Is it really possible to be happy despite
your circumstances?
A reader, commenting on my blogpost from a
couple of days ago, said: “"Being in the
present" and "living within" are the attributes of a finely-tuned
mind that has broken the shackles of the mundane day-to-day existence.” He was
of the view that this was not easy to achieve and that it involves a lot of
hard work.
Indeed. I am reminded of what a factory hand in Pune, who was attending a workshop on “Taking the
elevator to Happiness” that I was leading some years ago, had to say: “Bhaashan se Raashan nahin bharta, Sahib!”
(“Sir, ‘philosophical’ speeches can’t help us buy groceries/rations to run the
household.”) True that. Understanding Life better cannot solve your problems.
You still have to work hard, and consistently, on them. But what a better
understanding can do is help you deal with Life’s upheavals better. More
important, it can help you deal with them peacefully, happily!
Surely, there is no set way to live Life –
so no way can be called right or wrong. Living Life
completely – facing, accepting
and dealing with what you are given – is the way!
This is what I have learned from Zen teachings. Zen is not a philosophy.
Because philosophy still operates at a mind level. And Zen goes beyond the
mind. Zen draws you out of the mind, further, higher. So, when confronted with
Life’s inscrutable challenges, you are invited to experience them fully, while
learning to transcend them over a period of time – by training the mind – to be
able to reach a ‘witness’ stage, to be merely an observer of your own Life.
This does not mean inaction. This is a lot of action, a lot of hard work.
Obviously, when you try to address a challenge you are facing, you work on
finding a solution. If the solution works, great. When the solution doesn’t
work, what do you do? You get angry, frustrated, sad, fearful – Zen teaches you
to get past these debilitating emotions and experience the true nature of your
creation. It helps you understand that everything – including your own Life –
is transient, impermanent.
Zen is awareness. Of just the present
moment. Being aware does not mean a past hurt, guilt or memory will not rise in
the mind. It does not also mean that a worry, of something that is likely to
happen in the future, will not arise in the mind. The nature of the mind is
that it can only live in the past or the future. The mind knows no present. And
Zen teaches you to transcend the mind, go past its treacherous ways, and anchor
yourself in the present. In the now.
This is what happens to us when we are in
nature’s lap. Each of us must have experienced that rare moment of completely
losing ourselves to an ocean’s vastness or a mountains majestic beauty. Or
sometimes losing ourselves to an art form that we cherish – like painting,
cooking, music or writing. In those rare moments, you have lost your identity
as so-and-so, with such-and-such problems, and have united with the Universal
energy. Zen teaches you that this is possible in everyday Life too! Which is
why, when a Zen Master was asked, “What is Zen?” he replied: “Chopping Wood,
Carrying Water”. These were everyday chores, even for a Master, in those days.
And the import is that you have to be “immersed” in whatever you are doing in
that moment without letting your mind wander into the past or the future. So,
irrespective of what you are doing – or going through – be in it fully.
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| Image Courtesy: Internet Copyright with original creator |
My experience is that you can be in the
throes of a challenge and still be happy if you choose to be. Owing to our
bankruptcy, and an inexplicable set of professional challenges, we have a lot
of debt on us as a family, and absolute cashless-ness at most times. It is not
that I don’t feel responsible or that I don’t recognize the enormity of the
task ahead – of rebuilding our business and repaying our creditors – of us. It
is not that fear and insecurity – or even the guilt of having caused this
financial mess – do not arise in my mind. But my awareness helps me gets past
those thoughts, and helps me take actions that I must take every single moment,
each day. When my actions don’t bear fruit – as they haven’t over several years
– my awareness again helps me stay anchored and get past the grief that failure
often brings with it. I sleep well each night and wake up the next day to do
another round of ‘chopping wood and carrying water’.
I am not sure I am “successful” with Life,
but surely, I am peaceful living it! This may not be the only way to live. This
may not even be the best way – may well be contestable, arguable and even
admonishable. But it has helped me__and Vaani__stay anchored and peaceful
through tumultuous times. Important, we have
learned to ‘chop wood, carry water, immerse ourselves in each moment and be
happy’!
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