of Ayn Rand from her Fountainhead book, “A man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress”. Another conflicting idea was that if Lord Krishna was asking to surrender Arjuna his ego to Him, wasn’t Krishna pampering His own ego! Well, then ‘Who is Lord Krishna?’ this was all that I wanted to elucidate myself on. I remembered, I had read Einstein’s finding “Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another.” These and my guide’s words highly resonated. My guide once mentioned that this life is much bigger than we can imagine. I understood this life as a human being is a subset of an enormous life. We are a continuous infinite energy across time and space. And it dawned onto me that Lord Krishna represents this magnificent universe.

Surrendering unto Krishna meant detaching from the worldly desires that takes one away from the true nature of infinite possibilities. Human’s true nature is that they never die and are always existing in one form or other. Soul keeps transcending from one body to another. Ayn’s definition of ego as well talked about living for one’s own happiness which is independent of people and situations. I asked my guide a question about Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha; why is only Lord’s love called a true love and how is what I call love different from theirs? He replied – ‘Their love is unconditional. They have understood that love is the same energy that is flowing, transforming and transcending through everything. Lord has knowledge that no matter how many material disturbances exist between them, they are still together. They existed close to one other even in non-existence.

Humans tend to be ignorant and hence divert from their true nature and end up tying love with conditions.’ These all mysterious words like love, life and happiness; I feel are the same thing. And as the Lord resides everywhere, He resides in us too. And if Lord is Happiness then our life is also happiness. Joy and bliss are things that should be felt by us with every breath taken, to celebrate this extraordinary journey of life. With all the situations we have, life is in living free and in being thankful for this beautiful gift which allows one to explore, appreciate and express. Over the following few years my ailment was subdued. But I am thankful that it happened to me as it has taught me to live in the moment. As Gerald Good says, gratitude definitely is the way of life.

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