Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
Let us proceed with our study of the Secrets of Karma. We shall continue from the Law of Harvest – Do your best, leave the rest. It simply means that at any given time practice letting go. If you know you have already done whatever best you could do at any given time, learn to let go. Learn to surrender to the great ones!
So, I was mentioning about a story that I will narrate to you today from the great epic Ramayana. No need to worry about religion. We are not actually having religious dialogue or discussion here. We are simply talking about the wisdom contained in many scriptures.
Since I happen to know a few scriptures of the Eastern philosophy, I am taking examples. It doesn’t mean that we are discussing anything about religion because the Soul is beyond religion.
So, it talks about the villain of the epic Ramayana, by name Ravana who was a demon king. So it so happened that he had abducted the wife of lord Rama. Her name was Sita. While she was in his custody, one day for reason that I do not know, he picked up a sword and rushed toward her to kill her. At that time there was a great being in the form of monkey, who we call Hanuman.
He actually had come to the place called Sri Lanka, which is considered to be the place where Ravana held the lord’s wife as hostage as per the scriptures. So, this being in the form of monkey, we call it the Hanuman, he came there as the messenger to know what exactly is happening.
When he saw that demon king rushing towards the lord’s wife to kill her, he thought for a moment that he will simply grab the sword from the demon King and kill him but at that very moment, he saw the wife of the demon king, her name was Mandodari. Strangely, Mandodari was a very pious lady, full of virtues. There are scriptures which praise the greatness of Mandodari.
It is a very strange paradox. Sometimes, it happens that beautiful souls, angels get married to demons.
The monkey God Hanuman, he saw that Mandodari stopped the demon king from going near to the wife of lord Rama. So, he thought, ‘‘I was thinking that I am so important that without me, perhaps the wife of lord Rama; Sita, would have been killed and I was thinking that without me, there is no one to protect her.’’
So, he was thinking, ‘‘How is it possible that I started giving so much importance to myself when in reality, I have been sent by the Lord himself to know what is happening?’’
Then, Ravana, the demon king ordered his warriors to kill the monkey Lord Hanuman and again, this time he realized that he should not resist because it is the Lord’s work after all and the latter will protect him. So, he was just observing what is going to happen next. At that very moment, the brother of the demon king by name Vibhishana, he stopped the demon king saying that, “My dear brother, this monkey God has come here as a messenger and it is against the Dharma, against the righteousness to kill a messenger.’’
So, again the monkey God realized that he had been sent by the Lord and he is obliged to protect me and in situations like these when I cannot do anything, the best thing that is available to me is to surrender unconditionally. After that there was a demon by name Trijata, she was actually describing her dream to the demon king saying that, ”I saw in my dream that there would be a monkey who would be coming to our kingdom to burn the entire kingdom.”
When Lord Hanuman, the monkey Lord heard this, he was thinking, ”How is it possible, where do I look for the fire, the oil to put fire to this kingdom? How did this demon had this kind of a dream?” At that very moment, Ravana said, “Alright, we will not kill this Hanuman, the monkey God but we will definitely tie a cloth on his tail and put it on fire.” So, suddenly lord Hanuman realized, ”If the Lord can actually get the job done through a demon, then what is the problem to get the job done by me in burning this kingdom?”
So, the moral of the story says that never ever feel so important that without you, nothing ever moves. In reality, you have to keep reminding yourself that you are a simple instrument. The one who does through you are the great beings.
When greater responsibilities are given, you have to cultivate that responsibility; whether it is in a family situation or in a spiritual organization. Whenever an opportunity comes, do not take pride into your head. Cultivate humility and gently remind yourself that, ”I am just an instrument; that I am insignificant; that without me the work will be done and can be done because it is not my work.”
It is the work of the great beings, it is the work of God and that is the reason why, under any given situation, if you have done whatever best that you could do, learn to surrender. Never ever have the slightest thought that, ”If I’m not here, what will happen to my family, what will happen to my organization?” These are basically self-inflated image of yourself.
So, remember there is a very beautiful saying, ‘Jhukko jhukko jhukko.. seekho seekho seekho.. maro maro maro’
‘Jhukko jhukko jhukko’ means be humble. Humility, humility, humility where it is necessary.
‘Seekho seekho seekho’ means wherever there is an opportunity for you to learn, learn and learn!
‘Maro maro maro’ means kill your ego, kill your pride. The pride will kill you if you do not kill the pride sooner or later.
So, remember the key words:
‘Jhukko jhukko jhukko’, that is BOW, BOW, BOW!
‘Seekho seekho seekho’, LEARN, LEARN, LEARN! Perfectly, learn your lessons.
‘Maro maro maro’, KILL your pride! This is a very important thing.
Once you start practicing it, suddenly you will find that you allow the higher powers to play in your life, rather than taking the entire responsibility on your head, like the passenger who goes on the train keeping the bundle on the head.
If you think that the whole responsibility of the world, of your family lies upon you, this is a delusion. There is one very beautiful saying I remember my grandfather used to say whenever he finds the family in deep deep crisis, because there were times the family was actually in utter crisis.
I’m talking about a story over fifty years back when the family was practically on the street after the passing away of the father and no means for earning. With six children, we did not know what was going to happen next.
So, I still remember my grandfather said a very beautiful proverb, ‘‘If the Lord can provide sustenance to a frog inside a rock, why should we ever have worry about it?’’ It is very amazing, I had witnessed this happening. Rocks; solid rocks when they are broken, sometimes frogs used to jump out of the rock.
If you do not know, maybe you will not believe me but that’s a reality and that is the reason why, there needs to be an unshakeable faith in the divine order. Always trust in the higher wisdom. Always have the unshakeable faith! Then, you will allow greater forces of the universe to support you, to protect you.
So, when the situation is beyond your control simply do whatever best you can and surrender to God and let people learn their lessons and balance their karma.
Do not keep protecting even your children. If you keep on protecting them, it is like somebody who was actually trying to help the butterfly come out of the cocoon by slitting the cocoon.
Unfortunately, only during the moments of struggle, the blood rushes to the wings of the butterfly, giving it the ability to fly. If you make it easier for the butterfly, the butterfly will be crippled for the rest of its life.
The same thing happens many a time, with our own kids and kins, and then we have to learn to surrender and allowing children to learn their lessons or people in your life to learn their lessons. That is the smart way. But if you keep on protecting everybody all the time, without your knowledge, you are disempowering them.
There is a very great beautiful proverb that says, “Do not prepare the road for them; meaning your children, do not prepare the road for them, Prepare them for the road.’’ You have to prepare people in your life for hard realities of life. If you do not do that, we are not doing justice to our own kids and kins.
Further reading: Secrets of Karma, Page 18
