Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
Let’s continue with our study from the Secrets of Karma. We were reading on the Chosen path.
‘‘All is well with the world and with its struggling souls.’’
– Annie Besant
Struggles are part and parcel of the evolutionary process. We have spoken about it many at times. In fact, sometimes we have taken the example of the butterfly trying to come out of the cocoon. It is during its struggle to come out of the cocoon that actually helps the butterfly to build strength in the wings. The blood is forced to the wings.
That allows the butterfly to gather the power to fly. If you allow the butterfly to come out without that struggle, it is crippled for life. Same thing with people. Beyond a certain extent, we allow people to learn their own experiences. They have to learn their own lessons.
So generally, protecting people too much is not very useful for the evolution of the soul. So, there is a very profound saying here about how to groom children. It is said so wonderfully: “Do not prepare the road for them, prepare them for the road.”
This is a very profound proverb you can call it or a quote. I do not know who has said this but I have witnessed this happening where children have been protected overly. They lose the ability to be in tune with the world. They are unable to survive and whereas parents who understand this, allow the children to grow through their own experiences, learning their own lessons, they, over a period of time, become very strong. They can face the world without any difficulty.
Same thing happen with anything for that matter, overprotecting people is not going to help you. So, we talked about detachment, we talked about being in the state of observer. This is so important. Learning to be an observer is so important. We keep hearing many stories, how it is important for one to be an observer.
There is a very beautiful story that has been said many times by several spiritual teachers. It talks about a God, a statue in a big temple in India.
So, it so happens that the person who was taking care of the temple, maintaining the temple, a very humble and poor soul, with a very very good heart, suddenly a thought came in his mind. He thought that the poor God is standing all the time and he has to smile, he says nothing and thousands of people come in front and then they keep saying something or the other and asking something or the other and tirelessly, he is listening to the people on and on and on.
So, one day, he thought he should help the God. So, he told the God:“ My dear God, I think you must be very very tired standing like this and listening to hundreds of people every day. Better that I give you a vacation for a few days! Why don’t you take rest?”
The God said, “Oh no, you cannot do my job, because it is actually very very demanding.” So, the man said: “Oh my God, that is why I am telling you, let me give you a small break, you just enjoy a holiday for two or three days.”
Then, finally God thought, “Okay. Remember, you have to be like me, you have to keep listening and observing people. You should not interfere. You should not say a word. Do you agree?” The man said, “Yes, I am not going to say anything, I will simply witness everything that is happening in front of me.”
So, then, God gave the job to him. He took the position of God and he started standing. Of course, people thought that he is God. So now what happened, a very very rich man came, he had a bundle of cash with him. He kept the cash in one corner and then he was prostrating in front of God and saying: God, make me the wealthiest person of the planet, I want to be super rich.
So, he prostrated and then after the prayer, he left without even picking up the cash from where he left, he forgot. After some time, a very very poor man with so much of pain, he came and prostrated in front of God.
He said to God: “My dear God, all my life, I have been doing so much of good, helping people; look at me, even to have a meal a day, I have to struggle. Have mercy upon me, please help me with some money so that I can take care of myself and my family, we are starving.”
After he did the prayer, full of tears, he got up and he opened his eyes and he saw the bag of cash. Then he told God: God, thank you for providing me this cash! You have been so merciful, so kind!
Happily, he took the cash and he went out. After some time, the rich man (the greedy man) who prayed to God and then left his cash back, he suddenly remembered that he had left the bag of cash. So he returned to the same place and he found the bag was lost.
He reported the matter with the trustees of the temple and police was called and while all this was happening, another person came there and he happened to be the captain of a ship. So he prostrated in front of God and he also was basically asking for mercy and so on, that he had to be secured and safe, because he is now going on a long journey, a voyage.
As he completed his prayer, as he was moving out, the police came at the same time and they saw this captain and they suspected the captain. They told the captain, “Hey, you had actually taken the bag of cash. Where is it? Where have you hidden it?” The captain protested. He said, “Listen, I have no idea about any bag of cash.”
Then, the police forced the blame on the captain, and they took him into custody, so they arrested him and were taking him to the police station. While they were doing it, the man who is actually personifying God, he could not bear this injustice because he had seen the whole thing happening.
He said, “Oh my God, how can I keep quiet now? An innocent person is being punished like this, it’s not fair.” So, he actually spoke. The people heard it to be like the voice from heaven; he was actually playing the role of God. He said, “Listen, I am God telling you that this is not the person who is the culprit. There was a poor man who had come before. He took the cash. You release him; it is my order.”
So, everybody was stunned because it is God’s order, they cannot refuse. He left the Captain free and then, they went searching for the poor man and managed to catch him also. After some time, God happened to come back and he asked the man: “I hope everything went on well with you.”
The man said,“Yes, absolutely! Everything went on well so perfectly and I managed to give a proper justice.”
So, God said,“ What kind of justice, you are talking about? You were not supposed to speak.” The man said, “Yes I tried my level best but unfortunately I had to open my mouth because a very great injustice was happening in front of me”.
Then, God said: “Oh, my dear friend, you have spoilt my whole game; the greedy man had to be punished, he has so much of wealth but he does not share his wealth with anybody and therefore as per the plan, I made him to drop the bag of cash and I wanted to help that poor man who was desperately in need of money. He is a good hearted soul.
If he had got that cash, he would have taken care of his family and he would have also supported other people because he has got a golden heart. I wanted the cash to belong to him and about the captain, I wanted him to go to jail because had he continued his journey as the captain of the ship, that ship is going to have a major problem and it is going to be drowned.
I wanted him to be safe and because of that, I planned to put him in the jail till the time the accident is over. You spoiled all my games without even knowing what is the reason behind all these activities.”
This is a very classic example, of course it is a very simple story but the moral of the story is : “You do not know what the Higher Powers really want in every situation.” So, the Higher Powers know what exactly needs to be done at any given time and that is why it is said: There is a perfect justice in all that is happening, there is a reason for every season. And that unshakeable faith, you need to have and that is the reason why practicing detachment, practicing to be an observer beyond a certain extent is most important.
That means, that if you have done whatever that you could do to your children, to your family or anybody for that matter, or you have done the best of the best effort in any given situation, learn to be detached; do not be connected with people or the situation or anything. Just say: “Cut, cut, cut! Release!” and do something else.
You have to learn to be an observer at any given point in time, practicing detachment as often as possible. It is only in this you can do meaningful contribution to the people.
All right, that was a long story, I hope you all enjoyed the story. Even if you did not enjoy, at least get the moral properly.
Further reading: Secrets of Karma, Page 114