Don't be a Worrier, Savour Your Life

Jan 9, 2004, 12.00am IST


Worry causes fear, anxiety, tension and stress. These emotions deplete energy and weaken the immune system. Worriers become sick and this is manifested in poor health, because of all the problems that are eating into their vitals.

And worry is certainly not the same as constructive thinking; if it were, we would have found solutions to most of our problems.

Worry usually occurs when we find ourselves faced with a likely outcome we feel is beyond the scope of our control — an outcome we think will be wholly damaging and detrimental to us.

But how can we be so certain? Maybe some good comes out of it as well. So why despair and agonise over something that may actually turn out well, or if it does not now, it might be okay in the long term?

A king once accidentally lost his little finger in an accident. His close friend and minister, how-ever, exclaimed that it was a fine thing that had happened.

Shocked at his insensitive remark, the king dismissed him. Even then, the minister who'd just lost his job only remarked that his expulsion could be for his good. This puzzled the king.

Sometime later, the king got lost during an excursion in a jungle and was captured by cannibals. They were planning to put him in the pot over the fire when they suddenly noticed he had a finger missing.

An 'incomplete' human being was unacceptable to the gods, so they released him. The king realised that losing his finger earlier had, in fact, helped save his life.

"But tell me", asked the king of the minister after returning to the palace and reinstating him, "what good came of your expulsion? You temporarily lost your wages and prestige".

The minister replied: "If you had not expelled me, I would pro-bably have accompanied you to the jungle and both of us would have been caught by the cannibals. You would be back here safely today, but because my body is whole, I wouldn't!"

The chain of cause and effect is extremely subtle. The slightest, invisible variation in an event could well lead to dramatic consequences in the future.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to predict what will happen in the long term, and whether it will be good or bad because we cannot know all the variables precisely.

Neither do we know how the fortunes and misfortunes of other people may forward or reverse ours — or for that matter, too, how our fortunes or misfortunes may affect those of others.

It would be sensible to look at life as a long chain of surprises and new revelations. So live it sportingly. The goal of life is not to achieve some mythical point of perfect materialism.

No such apex exists. The goal of life is simply to work hard at becoming better than you were yesterday.

In life, there are no wars to be won, only battles to be fought — personal, physical, social, psychological and spiritual. In our efforts to live life sensibly, God plays the role of the eternal comrade, the invisible companion, the universal friend.

The revered Pramukh Swami Maharaj was approached thrice by a person asking for blessings to ensure that his new business venture runs well.

Maharaj told him that blessings are given not to the individual but to the efforts of the individual. Only if you start working, the blessing will begin to take effect.

God will build a castle for you — not up in the air but within your heart, and it is you who has to lay a strong foundation for it.

Sadhu Vishwamurtidas