Commentaries by Vee Jay Attri during the Book Study – Secrets of Karma
There is another wave of pandemic in Mauritius and in certain parts of India, the situation seems to be quite critical. Of course, fortunately, we have been blessed with the vaccine and also, lots of healing and blessings are happening simultaneously, and we should be able to contain this issue very soon.
While all this is happening, please do take good care of yourself. Do not be careless! Maintain a healthy lifestyle, take good care of your emotions and of your thoughts. You cannot do anything about most situations of life, including people.
You know, because of the carelessness of a few people, including a few politicians, we are paying a price but that is our group karma. We have to accept it. So, while so many things are happening over which we do not have much control, one thing that can certainly happen is, we can take good care of ourselves.
I am reminded of a beautiful story:
A man went to a Zen monk, and told the monk, “My dear monk, life is really very challenging. I am not afraid of challenges. I have faith in the Divine Plan. I have perseverance. I really work hard diligently with myself but with so many negative people, selfish people who make your life every moment so difficult and miserable, I really do not know what to do. On one side, you have the challenges, on the other side, pessimistic, selfish people. Please guide me, what should I do!”
The monk smiled and he said, “Okay, please have a glass of water” and then, he added a few spoons of salt into the water and stirred it and told the man, “Drink it!” The man was able to drink two or three sips and he told the monk, “My dear monk, it is too salty, I cannot drink it now.” Then, the monk took the man to a huge lake and asked the man to empty the glass of salt water into the lake. Then, he told the man, “Okay, now you fill your glass and drink it!”
The man drank the water and the monk asked him, “How is the water?” He said, “It is sweet!” The monk asked the man, “Oh! What happened to the salt then?” The man said, “The salt must have dissolved in the vastness of the lake.” The monk smiled. He told the man, “That is exactly what you need to be!”
So, rather than being a glass of water, you become the lake. If you become the lake, regardless of the salt, the water will still be sweet. Your life will be more comfortable. So, the idea is to become a lake! You cannot do anything about the salt around you but you can do a lot with yourself. Are you getting the message?
So, situation, you cannot change it. It is a part of the Divine Plan. As a matter of fact, progress happens not in a very positive, conducive environment. Progress happens only when the situation is challenging. So, embrace challenges cheerfully, that is exactly how you can grow.
Do not look for a cozy life! This is not the time for it. At least, amidst all this, you need to progress rapidly, not slowly. That is the call of the time. It’s time for you to demonstrate that you are the Yudhishtir. “Yudh” means battle, “shtir” means stable. The one who is stable in the battle is Yudhishtir. We have spoken about it several times.
We are in a battle and it is an inevitable battle. “Jeevan ek sangharsh hai!” Life is a battle! You cannot do much about it but what you can do is a lot about yourself. The moment you start shifting your energies and maintaining a resourceful state most of the time, that can immensely make you unshakable in most of the situations.
Once in a while, falling is okay. Girna bhi hai, sambhalna bhi hai! Meaning it is okay to fall. You have to fall, you cannot say all the time I am going to be victorious. No, it is not designed that way. Girna bhi hai, sambhalna bhi hai, meaning it is absolutely natural for you to fall but do not spend time in getting up again and walking again. That is very important.
And also, growth happens only in challenging situations. Growth does not happen in a very conducive or positive environment. If everybody around you is positive and doing everything that you want them to do, where will you grow? This is actually a state of comfortable darkness. Nothing really happens!
Meaningful growth happens when you learn to lift weight, sufficient weight according to your level of spiritual development. The higher is your development, the greater the weights will be given to you. That happens naturally. You cannot say, “I am a great body builder” and start lifting only 5 kilograms.
The moment the universe know you are a “Mike Tyson,” it will actually send 100 kilograms or 200 kilograms. That is exactly how so beautifully it is planned for you. So much of goodness happens naturally, when you open your eyes and look at it, you will know it. There is all the time something good happening.
So, never be shaken by anything around you. Anyway, you cannot do anything about it. The easier way is taking good care of yourself, committed to practices and becoming responsible for your life. Alright, let us continue with our study: Act, Do not React!
We were reading about it yesterday. We were talking about a very beautiful story, about a sage called Saktri, you still remember. Saktri who met a king called Kalmashapada. So, he cursed Kalmashapada to become a rakshasa, a man-eating demon. The demon devoured Saktri himself. That means anger and rage uncontrolled, and using it in an untimely manner, is going to be more destructive for yourself.
You should have control over your emotions all the time and remember tests come at a time when you are weak. When you are strong, you will not even notice what kind of challenge is coming to you. Haven’t you experienced somebody making fun of you and you are in a very resourceful state and you just smile and say, “Oh, I love this joke!”
