Sampath means wealth. The meaning of this word is very interesting. Samyak Panna becomes Sampatti—it means well fallen. If all the six qualities such as peace of mind, control of the senses, focus on the work at hand, forbearance, intense faith and an established mind are well fallen in one person, then s/he has the six types of wealth that make her/him spiritual.
Titiksha is the quality we take up today. It means the ability to put up with difficulties or pin-pricks in life, forbearance in other words. We are confronted with just three types of situations that can be difficult—at the level of the body, it is heat and cold; at the level of feelings, it is joy and sorrow; and at the level of the intellect, it is being appreciated by others or depreciated.
The normal tendency of human beings is to get afflicted by these dualities. When the weather becomes too hot, we complain. When it rains for a few more days, we complain. When it gets too cold that we have to wake up and move around wearing woollen scarves and ear plugs, then too we complain.
Titiksha means to endure these ups and downs of life with a smile. While this wealth of our personality helps the mind settle to the final analysis of what is real and what is fleeting, it is a quality that makes great leaders be the way they are. In reality, they cannot get where they are without Titiksha. Members of the opposition party were constantly complaining and criticising the ruling party’s decisions and actions. After an election, the opposition party won and occupied the ruling seat. The habit of complaining did not go and the media finally had to write articles and editorials, and draw cartoons to remind them that they were the ruling party now and all they had to do was to act and not complain.
In Vivekachudamani, Sri Adi Shankaracharyaji explains Titiksha as a state where one endures all sorrows without trying to seek a reversal of the situation, without worry and complaining.
Many luxury buses operate on a technology that provides a thin cushion of air between the road and the tyre, and that makes the journey through the rough patches of the road very smooth and comfortable. Titiksha is that air cushion through the rough and tumble of life that enables us to keep smiling all through our trials and tribulations.
An easy way to practice Titiksha is to put a full stop to any thought, by saying, “I accept”. If you are asking “Why this happened to me?” and that makes you complain, try this next time, “why
not me?”
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