Suppose we are walking peacefully on a road and are suddenly hit by a hailstone. Suppose we get angry at the sky and decide to retaliate by spitting at it. Neither will the sky get contaminated by our spit, nor will it get angry and start sending more hail down on us. Yet we will suffer more: our spit will fall back on us; and we will be hit by more hail, because we will have wasted precious time and energy that could have been better used to find shelter amid the hailstorm.
While we would rarely spit at the sky literally, we frequently do something similar metaphorically: we spit at destiny. During the routine course of our life, adversity sometimes befalls us for no discernible reason. At such times, we may react by becoming resentful toward destiny without realizing that such resenting is like spitting at the sky. It doesn’t reduce the adversity; it reduces our capacity to deal with the adversity, for it toxifies our mind. And it wastes time and energy — as long as we are filled with negativity about what is happening, we can neither see any hidden positives in the situation, nor do anything positive to deal with it.
Instead of reacting resentfully, how can we respond to adverse destiny more constructively? By shifting our focus from destiny to the Lord of destiny, Krishna. Even if destiny turns unfavorable, Krishna always remains favorable; he is our greatest well-wisher (05.29). The Gita assures that (13.23) nothing happens without divine sanction. Krishna is expert enough to bring good even out of the bad. If we seek shelter of him by practicing bhakti-yoga earnestly, that inner connection will give us the strength to act responsibly in a mood of service (10.10), while waiting resiliently for his benevolence to manifest (18.58).
Think it over:
If we spit at the sky, it doesn’t spit back at us, but the spit falls back on us; if we resent destiny, destiny doesn’t hurt us more; we hurt ourselves more.
One-sentence summary:
- What’s the problem with spitting at destiny?
- How can we respond constructively to unfavorable destiny?
- Is there any situation in your life that impels you to react by metaphorically spitting at the sky right? How can you respond better?
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13.23: Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul.
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