Life is full of tensions and stress. It can come from the environment. It can come in the form of a war. It can come in the form of a revolution or simply difficulties in public life such as road blocks and traffic jams, power-cuts, hartals and bandhs and many more.
The other type of difficulty can come in the form of people around us. It can be a picky neighbour, an angry relative who can never be placated or a simple nagging trouble seeker who is hell-bent on making life difficult for you.
There is a third type of difficulty. The atmosphere and environment will be good. Family, relatives and neighbours may be fine. Yet somewhere from within, you can feel disturbed. You may feel let down. You may feel lonely. You may feel irritated for no reason.
There are words in Sanskrit to refer to these three types of stress. Adi Daivika — something that is not in our control, but comes to us according to our Prarabdha Karma or a result of past actions, individually and collectively. Individual karma is called Vyashti Prarabdha and the collective karma that is the cause of many a collective event — disaster, big accidents, revolutions in countries, wars and big religious clashes — will come in the category of Samashti Prarabdha. Daiva means fate and something that is not in the control of an individual. Though we may say that our habits and lifestyles cause pollution in the environment and global warming, indeed not much is really in the control of human beings, however much we may imagine that we have the power to create and destroy.
The individual nuisances in life that accost us also have a link to Prarabdha Karma. A person who can irritate you for no reason is not irritating someone else who may be seated next to you. A relative who pounces upon you for every word you speak, may be smiling cheerfully while talking to another who is close to you also. Why is this difference in interaction among people? It has its bearings on our individual karma — a give and take of our good and bad deeds.
The third type of difficulty that arises from within you has also its connection with our past thought patterns. Otherwise, why would you feel so depressed and dejected, when everyone around you is partying?
There is a one-stop solution to end these three types of crises — to chant Om Shantih Shantih Shantihi three times. This is a one-line mantra that sets many crooked lines in our life straight. Chanting this word that refers to peace, three times, quietens the mind and helps us to have a much clearer perception of situation. When there is clarity, order follows. Where there is order, then the inherent peace and harmony in every human shines through.
(www.swahilya.blogspot.com)
