What is it that drives a person into despair? There are several reasons. Sometimes, a person is dismayed to discover that someone else is dedicated to the service of God and the Guru, which he is not. Again if he finds some other person performing devotional practice whose vices have considerably gone down, it causes frustration in him because he could not do so. Such people should think wisely.
You tend to associate with wrong kind of people who either tell lies or overstate or exaggerate facts about their devotional practice and you tend to believe them and feel overawed by their stated achievement or success and get disappointed. It may also be that somebody is able to get special benefit because of his samskaras. But it should not cause frustration in you.
Agreed that some people are ahead of you but there are many people who are behind you. If you want to go ahead of others, you should work hard for that. Just think about yourself. Now you are B.A. and M.A. How did you reach this stage? when you were in First standard, there were many people who had passed B.A. and M.A. when you were studying for your High School examination, you must have met people who were in higher classes. Even now there are people who are ahead of you in different areas, i.e. intelligence, looks, physical might, etc. Should one consume poison and kill oneself just because of this? Why should you be out of your mind with worry? If you are a junior teacher and you are worried that are Principle is holding a position higher then you. Why should you worry? You will alo become Principle one day but there will still be someone senior to you.
There are two aspects of this problem. One, if we go on wallowing in this despondent mindset, there will be no end to it. We must firt think on this aspect. If you go on thinking that other have progressed much ahead, they are more active compared to you, you are not able to achieve anything and that Guru and God have not been helpful to you. Let u assume for a moment that your impression of this kind was justified but the question is where this thinking of yours will lead you? It may force you to commit suicide. It may turn you into a demon. It can have far more serious repercussion. Frustration invariably leads to unpleasant situations ending in death. There are people who are so disturbed on minor things that they go on ruminating on them and finally commit suicide. Thousands of people are committing suicide all over the world every day. Now I think you have got the point that frustration has disastrous consequences. It turns a human worse than an animal. If being a human we continue to wallow in despair, it is the most unwisse act on our part. The other aspect which needs to be pondered over is what causes this feeling of despair and how we can get over it.
If God has gifted us something and we disregard it, it will certainly bring in despair.
So, the only way to get rid of despair is to repeatedly ponder over the grace that you have recived. If you do not understand its value, any amount of grace that God may bestow on you, will not benefit you. If somebody gives you so much wealth and you do not want to assess its value, it i your fault. If you are overpowered by a feeling of frustration and dejection, it means you have disregarded all forms of God's grace that came to you. You have not time and again reflected on the munificence of God and the Saint. The moment you begin to have a feeling of dejection, you must tell your intellect off for nurturing such feeling which is a crime. Why should this feeling come to you? You must nip this negative thinking in the bud. It is like a woman working in the kitchen finds that her clothe have caught fire. If she doesn't do something immediately to douses it that carelessness can cost her a lot. Think wisely on such matters and let not a feeling of frustration or despair take root in you. And if it does, then do not let it grow further. Concentrate your mind on what is right.
Do not spoil your idle time. In fact, we do not make good use of our spare time and that causes negative feelings of despair to set in. The best remedy of this problem is not to let your mind remain idle. Wherever you go, engage yourself in the thoughts of God.
Be always on the alert. Negligence and carelessness is the root cause of all our problems. Whether in worldly chores or in philanthropic deeds, one who is ever alert can alone make progress. A careless person cannot achieve anything. Even his good deeds bear no fruit.
So the only way to get rid of frustration is to contemplate repeatedly on the Guru's grace.....
No comments:
Post a Comment