The best way to lead Life is to be stoic.
This is what both history and the scriptures have
been teaching us all along. Zeno, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, who lived around
the 3rd Century BC, championed the belief that God determined
everything for the best and holding on to that view was a virtue sufficient for
happiness. Zeno’s followers were called Stoics – some of the more popular
followers were Seneca and Epictetus. The Roman philosophers who followed
advocated the calm acceptance of all occurrences as the unavoidable result of
divine will or of natural order. The second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita ends with the highest state of consciousness a human
being can attain. Krishna, replying to Arjuna, says (presenting here only the
relevant extract): “...He lives in wisdom, who sees himself in all and all in
him, Whose love for the Lord of Love has consumed every selfish desire and
sense-craving tormenting the heart. Not agitated by grief, nor hanker after
pleasure he lives free from lust and fear and anger. Fettered no more by
selfish attachments he is not elated by good fortune nor depressed by bad. Such
is the seer....” The key operative part is to be “not elated by good fortune nor depressed by
bad”. Mahatma Gandhi meditated on this verse for 50 years every
morning and night and devoted all his Life to translating it into his daily
action. This was the key to his self-transformation.
In our lifetimes, we are seeing stoicism all around
us as people deal with catastrophic calamities – like MH 370 or the Nepal
quake. We also see people deal with their private tragedies stoically – a
health challenge, a relationship issue, the passing of a dear one. There is
immense pain for those who are caught in these Life situations. Yet we don't
see them beating their chests and wailing. They see no point in grieving and
suffering endlessly. Instead, we see them, almost prayerful, moving on with
their work, seemingly unaffected by the pain and grief. This is the highest
spiritual quality individuals can acquire. In learning from them, we can find a
better way to deal with our own, smaller, calamities. Stay stoic. Stay
anchored. Be
happy with what is!
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