Why good people suffer?

The eternal question, you have seen it many times. Being a physician I have seen many good folks who suffer a lot.

Is the world fair: We are told, in simple terms - be good so that you are not punished by God. If you do evil, you will get punished.

Let us take an example: A child gets an illness at a very young age and is made to suffer through out its life. How can one explain that? The child hadn’t committed any sin?

A man, who has led a noble life, always on the path of righteousness gets an illness or suffers an accident or a close family member suffers an accident, so on - various examples we have seen. We say - why did such a tragedy happen? Does it lead to frustration? Don’t some people stop believing all that is truthful and honest?

This is my explanation (given my limited understanding and being a humble tiny winy creature in this whole world).

Firstly - this is a second dimension to this world of ours. Our senses perceive only what we see, hear, feel, smell or taste. Our brain only interprets only what we can understand. It is finite, limited by the capacity of our understanding. Imagine there is another dimension to ‘life’. Christianity, Islam, Judaism believes in heaven and hell (almost similar); Hinduism and Buddhism believe in reincarnation. There is the ’soul’ in each human being which after his/her death goes to a ’second dimension’. It will suffer for all the sins done in this ’second dimension’ or it will be reborn in another human body. That human body will suffer for the sins committed in the last birth. Irrespective of religious beliefs - there is the concept of a ’second dimension’ which we probably cannot understand or perceive.

Secondly - Everything that happens in this world has a reason. There is a reason why a 2 year old will have an illness making him/her suffer through out life, there is a reason why a noble man has an accident. Many a times we cannot explain this. We can assume and surmise, however we cannot be right. Every person, every soul on this earth/world is linked. If you start from person ‘A’ and look at the happenings in his/her life you can find reasons (looking back in time) and this influences person ‘B’ and hence forth finally arriving at person ‘Z’. This world is huge but it is still a small circle. Every thought, emotion, feeling, happening is interlinked. Think and you will realize.

Thirdly - There is GOD. Man is the only animal gifted with an immense thought process. Look at the distance between ‘man’ and his evolutionary ancestor, the ‘chimpanzee’ - this is a huge difference in the way we are gifted. Further there are a zillion natural phenomenon which cannot be explained by science alone. What is GOD -? GOD is supreme power manifest in every soul. GOD is there all the time, GOD is awakening, GOD is omnipresent. Every religion in this world has a GOD. Mankind has prayed for this supreme power from the time man existed. GOD is a concept which we HUMANS have to realize. Realization comes by practice. There have been many GODLY men and women who have lived on Earth and they are those who have been ‘awakened’. They have spread the message of GOD. It cannot be a blind belief. There is a power beyond what I can understand. That power has helped me and I am indebted to that power. That power is all about being and doing everything that is good and noble.

Fourth - Meditation. It is said we only use 10-20% of our brain most of the time. Again talking about perception. What if we could use and apply 100% of our neurons? Brain and central nervous system hasn’t been completely understood by science. Meditation makes us more wise and intellectual. The more wise we get - we probably start applying more of our neurons. Meditation improves our concentration. A person who meditates will have a sharp intellect even at the age of 80. Meditation is neurochemical evolution of brain. It is a hard practice but there is nothing more beneficial than meditation. The more smart, intellectual and wise you get; you will realize and see things in a different perspective. Perhaps you will realize one of the greatest realizations - that life on earth is like a dream for our soul and you see the ’second dimension’. You will probably be not affected by misery, sorrow and will take happiness and sadness equally.

So where does all this leave us?

I think..Life for our soul is an experience to be better oneself. It is a constant challenge and one has to face it chest forward!! We can get into many philosophical debates and religious arguments - however those will be in vain. What is important is to be ‘good’. Christ sacrificed his life for the betterment of the world. So did many other saints sacrifice all materialistic happiness only to help others.

Analogy (although it doesn’t explain all concepts): There is a big big big swimming pool (the world) and many people are swimming at any given instant (people). Some of them happily floating (happiness), some drowning (misery). Then there are these lifeguards (Godly men/women) who dive in to help those drowning. They teach the people how to swim and not to drown. Some of them follow, some don’t. The whole pool with the people and the lifeguards are all bound by this unifying power called GOD.

Understanding Karma Yoga 3 - Concept of Unselfishness

“Work for Work’s sake?”
When you work, do it with hope that it helps somebody; work without expecting anything in return. If there is a motivation behind work (like fame, name, recognition) - rarely does it bring success, even if it does - that will be short lived.

We have to learn and practice Unselfishness

Even if we can do five minutes work without a selfish motive, then it is an achievement. It takes practice to work without any motive. Even five minutes of unselfish work will waken the moral giant in you. Unselfish work implies something done without the fear of punishment, glee of gain, content of praise or thoughts of the future.

