Whenever life subjects us to terrible situations, we often obsess over how bad things are. Such obsession makes us feel frustrated, burdened and drained – impelling us to act in ways that make the situation worse.
Should we stay blind to the bad? Certainly not. We need to deal with the reality of how things are.
Humility allows us to acknowledge that we don’t know the full reality of things. And the biggest reality we don’t know is God and his plan. Even in terrible situations, his plan still works, shaping things for everyone’s ultimate good. How Krishna will act, how he will guide us to act, and how future events will play out – all these things are unknown to us.
Instead of stewing over the bad, we can seek the good. When we seek good, we see good. And when we see good, we seek further good. By such seeing and seeking, we start a positive feedback loop that ensures that our emotions won’t become our enemies when dealing with difficult situations. Thus, helping us discover positives we’d been previously blinded to.
Every adversity contains the seeds of some opportunity – at least the opportunity to become more conscious of God. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (18.58) assures that if we become conscious of Krishna, his grace raises us above all obstacles.
Even if situations don’t look good, the shift in our focus from situations to the ultimate positive reality, God, is always good: it elevates our consciousness and equips us to better tolerate difficult situations. And it may even empower us to transform those situations.
Think it over:
- How is looking for the good different from staying blind to reality?
- Amid negative situations, how can we start a positive feedback loop?
- Why is shifting our focus from the not-so-good situation to God always good?
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18.58 If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditioned life by My grace. If, however, you do not work in such consciousness but act through false ego, not hearing Me, you will be lost.
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
Explanation of article:
Podcast:
The analogy of a bee and a housefly is very pertinent in this regard. A bee always look for nectar in the most filthy settings but a fly looks for filth even in the most nectarean setting. The choice is ours to be a bee or a fly.
View the world with unblemished glasses
Inspiring, uplifting article, Prabhuji 🙂
The following lines sounds as though Krsna Himself was speaking:
Humility allows us to acknowledge that we don’t know the full reality of things. And the biggest reality we don’t know is God and his plan. Even in terrible situations, his plan is still working, shaping things for everyone’s ultimate good. How Krishna will act, how he will guide us to act and how future events will play out – all these are unknown to us.
Yeah, really nice.