A series of articles under the broad topic of “Letting Go” were written by Sadhu Kailayar for the Dharma Quarterly, the magazine published by the Pure Life Society of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is the first of the series…..
What’s already happened
– you cannot change;
What’s yet to happen
– you can scarce influence;
What’s happening now
– Learn to live with it;
.…then you will know how to accept the unknown from tomorrow and accept the inevitable of yesterday….
Does this mean that you do not prepare for what is to come or live in pain over what happened yesterday? Of course not!
We have to face the realities of yesterday. If the roof had fallen through, we need to fix it. If the river bank had broken away, we need to mend the bank and re-direct the water so that it does not cause further damage. These are practical things that we need to do. The important thing is to be able to attend to these as a matter of fact, detached from the emotions of it. It is a bit like a cancelled train. Throwing tantrums or lamenting over the cancelled train does not help in anyway. There is not much that we can do about the cancelled train. We can only wait for the next one or take an alternative form of transport. It is the same process with everything of the past in life. If it is important enough, we will definitely find another solution. Reflection on such a process usually tells us that there is always a solution, or there is a way to cope with the change of events! It is then up to us to not build our anxiety on finding what that solution is or how that solution manifests. We only need to keep our mind focussed and be convinced that there will be a solution. The same applies for the glories of the past. We cannot continue to indulge in the past glories, since living and basking in the glories of past will not apply to a changing world. It may give a temporary warm feeling; but will seldom help to tackle the needs of the future.
Keeping the mind focussed and being convinced of a positive outcome is a process of converging positive energies of the Universe to work favourably towards our goals and objectives. This is the Law of the Universe – your positive thoughts attract positive outcomes and the positivity we emanate attracts the positive energy around us. This is what countless venerable and divine teachers have taught us.
It is the same with the preparation for the tomorrow – we get so stuck with our plans to the extent that these become obsessions. When we do a lot of planning in our lives, we get disappointed when the plans do not work. The disappointment comes from the failure of the plan and from knowing that the anticipated course of action we planned was not the appropriate one. Of course, we can take a lot of precautions and insurances, but something unforeseen can always strike. There is no guarantee that the plan of action is fool proof. It is somewhat like baking a cake. You plan the type of cake you want to make and prepare the mix in a bowl with a lot of care and love. As you get ready to bake it, imagine your pet cat decides to jump across the table and knock the bowl over with all the contents on the floor. There is very little that you could have done to prevent this unforeseen happening. You could not have prepared for all the scenarios that had unfolded. Again, you will know on reflection that you could find an alternative – even if it were a matter of going to the local baker and buying a cake to cater for the occasion. We only need to keep our mind unperturbed to know that there would be a solution in the way of overcoming the unforeseen as well as preparing for the next best option.
Learning to accept what is there in front of you prepares you to live a life of contentment. At first go, this is not an easy task at all. Our ego, the primary culprit that determines our moods, emotions, fancies and the craving for recognition, is our principal target. Our ego is constantly making us feel important and is refusing to accept anyone telling us otherwise. We can react in two ways – either challenge the non-recognition or willingly ‘Let Go’!
We need to Let Go!; Let go of the attachments. Clinging to our conceptions, perceptions and creations binds us to think that ours is the only right way. Once we learn to let go of these, our mind is freer. Letting go is the absolute way to freedom.
