YOU DON'T HAVE TO LOOK ANYWHERE ELSE

Pic.: Chetna Shetty

Just as some situations in my life can be nasty and undesirable, some people, too, can be. Like everyone else does, I, too, try desperately to avoid them... And, when faced with them, I try, even more desperately, to break free from them...

Now and then, some wise people console me saying, “Friend, do not be anxious. They have come in your life to teach you something valuable... to make you  strong and wise.”

Well, though all those wise words sound comforting, the fact remains: I keep trying to break free! The struggle and resistance continues for some time... so do my anxiety and despair... Finally, it passes... I do see myself freed of the thoughts about nasty and undesirable situations and people...

Yes, I do see the reality that acceptance in life normally comes via my resistance... Only, when my resistance ends,  acceptance walks in...

Yes, I grumble about difficult people in my life...

Yes, I grumble about difficult situations, too...

And, yes, eventually, I do look back at all the difficult people and situations in my life and smile... They do appear to be my good teachers in disguise...

It takes time, but, I do ‘meet’ my great teachers in life... and, only this way!

There was a village at the foot of a mountain. People in this village had heard about the holy-man, who lived in a hut, atop the mountain. They believed that he had a divine power to solve their problems.

Once, a man from the village, who was ridden with many problems in life, decided to meet the holy-man. So, he embarked upon a long and tough journey to the mountain-top... and, finally, he arrived at the lonely hut there. An eldderly servant came out to greet him.

“I have come, all the way from the village, to meet the famous holy-man,” the visitor said to the servant.

“Please follow me,” said the old-man with a gentle smile and guided him through the hut.

As they were passing through the hut, the man from the village began to look for the holy-man in all directions. But, soon, they had come out of the hut from the back door... and, there was no other place over there, where he could look for the holy-man, who, he had come to meet, all the way from miles afar... and taking all that trouble...

“But, where is the holy-man?” asked the man from the village, almost, annoyed, “I have come to meet him.”

“You have already met him, son,” said the elderly servant. “You don’t have to look anywhere else!”

In life, I meet my teachers right in the midst of my struggle to break free from them... And, I meet the ‘holy-man’ – the messiah – I am looking for right in the midst of my search for him...

Yes, I do not have to look for him anywhere else!

GERLAD D’CUNHA