But some other time, same joke but you are low, you just blast, you just explode like a volcano. Normally, tests come when you are totally unprepared. I have seen this happening with myself. I have seen this happening numerous times, even among spiritual practitioners or among spiritual teachers.
Tests come to you when you are absolutely unprepared. You need to be ever ready. That is the call of the time! Be ever ready, all the time! Just in a lighter spirit, if you are very casually dressed, that is the time you will be compelled to open the door and you will be meeting somebody of so much importance and you will be, “Oh, I am very sorry for my dress!”
No, you have to be properly dressed all the time. I am just taking a quick example, ever ready in every aspect all the time, you must be prepared.
Once you are ever ready, regardless of the circumstances or situations, you will be safe and that is exactly is the demand, the call of the time. So, be reminded of the story of Saktri, never to explode!
Some years ago, one of my mentors called late at night and abused me. I was talking about this story yesterday. It was fortunately, I was quite prepared. I think, most of the time, that is the case, is the case perhaps. So, when suddenly around 10:30 late in the evening, when the call came, I picked up and I was not prepared at all absolutely, an unexpected call and wholly of abuses happening for half an hour or more. I do not know how much time.
So, even my friend who was present there was surprised that how could a mentor could talk like this because he was able to hear, though I was talking but the voice was so loud, with so much of anger and hatred, wholly of abuses over me and I had done nothing, nothing means what? I simply did not accept the few things he has been saying, so he got so wild and he started abusing me that I did not cooperate, I am not helping him and so on and so forth.
At that moment, I was having so much of compassion, so much compassion outpouring out of myself. I could feel the pain of the soul. I could feel that so many people have been putting the person in such a challenging situation. It has become like a pressure cooker and there is no other way, other than releasing it on a person whom he can trust so much.
So, that is the way I took it. So, I realized that he has chosen me because he knows that I can handle him. I could not say a word, he did not allow. Then, finally he said, “What do you think I will do? I do not know what to do and where do you want me to release?” I said, “I am here for you, please have no concern!” “I am here for you!” Then, he abruptly kept the phone. Throughout, I was blessing and blessing and healing the soul.
It happened in Mauritius when I was at the Foundation. After one month, the same mentor, suddenly, early morning, I heard somebody ringing the calling bell, I opened the door and he was standing. I said, ‘Wow, this is incredible!” So, he spent ten days with me very peacefully and then, he left back for India.
Point is sometimes people can come to a level which you cannot expect. At that moment, if you are able to understand the pain of the person and zero reaction, you can really help the soul. Today, when I see him, I am so happy! So, he has gone to such a level today, really he has become a wonderful saint, an extraordinary saint.
Perhaps in those days, some sages used to get so angry, I do not know whether you happened to hear about a great Rishi called “Durvasa.” Durvasa means one who speaks bad or whose words are foul words, angry person. That’s why, his name itself is called Durvasa but he is a great Rishi. So, perhaps in the ancient times, people were able to understand some of the Rishis because their nerves were so tight.
It happens on the spiritual path that you become so sensitive, sometimes some people have to resort to many other things. So, because of the very sensitive nerves, some spiritual practitioners cannot handle. Sometimes, some people have to resort to so many things.
I will not talk about this, otherwise, you will think, “I should also do it” when you have not even come to that level. So, because of the very sensitive nerves, some spiritual practitioners cannot handle. So, sometimes it requires a lot of maturity to understand. Point is remember not to react. All the time, understand what is happening and see more than what you hear or see!
Some years ago, one of my mentors called late at night and abused me, even threatened to harm me with occult powers. I realized he was in pain and responded peacefully and kept blessing him. After his tirade of abuse for over ten minutes (I said 10 minutes but it was more than that) he slammed down the phone. A month later, without informing beforehand, he visited us happily and stayed for a week!
“You need two hands to make a noise.” The Buddha said: “Whatever suffering arises, it has a reaction as its cause. If all reactions cease to be, then there is no more suffering.”
In other words, so long as there is reaction, sufferings will persist. The only way to end the suffering is, end the reaction. So, you have to check what is happening with your life. You have to see more than what you see. You have to hear more than what you hear. This is extremely important.
If all the time, you are going to pounce upon people and keep reacting, neither you are doing anything good to yourself, nor are you doing anything good to others. That is why, some people who frequently have fear and anger, they have got severe nervous problems and they come to a state where even the slightest thing can provoke them extremely.
It creates tsunami for yourself and you create tsunami for others and it keeps on going on and on throughout your life. You are spending life in a very utterly useless, unproductive and negative way and that too with people whom you love so much. One day you are happy, another day, another week, another month, it just continues.
You have to ask yourself what is happening with you and take some care of yourself. That is exactly where “Sadhana” will make a difference. Sadhana mean spiritual practices! You need to be utterly committed to your practices.
Further reading, Secrets of Karma, Page 134