This is a lesson that each one of us has to learn. There are so many situations and circumstances in life that are not to our liking. But, how long can we allow ourselves to wallow in
The call of life is Onward, Forward, Godward! Close the door to the past, open the door to future, take a deep breath, step on through and start a new chapter in your life
What is done is done. What is gone is gone. One of life’s lessons is always moving on. Moving on doesn’t mean you forget about things, it just means you accept what happens and continue living happily.
A couple was going to visit a friend. They waited for a bus at the bus stop. Suddenly, the husband realized that his wallet was missing. The wallet contained probably a good amount of money and naturally he was upset. He tried to look into all his pockets. He was quite sure he put it in his left pocket when he left home, but where is it gone? He called his son at home and asked him to check his drawers to confirm he had not left it there. He even re-traced a few steps to see whether the wallet had accidently dropped down. But the wallet was nowhere to be found. Dejected and disheartened, he stood there wondering what to do. The bus which he had to board came by, he wouldn’t get into the bus. Another bus came, he wouldn’t get into that bus either. A third bus came and he wouldn’t get into the bus until his wife said to him, “Are we going to sit and cry here all the time or are we going to go on? Are we going to be here worrying about the lost wallet or are we going to move on?”
This is a lesson that each one of us has to learn. There are so many situations and circumstances in life that are not to our liking. But, how long can we allow ourselves to wallow in sorrow and self-pity? The call of life is Onward, Forward, Godward! Close the door to the past, open the door to future, take a deep breath, step on through and start a new chapter in your life.
A very dear one passes away, suddenly he is snatched away from us, how long will we keep on weeping about it?
There was a woman who came to me and said, “Three months ago I lost my husband and I have been weeping, shedding tears day and night.” And she said to me, “I am not exaggerating but I tell you literally during these three months I must have wept at least three buckets of tears.” Three buckets of tears, just imagine! I said to her, “You have wept three buckets of tears, has your husband come back?” She said, “How can my husband come back. They took him to the cremation ground, they burnt the body, all we got was a little ash that is all.” Then I said, “What is the use of shedding all those tears? Why don’t you put your feelings to some useful purpose?”
Her husband was a leader of his community and I told her, “There are so many things that you must be knowing about him that are not known to the people, why don’t you sit and write your reminiscences.” She liked the idea and started doing that. She came to me after a year, on the first anniversary of her husband, she had that book published. And her face was wreathed in smiles. She said, it is a wonderful suggestion that you gave me, and I feel so happy, ever since I have followed it.
I remember how one day Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani visited a bookshop. As we were looking at the new arrivals, I came across a book, entitled, ‘My Philosophy’.
So I took this book to him and said, “This is a new arrival, may be you will be interested in it. This book contains philosophies of many great ones, but tell me what is your philosophy?” He answered, “My philosophy! The philosophy of acceptance, I know of nothing higher. Nothing outer can hurt you for the universe is not merely just, the universe is essentially good. The cosmic soul is love and humanity is his bride.”
True acceptance in the right spirit is a dynamic concept which encourages us to do our very best, to put forth our best efforts to achieve what we desire. But, if we cannot achieve those results, you must accept it as the Will of God, in the knowledge that there must be some good in it. As I always say, there is a meaning of mercy in all the incidents and accidents of life.
By Dada J P Vaswani
