Let Me Tell You Your Story

It is your story. Everybody's story. Words may be mine, but experiences are yours.

Let me tell you your story.

A time comes in an individual's life when he or she is in a waiting mode. Waiting for a news that would surely turn your life around for the better. Wating for results of your 'karma' or work which you did quite some time back. But the waiting has continued for too long, far too long.

I have passed through this several times in my life of 47 years. And I have been passing through this for last 15 months. And my waiting seems perpetual.

What should one do in such circumstances? Withdraw into one's shell and wait for the news your ears are pining to hear? A news that may or may not come!

No, this is not the desirable course. You plant a seed of a coconut tree. It sprouts. You start taking a parental interest in the sapling's growth. You tend it regulalrly, give it water, manure and an insecticide spray, off and on. You want the sapling to become a full-sized tree and start bearing fruits. You are desperate. But no amount of watering or manuring will hasten the Nature's clock. You may water the sapling with a hundred pitchers, but it would bear fruit only when the time comes.

Let me give another example. You may have been scoring excellent grades in your final year's college exams and you have already started dreaming about landing up a cushy job. It's not dreaming, you may protest. You have done your bit and are quite justified in waiting for the returns, you may argue. Besides, your family's financial position is such that it is eagerly looking forward to get a job to run the household.

But wait, you are worrying too much for things that are beyond your control. You can be sure that worry and anxiety are the best grave-diggers God has ever created. No, a correction. Worry and anxiety are the best grave-diggers Man has ever created. It is in this context that the central message of "The Bhagvad Gita", the bedrock of Hindu philosophy, is relevant: " Do your work and forget about the fruits".

But the Gita has a very important message, which is highly pertinent in this context. Please read and re-read and re-read this message for your own good: "Let yourself raise yourself by yourself. Let not debase yourself. Love yourself. Fear yourself. For you are the best friend of yourself and you are the worst enemy of yourself."

My life has taught me an important lesson thus far: surrender yourself to cosmic forces. For these forces are beyond control of humans.


I have already surrendered to the cosmic forces beyond my control. I am beginning to have faith in Lord Krishna, the most colourful of all hindu gods. Let me elaborate this thought by narrating you a small episode from the most celebrated Hindu epic "Mahabharata".

(By the way, "Mahabharata" is the longest epic in the world. It has one hundred thousand stanzas. One hundred thousand fully developed characters. There is no emotion, thought, dream, action or philosophy on earth which is not described in this epic.)

"Mahabharata" has a central woman character, Draupadi. The stunning beauty is the wife of the five Pandavas, princes who are having a running feud with their hundred step brothers, Kauravas. When the Pandavas lose everything -- their
kingdom, their wealth, their own selves, and even
Draupadi -- to the Kauravas in a game of dice, Draupadi is ordered to be stripped naked in the open court of King Dhritrashtra. The court is jam-packed. Draupadi is pulled by her hair and dragged to the court. Her stripping starts. She holds her 'sari' (a six-metre cloth intricately wrapped around the body by women in South Asia) by her teeth as she is being disrobed.

She keeps chanting the name of Lord Krishna and seeks His help, her sari still being held by her teeth. nothing happens. Finally she lets the sari go off her teeth. And the marvel unravels. More and more saris start coming out from nowhere as
her disrobing is in full swing. A sari mountain gets formed in the court but there is no end of Draupdi's sari. Finally, the sari puller gets exhausted and faints.

The moral of the story: the Lord helps you only when you completely surrender yourself to Him and throw yourself at His mercy.

I am like Draupadi today. Long long ago, I let the sari go from the clutches of my teeth. I am sure He will come to my rescue.

What about you?
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(concluded)