Can i count you amongst those who in life had happiness forever?
Can i count you amongst those in whose life happiness never abated by time?
Can i count you amongst those upon whom misery never touched?
Can i count you amongst those for whom pain and agony was never a part of life?
Can i count you amongst those for whom life was always a bed of rose petals?
I am sure your answer would be in the negative. Never mind. There exists no such people who can answer positively to these introspective questions. But what is the point in asking these questions to oneself?
Radhanath Swami-An American Saint of ISKCON says that without we seeking miseries and calamities, they come. Do we ever endeavor for misery to come; yet it comes. Radhanath Swamigives example of lovers who fall in love but after marriage fails in their relationship. The relationship itself becomes a torture and they think that the only vent is divorce. Sometimes, marriages work and then they want children. Once children are born then they see the other face of misery. The swami explains that India is in a total mess after the independence.
So he explains that whatever we hope for, we will not get it. That is the Law of Nature. And today’s age is not the age of science. It is not the age of technology. It is not the age of globalization. One of the eastern scriptures state that today’s age is the age of quarrel and hypocrisy. So when things are against the tide, then it is time that with the help of our good intelligence we turn to GOD from within our hearts. When happiness is there, we tend to forget the Lord since we are immersed in that happiness. That is one reason why happiness is never a constant thing in our life. If it was so then we would never want to know the Lord who is our all-loving, all-merciful, all-compassionate supreme Father.
So when there are reversals in life, it is meant for sobering us. The more we have friction with life, the more we will become humble and in that humble mood, we will be able to turn to GOD. Which loving Father would like to see his children away from him? Similarly, the Supreme Father is also very pained to see His children away from Him. In order that His children come back to Him, He devises plan. And His plans work. If that plan is acquiesced, and if we turn to GOD with gratitude, then we have properly risen after our fall, which sure is going to happen in many points in time.
To sum it up, Radhanath Swami says,”The tendency in this world is that something has to thoroughly shake us up for us to really take shelter of the Lord”.
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