During our daily work - at home or in the office, we have opportunities to display ‘unselfishness’ in our work. I would want to put this into practice. Just work 5 minutes only for ‘work’s sake’ without any aspirations. Gradually increase it. This will, in due course of time, become a part of you. A nature which will help all those who come to know you.

Unselfish work is a form of self restraint. This art or nature of work will develop power, character and a mighty will. Remember there will be no short term gains. Matter of fact, we should not be looking for a gain. Many of us cannot see beyond a few years. I am 32 years old, but I sometimes do not see beyond 33. We need to develop patience to look beyond, into the future. All the unselfish work - even 5 minutes a day will accumulate; years from now when I look back - it gives me a sense of satisfaction that my life on this earth had some worth, it helped to serve humanity. Take small steps, but in the right direction.

“Leave the fruits alone”

Firstly, any work - even to sweep the floor - cannot be ignored. Even there you can display unselfishness. Do it earnestly, put your heart into it. Swami Vivekananda says “To work we have the right, but not to the fruits thereof: Leave the fruits alone.”

Let us make it simple:

If you want to help your friend or relative or anybody: please do not expect anything in return. Do not think: that it will improve that person’s attitude towards you or perhaps he will be of help to you in the future. Please let us not think of the ‘fruits’ there of. Yes, it is hard for me, for you and everybody else. But there in lies the ‘value’ of the work you did.

Karma Yoga: Random pickings - 1

Confessions

Is there any use talking about your mistakes to the world? What has been done by you has been done. We have to learn from our mistakes and do better. In fact, the world will give sympathy to those who are strong, have learnt from their mistakes and move on bravely. Confessions do help – in making you realize and introspect over your mistakes.

Work

We should never make the mistake of judging a person by what work he/she does. But judge them by the manner in which the work is done. We can be better people when we can do our work (whatever it might be – at home, at our job, in the garden) with more perfection. Many a times it is the quality that matters over quantity – isn’t that the universal principle.

Work is Worship

Every work/duty is Holy. Every duty we do is a form of worship to God. We have to respect every duty and give it our best. That way we earn respect and it also feeds our character. A person gets more valuable by the value of his work.

Success

What are those elements that bring success in somebody’s life? To name a few – integrity of character, sincerity to his work (at home and office) and applying heart and soul to one’s duties.

We shouldn’t Grumble

Many a times we complain: that man is so wicked yet is so rich. That man is so rude yet has so many friends who follow him. We also complain at our fellow workers: being paid the same he gets more work and more praise than me? There is a never ending list of complaints in our daily life.

Is there any use to all that?

Grumbling only causes misery!

Compared to somebody who doesn’t complain, but gets on with the work at hand and continues to do the same day after day. We shouldn’t make the mistake of looking at ‘snapshots’ but consider ‘an era’.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Karma Yoga: Random pickings - 2

Selfishness

Swami Vivekananda says: The degree of Unselfishness marks the degree of Success everywhere. Now that statement is ‘very heavy’. As human beings we tend to be selfish, we work towards our families, our community, our race, our country. We probably cannot be perfectly unselfish; the goal however is to tend towards unselfishness. Only Godly people and incarnations like Jesus Christ, Buddha, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa were perfectly unselfish. They were the leaders of Mankind.

Food for thought: Think about the following statements by the great saint:

“However we may try, there cannot be any action which is perfectly pure or any which is perfectly impure, taking purity or impurity in the sense of injury or non-injury. We cannot breathe or live without injuring others, and every morsel of food we eat is taken from another’s mouth; our very lives are crowding out some other lives. It may be those of men, or animals, or small fungi, but someone somewhere we have to crowd out. That being the case, it naturally follows that perfection can never be attained by work. We may work through all eternity, but there will be no way out of this intricate maze: we may work on and on and on, but there will be no end”.

We usually expect something in return for our work

We work for a pay; A speaker expects applause; We all love praise – that’s our nature. There is always some motivation. All work we do with a particular motivation has some form of misery attached to it, that is the truth. Work/duty done with the least amount of motivation brings the greatest happiness and bliss. Work/duty done to spread the message of God without the motivation to gain name/fame will bring you more happiness than expecting praise/fame for what you do.

To judge a person

There is no particular standard to judge a man. Each man has to be judged on his own, we cannot compare and judge people/ countries/ races. Every person and country have their own reasons for their conditions. Judge them by their own standard. We probably shouldn’t compare because the person/country is a cumulative result of many events/ environments. We have to respect every person for what he is. Naturally it follows that: we shouldn’t criticize or devalue anybody/ race/ community or country.

 

Understanding Karma Yoga 2 - Character

Our Character

Our character is the sum of all preceding events just like how tiny drops of water make the sea so do all the tiny events in a person’s life makes his/her character. Remember that it takes consistency. Anybody can become a overnight hero at one time, but consistency is what builds character. The most common mundane tasks done by human beings sometimes describe the character of a man/woman.

