Become a devotee of God, surrender to him completely and no problem will be insurmountable, writes Ajit Kumar Bishnoi
When we refuse to take responsibility of what we should, we suffer. The following examples will bring out this fact in some detail. I will start with the masses who flock to gurus with the hope that such persons can solve all their problems. Yes, gurus can be helpful in guiding, but the effort has to be ours. What is the scriptural injunctionIJ
The Bhagavad Gita guides, “Know that from the real knowers of truth by honouring them, properly enquiring from them and serving them. By approaching them thus they shall give you wisdom.” (4.34) They will give you wisdom but we have to implement it. When we don’t do it, the original problem/problems remain and we have a false hope.
The next example is similar. A rich man has some pressing problem. He looks for an easy solution; he consults his favourite astrologer/palmist/panditji, who suggests some solution like chanting a particular mantra so many times. What does this rich man doIJ He entrusts this job of chanting to a panditji. Who benefitsIJ Panditji mostly if he has chanted properly. The rich man has false hope of getting his problem fully solved.
The third example is of a good percentage of Indian husbands, who leave the responsibility of their children to their wives. Mothers do take such responsibility, but what about the father’s contributionIJ As no one can be perfect, the mother is likely to err sometimes. Then what happensIJ The whole family has a problem.
Similarly, many parents appoint tutors to oversee the studies of their wards and then forget about it. What happens in most casesIJ The results are not at all satisfactory because tutors also need to be supervised.
The fifth and sixth examples are of how we misuse water and electricity. When the water supply is abundant, taps run full and many times unnecessarily. What happensIJ We may exhaust the sources sooner than rains etc can replenish them. Then we are stuck. Same is the story with electricity. The affluent class uses electricity as if using more of it is better. At some point, they face load shedding.
Then we go to our surroundings. How many bother to keep it cleanIJ How many are cognisant of not polluting our rivers, including the holy onesIJ How about not polluting the atmosphere by burning leaves, etcIJ Why do we avoid voting and allow wrong persons to get electedIJ These all become our problems in time and we pay a price.
Astonishingly, most of us have solutions for the problems of others. Our topics revolve around those only. However, these are limited to give advice if someone affected cares to listen to us. Others have to solve their problems, and we have to solve ours. Don’t we have a lot of stake in solving our problemsIJ
Unfortunately, a modern man has learnt new tricks to deal with personal problems. Painkillers like Opioid are fast gaining acceptance. In one TV programme, they presented a person who consumed an astronomical number of Opioids and somehow survived. Some others don’t. How did this person’s problem get solvedIJ Why was it not attempted to be solved earlierIJ How long are we going to escape facing our problems and not become real problems ourselvesIJ
There is an explanation for this. Sometimes, we feel the problem is too big to solve and we must now retreat to the world of drinks, drugs, etc. Fortunately, no problem is too big if we do what Arjuna did in the Bhagavad Gita. Pandavas were faced with unconquerable Bhishmadeva, Dronacharya and Karna. What did Arjuna doIJ He took shelter of the Almighty. And then what happenedIJ lord Krishna used Arjuna as an instrument and won the war for the Pandavas. (11.33)
This is what we need to do too. Become a devotee of God (18.65), totally surrendered to him and him alone (18.66) and no problem will be insurmountable (18.58), and we will never become problems ourselves. But remember, we have to do our part first.
Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com