Crests of joy and troughs of sorrow
It is very easy for any captain to hold the helm of the ship when the sea is calm, but the captain’s state of mind is projected only when the sea is turbulent. Similarly, it is easy for a person to be happy when the circumstances are favourable and conducive but a person’s true state gets projected during adversities and unfavourable situations.
It is a known fact that everybody in this world has to experience their share of happiness, joy, pain and sorrow. Nobody can escape this universal law. However, what normally happens is — in times of pain, everybody gets sorrowful, depressed and thinks that their life is full of pain and no joy. Suddenly, just one painful situation/incident erases all joyful memories of the past.
Moreover, during such an unfavourable situation, everybody thinks that their life is most miserable and their share of happiness is the least. But the fact is that at some time or the other in this birth or in some other, everybody has to go through the results of their deeds in the form of happiness or pain.
Some people would have gone through it before and some people are going through in the present and some people would go through it in the future, but nobody would be able to escape the repercussions of their deeds, not even the saints and gods.
With the knowledge of this cosmic law, one should neither get depressed when one is in problems or facing painful situations, nor feel excessively elated when good things happen in life.
Good times and bad times, both are temporary, as the present situation (good or bad) will undergo a change when the time comes for the next row of deeds to give their results.
Good deeds will bring good results and bad deeds will bring bad results. However, one thing that is permanent in these cosmic laws is that everything is impermanent and short lived.
Obviously, all of this is easier said than done. So it needs to be practised. Every time an unfavourable circumstance is encountered — one needs to consciously remind oneself to: (a) not react negatively: by doing so, the circumstance will seem insurmountable, (b) react positively: will give strength to not get affected by the impact of such a circumstance, (c) take it as a passing phase and not as a final phase, (d) remember that crests and troughs are part and parcel of life — and they come in turns.
So instead of feeling bad in a bad phase of life, one should celebrate because next in queue would be good period and when one is enjoying good period then one should be prepared to pay some tax on happiness in the form of bad phase of life.
This is an eternal truth of the eternal cycle of different phases of life having peaks of good and bad phases and waves of happiness and sorrow.
The writer is a modern age spiritual guru and the force behind Poorna Ananda, a Hyderabad-based centre for spiritual evolution and joyful living. He can be contacted at www.poornaananda.org