Inevitable Price

I was watching Thalaivii movie yesterday and I felt really sad when Jaya is lonely at a moment. She is super strong, a super achiever, truthful to her emotions but she also has to face disappointment multiple times. Being rich, powerful, successful is also not enough at times to be happy in the real sense.

Actually, everything in this world comes for a price. This price is sometimes evident, sometimes hidden. When you crave fame, you lose privacy and peace. You can no longer be yourself completely. When one craves for the position of power, it comes with responsibility and multiple risks. When one craves for success it does not come along singly. It comes along with series of responsibilities, the negativity of competitors, fear of failure, and so on.

Instance, in case of an entrepreneur who dreams of creating something big and beautiful, who dreams of achieving success knowingly and unknowingly has the responsibility of livelihood of all the people working for the organization, has to take care of the environment so as not to harm it by the activities, has to pay to the exchequer. It is not simple 2+2=4 but it entails a series. Consider a family aspiring to buy a house on loan. Once they buy the house it starts a series of EMIS, property tax, maintenance bills. The happiness of owning a home entails fulfilling all these commitments.

A mother was always behind her kids to study and performing well. She just wished her kids to excel and have a good future and so adhered to strict schedules. But in that process, she did not realize that her discipline created a gap. Eventually, her kids went abroad, had decent careers but they got disconnected from her. Her aspirations gave kids a good professional life but she was left alone.

Recently I came across a couple who operate an old age home for the needy and poor through donations. When I see the videos of the bedridden people smiling, happy by the efforts put in by the couple I feel we see charity just as one small positive action but in reality, it creates a series of events that eventually bring a smile across so many people. Some NGOs collect good old clothes, unused stationery from high-rise societies for the rural interior villages. In remote villages, people are so happy and feel blessed to receive them.

It is not just our actions but our thoughts too that create consequences. There are outcomes by the way we think. Gautam Budhha once narrated a story of a sandalwood seller in a kingdom. King felt like hanging him for no reason. King’s minister identified the reason on meeting the seller. He always wished for the king to die so people will buy wood from him. His thought created series of negativity which affected the king too. Minister turned this into positive energy through his wit. He bought some sandalwood from him and gifted it to the king. King was so happy with the fragrance that he sent gold coins to the seller and eventually, the seller was happy and prayed for his well-being.

Whatever action one is doing or whatever one aspires to do has definitely an outcome. This is the price of that action or thought. We have always heard Newton's law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is what the law of karma also states. Lord Krishna always says that every thought, every action, every wish of ours creates a consequence. The consequence may be felt immediately or sometimes over a period. It may seem to be good or bad. But it is unavoidable. Lord Krishna, who established Dharma, who is Almighty also has to accept the law of karma. Once Krishna laid down under a tree in a forest and went into Yoga Samadhi. At that time a hunter Jara misunderstood the moving foot of Krishna as a lurking deer and shot a lethal arrow that pierced into Krishna’s feet. As soon as the hunter reached Krishna, he realized his mistake and pleaded with the Lord for forgiveness. Lord Krishna consoled him and told him how his death was inevitable. In his previous birth as Rama in the Tretayuga, Rama killed Vaali (Sugreeva’s brother) from behind. So, Krishna now reaped the price for the same through Jara who was king Vaali in his previous birth. This story beautifully brings out the very important fact that, even for the Ruler of the Universe, who has all the powers, the laws of Karma remain the same.

Everything is a play of energies. There is balancing by natural order. Whatever we give, emit, project in this universe creates an effect and in the natural order comes back to us. If we do positive things, think positively, positive consequences will come back in some form or the other and vice versa. When we talk about hardships, stress, failures, disappointments we need to self introspect. The root cause lies definitely lies in our actions or thought (Present or past). When we pray to the Almighty to fulfill our some wish or desire we are actually creating two events. One of the wish being fulfilled and another of facing consequences that fulfillment would be creating.

Friends we all need to be thoughtful and conscious. Consequences are unavoidable but we can be prepared and equipped to accept them in a positive way. We all need to forego something to achieve something. And this awareness helps us to live each moment in an enriched way.