Towards a new Avatar

Who has not faced disappointment in life? From a very early age, we start learning that all that we desire need not materialize. The tantrums of childhood usually give way to maturity and understanding in adulthood but some disappointments can still devastate us. Should life then be a string of achievements and disappointments binding us firmly to a state of emotional turmoil?

Hope necessarily brings disappointment in its wake. Are we then supposed to live through life without hope or desire?

Certainly man has pondered about these questions for centuries as is evidenced by these verses from the Bhagavad-Gita.

“When a man thinks of the objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment desire is born; from desire anger arises.”

Suppose we are capable of cultivating a temperament that lets us enjoy what we get while at the same time remaining untouched by disappointment when we fail to meet our aspirations; that would be bliss indeed.

This simple truth is expressed in the following verses from the Gita: “But the self-controlled man, moving amongst objects with the senses under restraint, and free from attraction and repulsion, attains to peace.”

If a desire is reasonable and to the good of all, we must work hard to attain it but we should have such evenness of mind that we need not shed a tear when we fail. Each person takes his own time to recover from disappointment. What we are trying to aim for is a reduction in the recovery time such that recovery becomes almost an instantaneous reaction.

Then alone would we be able to accept life as it comes, submitting peacefully to the will of God. Islam literally means peaceful surrender to the will of God and a true Muslim is one who has mastered his senses. Anger has no place in his heart. While appreciating one of the numerous instances in which the teachings of two great religions of our country and common sense merge seamlessly, let us try to incorporate this adage into our beleaguered lives and strive to be reborn as a new Avatar in tune with nature this New Year.