CAUSE OF OUR SORROWS

In our life, unfulfilled expectations and desires are sole cause of our sorrow. When our expectations or desires are fulfilled, we feel satisfaction and happiness and when our expectations or desires are not fulfilled, we feel worried and become sad. For getting rid of sorrows, the only remedy is to get rid of expectations. There are three situations in which expectations arise.

(i)                When we do something and expect result;

(ii)              When we expect results from our loved ones; and

(iii)             When we are overpowered by superstitions.

Third situation can be avoided if we do not believe in superstitions. Second situation can be overpowered if we become neutral and limit ourselves to our duty towards our loved ones. This can be done by maintaining equal distance from our loved ones and all other persons in this universe. In other words, be equally attached to all. As it relates to third situation, it is difficult to overcome the situation but it is not impossible to overcome the situation.

Somebody may argue that if our act leads to our expectation then in order to avoid expectation we should not do the act (karma). But we cannot avoid act. Nobody can remain action less even for a single moment. When we sleep it is an act of sleeping, when we sit without moving any part of our body, it is an act of sitting idle. When we have thoughts in our mind, we are doing act of thinking. We can say that act is nothing but posture of body or mind. Thus we find that we cannot avoid act. Therefore, if we want to avoid first situation then we will have to avoid expectation. But since our act leads to our expectations, therefore to avoid expectations, we will have to forget what we have done.

Here I will narrate an incident which once happened in my life. Once I was going to railway station from my relative’s house in a town. I was walking on my foot. On the road side, there were many stalls of cloth. I wished to purchase a piece of cloth for a shirt from one of those stalls. I dropped at a stall and enquired about the cost and variety of a particular piece of cloth from the owner of the stall. The stall keeper told me about the selling price and quality and variety of the cloth. In the mean time another person came and stood aside me. He said that the cost told by stall keeper was too high and the shop keeper was cheating people. At much cheaper cost, the same cloth was available at big stores. He also quoted a price less than the price quoted by the stall keeper and said that if the stall keeper would have given me that piece of cloth at that price, then it would have been reasonable. Then I started walking. Then the stall keeper called me back and said that it was his first sale of that day and therefore, he was prepared to give me that piece of cloth at the price quoted by the other person. I purchased that piece of cloth. But when I bore the shirt and washed it after two days, I found that the cloth had been of inferior quality and the shirt could not be used second time. I felt shame on me as I felt that stall keeper had befooled me. From that day, I did not use that shirt but whenever I saw that shirt, it gave me lot of pain. Finally, in order to get rid of pain, I gave that shirt to a poor beggar. From that day, I did never feel pain because I had done away with cause of pain. 

What I mean to say is that we should perform all acts with our full capabilities and thereafter, should do away with all acts performed by us. We should do every act for our master. We all know that benefit of all acts done by servant goes to the master and servant is entitled only for his remuneration. We should think that God is our master and we are His servants. We work for our master on the condition that whatever He will give us, we will accept gracefully as His blessings. This is the only way to kill the cause of expectation. When we will sacrifice all our acts in the name of God and whatever we will get, we will not accept it as a result of my acts but as blessings of God, then cause of our expectations will be no more.

This is what Lord Krishna has told Arjuna in Shlok 47 of Chapter 2 of the Geeta. The said Shlok follows as under :

Karmanyevaadhikaraste maa phaleshu kadaachan,

Maa karmphalheturbhurma te sangoastvakarmani.

          Tumhein apanaa karm (kartavya) karne kaa adhikaar hai, kintu karm ke phalon ke adhikaari tum nahin ho. Tum na to kabhi apane aapako apane karmon ke phalon ka kaaran maano, na hi karma na karne mein aasakta hoao.

                          

Meanings: You have right to do your task (karma), but you are not entitled for fruits of karma. You neither admit yourselves the reason of result of your deeds nor be enamored or indulgent in not performing your deeds.