Life is a School

 

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Life is a School

It is said that life is the greatest teacher and the world is the best university. Whatever we learn in school, college, university is put to the test in the big bad world, and many times we realise that what we have been taught is far removed from reality. Most of us have learnt the ropes of our chosen profession on the job, in real time. Whatever we have learnt only remain as guidelines in carrying out our professional jobs – nobody teaches us office politics, behavioural science, how to tackle certain situations, how to face crisis? All these are learnt in the hard way – right on the job!

Whatever life is throwing at us is because the universe feels we have not learnt our lesson, and unless we learn that lesson, we cannot really move on. We keep reincarnating birth after birth till the time we learn that particular lesson, based on our karma, and we become more skilled at life and dealing with its inevitable stresses and challenges.

Our Masters keep telling us that everything in life that happens to us is for a reason. In other words, in each difficult experience there is a lesson specifically for us. So, for the person who is on the spiritual path really should develop qualities needed to develop resilience, and should have the ability to look at life and ask, “Why did this happen? What lesson is there in it for me?”

After I started out on the spiritual path these questions started coming to me from within, and once I learnt to accept the situations and learn my lessons, I found myself being more a t peace, I started becoming calmer and calmer as opposed to the volcanic reactions I would some times have in the past. The change has been drastic as the lessons are being learnt in real time. There are two particular cases which I avoided in my earlier working days and I thought I had escaped those situations. But similar situations with ten times greater stress came about once I started meditation; the advantage was now I could look back and realise why these situations had come about – so, this time I just faced the situations and moved on – the Master ensured I remained protected, for which I am ever grateful!

In the Bhagawad Gita it is said – “The cosmic law sees to it that those duties which come to man in the natural course of his life are those he is meant to perform for his own welfare.” There are no mistakes, everything is according to the cosmic plan.

So, when we react to the things that happen to us in a negative manner – that is not the way in which a meditator should act in such a situation – that means we are not learning our lesson. That lesson has come for ‘our own welfare’. If we don’t overcome what we have to face then that becomes a barrier to our spiritual progress.