Why is a baby born without eyes or without the hearing ability? Why is a baby born with a damaged brain or with two heads? Why is a baby born with an angelic look? Why are there so many differences? One baby comes with happiness and gives happiness to everyone around him since birth, and on the other hand, another suffers since birth and gives grief to others as well. What is the reason behind it? Such happenings are neither without reason nor Nature’s will. Nature does not decide whom to give what. Moreover, even God is not cruel or partial. The real cause behind all this is man himself.
Whatever you are today or whatever mental state you are living in and even whatever you possess this moment is the result of your work before this moment. A newly born child has a long past behind him otherwise every child would have got the same healthy and beautiful body. Your present mental state is the result of your past actions. Whatever is happening, which is not in your control or which you cannot control is the ‘effect’ and its ‘cause’ happened in the past; and whatever you can control or you are doing or planning to do is the ‘cause’ which will show its ‘effect’ in the future.
You are a mixture of effects and causes. Some things are happening as a result of your past karma and some things are your new karmas which will bring results in the future. These effects and causes are mixed and every effect affects your present karma which in return effects your future. For example, if you become a crorepati (millionaire), due to your past karmas, just giving a few answers in fifteen minutes, it is definitely going to change your pattern of thinking and your attitudes towards money and human beings, this will change your present actions which are chalking out your future. A soldier who loses his all limbs in a battle will look at human body in a different way, for him the body becomes the most precious thing. It becomes more important than money. Every result of your past actions changes your present mental state. It might change it positively or negatively. This change is in your control. God has given you the ability to choose the right or think rightly. God has sent spiritual gurus on this earth to take you on the right path. Scriptures are available throughout the world to teach you the lesson of peace, love, compassion and wisdom. Never choose the wrong way.
Remember that your past does not finish in the present. It plays a role in carving your future also. Your future is dependent on your will power. Be firm that you will never deviate from the path of non-violence or leave your virtues whatever you may have experienced because of your past actions. You will tolerate every happening without leaving the path of non-violence or questioning the existence of God. You should consider every happening, pleasant or unpleasant, a silent teacher. Find the hidden message in it for yourself and reform yourself accordingly.
Remember that spiritual happiness is the greatest of all pleasures. You feel happy after eating the food of your choice but this happiness is shallow. You feel happy after attaining some post or after earning a certain amount of money but again this happiness is shallow. You also feel happy when you save the life of a man or an animal or you help a poor person and this time your feeling is very deep. This feeling changes you entirely. You feel peaceful. You feel divine. You feel that you have really done some good work. You feel closer to God. This is spiritual happiness.
Always search for opportunities to get spiritual happiness and never do anything that hurts your soul or the soul of others. Give up violence. Shun killing and hurting altogether and make a peaceful and loving life ahead. Make your every present moment full of love and compassion and by doing so you will be sowing the seeds for a happy and pleasant future.
This article by Pavan Jain was published in his fortnightly column titled “Mind Mantra” in the Hindustan Times, Lucknow edition.