Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
We will continue with the study from the book Secrets of Karma. We were reading on Acceptance yesterday. We were narrating a wonderful story from the Mahabharata that talks about Ganga and King Shantanu. We shall continue from where we left.
There are times you have to let go and accept things the way they are, as it has a greater purpose.
That means, if you have done whatever you could do and nothing more can be done, you have to cultivate unshakeable faith in the divine wisdom, understanding that at this very moment, whatever that is happening is exactly the way the universe wants it to be.
There is something hidden, something great, good hidden in this situation, which I am not able to see and therefore I unconditionally surrender to the divine will. This is exactly how we cultivate acceptance. Acceptance on things that we cannot do anything about.
So, rather than struggling and fighting with life, with people, with situations, you have to take that extra courage to accept. Acceptance can only come when you understand the Laws of Nature and when there is an unshakeable faith in the divine order.
If you resist and react, you can cause more harm to yourself. The elders say: “If your hands are trapped under the rocks, pulling them out by force will only damage your hands more.”
So, these are very very practical wisdom of the elders in the older times; when the fingers come under the rock and you try to pull it, pull it and pull it, you are going to damage your fingers more, because the weight of the rock will not allow your fingers to be released.
You have to wait for the moment when some help is available. That is what we call the divine time and that is exactly what you need to do. So, things that are beyond your control, unconditionally accept it and wait for the divine time to work by itself.
Therefore, have patience and wait for the right time to come. Moreover, all situations of life are opportunities for learning and growth and even the most painful event has a seed of a greater good within itself and brings benefit to all when the time is right.
Once King Akbar and his minister, Birbal went on a hunt. Birbal was known for his sharp wit and great wisdom. While hunting, the King’s finger got cut and made him distressed with pain. Instead of giving solace to the King, Birbal the Minister said: “O mighty King, everything happens for good!”
Hearing this, the King got furious and immediately ordered his soldiers to put the Minister in jail.
After this, the King continued on his own and it so happened that he was caught by a nomadic tribe that wanted to sacrifice him to the deity. Just before the sacrifice, the priest checked the King for physical wholeness and found that one finger was cut.
Since a flawed body cannot be sacrificed, the nomad released the King. Saved from the jaws of death, the King returned to the Palace and hurriedly summoned the Minister and expressed regret over his unkind act. Then, the King asked Birbal: “It is true that my finger got cut for a good reason, but what good did the imprisonment do for you?”
Birbal smiled and said: “O King, had you not imprisoned me, I would have been with you; and since my body was whole, I would have been sacrificed in your place!
So, there is something good in all that is happening moment to moment. That is a very beautiful moral of this story. There is a quotation:
‘‘Amazing grace comes from a gentle acceptance of life, simply the way it is”
– Anonymous
Your inability to accepting things over which you have no control increases pain and often drains your precious energy that you can use in constructive activities. It also blocks you from learning your lessons and balancing your karma.
So, there is a very wonderful story, real life story that has been narrated here:
A lady had a mentally challenged daughter. It was quite painful for her to accept this reality. Sadness gripped her heart, especially when she saw normal children with happy parents. One day she enrolled the girl in a special school and after initial training, she also joined the school to give support to the children.
Over time, the lady, who was sad and distressed about one special child, joyfully assisted over a hundred special children. It made her realize the true purpose of her life and helped to transform her ‘adversity’ into an enriching experience. Also, the good karma she earned by her sincere love and devotion to helping children in need of love and care greatly enhanced her spiritual as well as her material life.
I recall this lady was in absolutely great distress, living in a rented house for long years and unable to improve her quality of life and it was an amazing transformation to see how things got very positively changed for this lady.
She is still there, of course the body is quite old. I am talking of a story over about 40 years back. This lady is now in a vehicle of 76 years but absolutely wonderful example how acceptance can really turns the things around.
Acceptance gives the power to face challenges and helps to manifest the hidden blessings in all the situations.
Hope you are all listening very very carefully. No matter what is your situation, if it is beyond your control, learn to surrender! We are actually reading the ART of Living. So, we talked about Acceptance. Now, we come to Responsibility.
Responsibility.
No matter what the condition of one’s life is, it is often the result of the choices he or she has made in the past. The following story in Mahabharata is a wonderful example to this:
After winning the hands of Draupadi in the archery competition, Arjuna returned home along his brothers and proudly proclaimed, “Mother, see what I have won in the competition!”
So, we are referring to the Pandavas, the five brothers. So, it so happens that one of the brothers by the name of Arjuna, who is an expert archer, he was in a competition and as a result of his victory in the competition, the King presented his daughter in wedding to Arjuna.
So, he was coming back home with Draupadi, his would be wife, and then he was proudly presenting to his mother, “Mother, see what I have won in the competition!” The mother’s name was Kunti. So, she was at that moment doing some prayers.
Mother Kunti was praying at that moment and without turning around, she said: “Whatever it is, share it equally among all the five of you.”
When Kunti turned, meaning the mother turned, she found the beautiful woman Draupadi with Arjuna and was surprised and shocked to realize what she has said.
She was in deep pain to realize that Arjuna has to share his bride with his four brothers as it was a custom to obey the words of the Mother.
So, now Arjuna had to share his wife with all of his brothers. Anyway, this is a very common practice in certain parts of India even today, there is a community called Toda.
So, some of you might be knowing this. Down south in Ooty, you will find many tribes of the Toda who have got a very common practice to have a common wife who is being shared among the brothers.
The reason for this is that, given that the parents have got just only one home, they would not like the home to be sold and divided among the brothers. So, they prefer that everybody stays in the same place.
That is exactly what I heard. So, some of you might have another version, you can share it later with me but this Toda community does exist even today and this kind of marriage is legally accepted. I think it is called polygamy or some other name. You can check it.
Let’s continue with our story. At that moment, Kunti the mother was distressed and she was in deep pain for having said whatever she has said.
At that moment, Lord Krishna arrives and consoles Kunti: “There is nothing that happens in one’s life, Krishna said, without a reason. All that happens is the results of one’s own choices and no one is responsible for it.”
He then tells Kunti about the penance of Draupadi in a previous life, invoking Lord Shiva to bestow her with the boon of having the husband who is honest, strong, skilled, handsome and knowledgeable. Since no single man except God can have all those virtues, Lord Shiva blessed her that she would marry five men in her next life, each having one of those qualities Draupadi was looking for.
‘‘Thus,’’ Krishna told Kunti, “Draupadi was destined to marry five men as per her wish and it is not your fault.”
Very amazing stories in the scriptures, extraordinary but each containing an extraordinary morale for life, essence for life. We will explore more about this particular topic “Responsibility” tomorrow.
Further reading: Secrets of Karma, Page 61-64