I have a close friend of mine, who had a girlfriend of more than 7 years, whom he deeply loved. She recently got married to someone else. I have another friend of mine, whose mother recently confided to me that he threatens his family of committing suicide! Others suffer from the fear of joblessness, loneliness, ageing. If you are also finding yourself, lost in suffering, read on, this article is for you. By the end of this article, I hope to help you find strength to suffer and eventually overcome your battles.
Life is full of suffering. However, suffering is extremely personal. We all come with default factory settings. Which makes us suffer to different degrees in different situations. For example consider two people, Ram and Raghu. Ram may suffer more before passing a course in school, compared to Raghu. However, Raghu may find it incredibly tough to move-on from a girl, compared to Ram. Hence, it’s moot to judge someone on the basis of their struggles. More importantly, don’t belittle yourself, if you find yourself struggling more compared to others. Everyone fights battles, which may or may not be of the same nature as yours though.
My struggles and realization!
Few years back, mentally I was in a dark place. I was devoid of any motivation to succeed in life. Everything seemed meaningless to me. There was zero motivation to get out of bed in the morning. All in all ,I was in mess !
However, one habit that I had developed early in my student life was the thirst for knowledge. I still loved acquiring knowledge for knowledge’s sake, Since I was so lost in life, I had no pressure to read for any particular goal.
So I started reading history of India, I read everything from her past glories to the plundering by foreign invaders. Reading about the past glories of my motherland, filled me with joy. Whereas, I felt deep anguish by seeing the way invaders had looted her. It made me realize how far my country had fallen from her glory days of the past. I started reading about and feeling the problems my country faces. I realized that we had fallen so far down that we have lost our national identity.
Thanks to the numerous foreign invasions, our country was now bereft of confidence. We looked for validation from the West. India had stopped producing original ideas. All we could do was copy the ideas from the West !
It was the first time in months that I had felt the pain of others. This made my pain all the more bearable.
That’s when I decided I will dedicate this life to help India become a hub of innovation. Suddenly, I had a mission far greater than myself to live for, to struggle towards. Once I started working towards a vision that included the betterment of society, my pain started feeling manageable.
I apply the same idea in other walks of life. I used to feel ashamed that I had to suffer from depression. I seized feeling that way when I started looking at the bigger picture. I now realize that all the pain that I had to go through, helped me open my heart towards the suffering of others. I started understanding others better because of my personal struggles. The reason I started this blog was to help anyone who might be going through mental battles. This is the reason, I am able to drag my lazy ass to write.
Recently I completed an ultra-marathon. It took me 11 hours 30 minutes to complete the run. However, I was deep in pain after the first couple of hours. My left foot had gone numb. I was in excruciating pain. Still I managed to run for 9 more hours before crossing the finish line. What motivated me to sustain the pain for so long ? I told myself that if I can cross the finish line despite the odds I was against, may be it would inspire some one else to push forward in life, as well !
Key Take Away !
I firmly believe that when you dedicate your actions in service of others, there’s a power much greater than you, that comes to your aid and guides you towards achieving your goals.
I conclude by quoting the following translation of Chapter 9 Verse 27 from the Bhagavad Gita
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation to the sacred fire, whatever you bestow as a gift, and whatever austerities you perform, O son of Kunti, do them as an offering to Me.
Whether you believe in God or not it’s okay. When you serve other beings, you serve the almighty !
Dear reader, how did you find the above article. I would love to know your views below. Cheers !