We do actions every day. Whether our actions are good or bad is within our control, but the results of our actions is not in our control.
Let me give you an example. You study hard for an exam. You start preparing six months before and work day and night with the intention to get good marks. The day of your exam you get some questions about a subject that requires you to think outside the box along with other questions about the content in the book in your syllabus. You finish the exam and expect to get good results. Finally the day you are going to get the results arrives. You see that you get a lower mark than you expected because the teacher valued the reflection questions more when she evaluated your exam.
Here is another example. You get a new job, and you like the work-environment at your new workplace. You work hard and get a lot of recognition from your clients and colleagues.You expect to be in this work for your whole life. However because the company cannot afford so many staff-members, they decide to fire half of the staff. You are therefore told by your boss that you have to quit the work and find another job.
In both of these situations your actions are good, but still the end result doesn’t seem the way you expected them to be.
When something bad happens to us, we usually start to think “why did this happen to me?” or “Did i deserve this?” This thinking causes pain and resentment. We start to blame the world around us – the situations, the people, the rules and regulations – as a reason for our pain.
Some months ago I heard a shabad that made me cry and touched my heart. I want to share two lines with you and try to describe what this shabad communicates to me.
“Kath ki putri kaha kare bapuri khilavanharo jaane. Jaisa bhek karave bazigar teso hi saaj aane” (SGGS, Ang 206) ~
“What can the poor wooden puppet do? The Master Puppeteer knows everything. As the Puppeteer dresses the puppet, so is the role the puppet plays.”
We are just playing our role in this game of life. We cannot see the bigger picture – only the Director of this game can see that. When we act in resentment and pain, we are actually going out of our role and trying to be the Director. We want everything to happen according to us. If it doesn’t happen, we act with pain and resentment.
This shabad conveys to me to have faith in hukam. To have faith that there is a bigger picture here which I can’t see. There is a reason that I didn’t get what I expected in this situation, but I cannot see that reason. When we start thinking like that, we are letting go of the pain and resentment before it touches us. We are accepting the hukam.
Whenever we face something bad in life, let us try to think that our thinking and vision is very narrow. Let us think that we can’t see the bigger picture – why this is happening to us. Resisting the hukam gives pain and resentment. Accepting the hukam gives bliss to our minds.