“Great occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is the really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.” - Swami Vivekananda

Imaging yourself to be a magnet, you are attracting the whole universe towards you - the good, bad, misery, happiness. It is for YOU to absorb these and send out the stream called “character”. It is within you, the power to send out the character. Character is what defines you, what makes your personality and everybody else will remember YOU for your character alone.Karma establishes Character and this in turn gives you the will power. All the achievements by human beings so far has been the will power of different men and women. Put simply they are the display of thought processes.

The eternal law is: ‘No one can get anything unless he earns it’. If you don’t believe that, on the long run you will!
You may think that people without character sometimes get lucky, earn lot of money and live happily - you are wrong! Only that man knows perhaps if not now, but later that he didn’t deserve to become rich and life will become trouble and misery will pile upon on misery. Remember what you sow now, you will reap the same later.

Think of the future, always

Our past actions has made us what we are now!
Our current actions will make us what we will be in the future!

So do not waste your ‘energies’, focus on learning, focus on meditating, focus on how you will serve humanity. If you cannot work on them at this time due to current commitments - give it a thought! THOUGHT is all that counts, THOUGHTS will become ACTION. Remember its all in your mind.

My thoughts

Every time I read these writings and compose the blog, it inspires me, rejuvenates me and makes my thought more focused. It is a long journey, but at least I have started it RIGHT - if not earlier, at least NOW.

Summary

To summarize the last three blogs: think positive, strive for knowledge, remember what makes a man/woman is his/her character. Think of the future!

Understanding Karma Yoga 1 - Goal of human beings

Karma Yoga (I believe most readers are familiar with ‘yoga’ - joining or uniting) is one of the four pillars of ‘yoga’. It means ‘discipline of action’.

Swami Vivekanada, one of the greatest philosophers from India explained Karma Yoga. I will make an attempt to simplify it to suit our life in this century. Again, the topic is so big that I have to look at small bits with each blog. This is a process of learning, for me and for you. There may be some readers well adept, pardon me if I sound overconfident or display the slightest of ignorance in this matter.

What should be our goal (ideally?)

As per Karma Yoga, the goal of mankind is ‘knowledge’. Pleasure (mainly materialistic) should not be the goal. Happiness will come, much more than any materialistic pleasure can give. It would be a mistake for a person to make materialistic pleasure as their goal (accruing money and various things money can buy, seeking happiness from the opposite sex or yearning for the opposite sex, aspiring for power and so on..). Perhaps it is this pleasure seeking behavior of human beings that has been and will be responsible for all the human miseries.

When you are close to dying; in those last days many of us realize that it was not pleasure but ‘knowledge’ that we have been seeking. Knowledge of the self, knowledge about God/supreme power and all other knowledge has given us happiness that is long lasting.

Pleasure and Pain
Pleasure and pain are both great teachers. Both of them carve our character. It takes many hits and polishes before a sculptor can make a beautiful idol (of stone). The combined impressions of pain and pleasure make our character. The moulding of character is influenced by both good and evil. Sometimes, misery or suffering is a greater teacher than pleasure. If one studies the great people Earth has produced, you would be surprised to see that it was misery/suffering that has taught these people more than happiness. Suffering is what makes you look back, introspect, pray God, yearn to become a better person and improve your character. It has been poverty, criticism and sadness that will bring out your inner fire more than money, praise or pleasure.

What should we do?

I hope this was not too intense. The yoga is a very serious discipline. If we apply 50% of what yoga teaches us and also practice the same, this world will be a much better place to live. Again the take home message - strive for knowledge and continuing with my previous post, always think positive.

My very first Blog

 

I have started a blog site to highlight concepts of life, medicine and awaken the sleeping God in every person!!!

To tell you the truth, I am inspired to start ‘bloggin’ after visiting zenhabits.net (by Leo). Blogging is a good place to go public with what goals you want to achieve so that you can achieve that goal. By far the biggest challenge and goal in life is to: be a better person!
BETTER YOURSELF EVERYDAY!
QUESTION:
How do we do that? Human mind is so complex as are its thoughts; it will take a structured, planned approach to do that. I am planning to start the journey here along with you!

 

If you were the first person to visit this site, a few words of encouragement will always help.

 

Let us start with: THINK POSITIVE, ALWAYS

 

I have been listening to the ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne and the strongest message delivered is: Be Positive, think Positive, act Positive.
I recently watched Spiderman 3 and the message (in a small bottle) delivered at the end of the movie: You always have a choice before you do something.

 

Couple these two statements:
YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE TO DO SOMETHING AND LET THAT BE ‘POSITIVE’.
YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE TO THINK SOMETHING AND LET THAT BE ‘POSITIVE’.

 

Positive means: Something productive (to humanity, to your family, to your friends,…..), something GOOOOD, something which will not hurt any soul on this earth by thought or action. So you get the idea!!