Don’t Run Away

 

Photo Credit: Quotesgram

Don’t Run Away

We always come across challenges in life, some of us face them bravely and move on, others feel afraid and try to run away from the challenges. In my personal experience, I have run away from a challenge only once, and I had to face a similar challenge with 100x the force twenty years later! This time I faced the raging storm and moved on – I had the subtle support of Paramatma – His Holiness Shivkrupanand Swami. Whenever we were called for the enquiry sessions, they would always begin on a Thursday – (Guruvar – meaning the Gurus’ Day) – this always gave me the comfort that things would work out positively – go without fear and face the authorities!

This gives us a lesson – one cannot run away from oneself – do not avoid problems which come in life, face them and move on, simply because one cannot escape one’s karma, and it comes to bite you later with an enhanced ‘x’ factor!

There is an oft-told fable – let me repeat it here. A lady who was tired of facing life’s struggles sought advise from her mother. Her mother took her to the kitchen and filled three pots with water. In the first she put carrots, in the second she put eggs and in the third she put coffee beans. She then let them boil for twenty minutes, after which she turned off the burners and asked her daughter, “What do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs and coffee,” the daughter replied. The mother asked her to come closer and feel the carrots, she did and found out that the carrots had become soft. She was then asked to take an egg and break it. On shelling, she found that the egg had become hard. Finally, she was asked to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. Perplexed, she asked her mom, “What’s your point? Her mother explained that each object faced the same adversity – boiling water, but reacted differently. The carrot went in hard and unrelenting and came out soft and weak. The egg when tested, had hardened. The coffee beans however were unique, they had changed the texture of the water and filled it with their aroma. She asked her daughter, “Which are you?” When problems knock on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

There is much to learn from this fable. Which one are you? Are you the carrot that seems strong, but wilts in the face of pain and adversity? Are you the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but hardens when in adversity? Or, are you like the coffee bean, which actually changes the water, the very circumstance that brings the pain, by its fragrance and flavour? When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level? There lies the secret to solving problems and handling adversity.

Meditation builds that equanimity in us and helps us to face problems calmly without any stress build up. It teaches us to take each life’s lesson, learn and elevate ourselves to the next level. Ultimately, we reach that space where nothing bothers us – we just witness and maintain our blissful state.