Hello and welcome to episode 155 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. Today is part two of why bad things happened to good people.
If you haven’t read and watched episode 154 I highly suggest you do so. That way you will really benefit from this episode. I will give a quick re-cap but there is great information in those episodes that I don’t want you to miss out on.
In 154 we spoke about the story of the king and the minister. The minister told the king that everything happens for a reason. The king was so angry that he threw the minister in a well. The king was injured in the forest and taken away by tribe’s people. In the end they let him go because of his injury which really proved the ministers point.
We said that there are no bad things, only bad scenes and to get through these bad scenes we must fall back to the consciousness. The easiest way to do this we learned, was to fall back during the good times too so it becomes second nature.
We talked about expectations and how the more we expect from others, the more let down we will be. The less expectation we have the happier we will be. We also talked about the importance of gratitude and we need to be grateful for the things we already have. I great tip was to spend 5 minutes each day writing about what you are truly grateful for. If you’d like to know more you can read episode 154 in full.
Today I want to share a story with you. Yama the god of death was visiting Vishnu. As he entered the gate he noticed two birds sitting by the gate. On one side was Garuda. The Garuda is an eagle who acts as a mascot to Vishnu. On the other side of the gate there was a pigeon. As Yama entered the gate he stared at the pigeon before going inside.
Fear
The pigeon became very afraid. He thought he was going to die because Yama had stared at him. The eagle told him not to worry. He said that his was his domain and no harm would come to him while he was around. He told the pigeon he would take him to a nearby mountain where he would be safe. So he left the pigeon on the mountain and came back.
Yama was leaving the meeting when he noticed the pigeon was gone. He asked Garuada where it was. Garuda said that the pigeon was safe in the mountain tops. Yama just smiled. He told Garuda that he stared at the pigeon because he was wondering why it was on the gate when it was supposed to be on the mountain where another eagle would come and kill it.
Prarabdha Karma
This is called Prarabdha Karma. This means that whatever is destined to happen will happen, no matter what you do. There are many interpretations of this story but the main point is that the pigeon was fine where it was. The fear of death caused it to ask for help but that feared ultimately caused its death.
This is what happens during bad times because fear is nothing but your tamas gunas rising to the top. Doubt, fear, sadness and anger they are all tamas that come at us in waves. We ask for help but the help is filled with fear and doubt and that is why it doesn’t benefit us. The only thing that happens is that more damage is done.
Consciousness
Krishna says that we should ask for help when we need it but it is our consciousness that we should be asking help for. Remember the self indeed is a friend of the self but the self is the foe of one subdued. If the consciousness is your friend and you can withdraw your gunas then the help will benefit you.
You can do this by writing as we mentioned in the previous episode. You can spend 5 minutes every morning writing things you are grateful for. This will help you connect with your consciousness and withdraw the gunas.
We can also ask for help from experts, people who have a high sattvic gunas. I used to consult with these people and now people come to me for consults because I don’t take them to the mountain top like the eagle did. I point them to their own consciousness. I encourage people to befriend the consciousness so you can fall back on it in hard times. This is what all the great ones do. I give them the information and let them decide what to do with it.
This is what Krishna did with Arjuna. He said “I have told you everything. Now do as you see fit.” The important thing though is to fall back to your consciousness first, then ask for help from experts.
Triggers
We need to learn to recognise the triggers in money, health and relationships. When something happens the tamas gunas comes up. It happens when you have issues with your health, money or relationships. We cannot subdue the tamas and this is not good for us.
Bad situations are nothing more than the inability to destroy tamas gunas. You cannot change the tamas of another person. The only thing you can do is to destroy your own tamas and the only thing in the world that can do that is your consciousness. Nothing else in the world can do it.
You must learn to fall back on the consciousness because this is the only place where you will be safe in any eventuality. If you end up in any other place, physical or subtle then you will be in trouble. Keep telling yourself this and it will help you.
Do what you are good at
One thing to remember is that everyone is good at something. No matter what bad habits you have you will be good at something. This is what we need to hold on too while we destroy the tamas. This is why you need to pick your battles. Even when people do wrong sometimes you need to just walk away. You cannot change anyone else so just withdraw and focus on the consciousness. This is what my mother always taught me. Just do what you are good at. Focus on that, work at destroying your own tamas and forget about what others are doing. Very wise words.
So ask yourself what you are good at. When you know what that is do it and keep doing it. Do a little bit every day and it will help you fill that emptiness inside you. Really whenever we lose something it has to do with either money, health or relationships and these things don’t really matter because they are going to be left behind.
Remember you can lose all of these things in mere seconds. Relationships can fall apart with one word. Money can disappear with a blink of an eye and tomorrow a doctor could tell you that you are very ill. It’s all possible. The only thing that cannot be taken away is whatever you’re good at and your consciousness.
My story
I want to share my story with you. About 10 years ago I was landed in the middle of a terrible problem. I had an online business in software. I said to myself that if I made a little money I could write my books a little better. The site became a huge hit and money started pouring in. Someone else was helping me and I told him we would go 50/50. At the time the internet was fairly new and I had a lot of knowledge. The agreement we had was verbal because he was a close friend.
When they money started coming in I would give him a little more than 50% because that’s how I was brought up. To give a little more than what you promised. Except for this situation I never had any issues with money. I would always remove myself from a situation if there was issues or arguments over money. I was always taught that we had what we needed and anything else is a gift.
After a month he stopped writing the software. People had paid for this service and I wanted to provide excellent value. I would ask him to write and he wouldn’t do it. I would ask him a month later and he still would not do it. I was giving him 50% for doing nothing. This lasted for about 3 months. One day a customer gave a terrible review because he had paid and was not receiving updates. I called him and he was so angry. I was so unhappy because I was doing so much work and he was doing nothing.
I messaged him to tell him that it wasn’t working out. My father had always told me to have a written agreement but I was always casual about money and I never ever wanted to fight over it. He messaged me back telling me he would take me to court and I just thought of what nonsense it all was. All he had to do was sit down and do a couple of hours work.
That was when the tamas thoughts came. I wanted to teach this person a lesson because he had taken my product and was now offering it for 50% less. I was scared that all my customers would leave me and go to him because of the price.
As I was praying one morning a thought came to me. I knew the password for his email. I opened his email and saw exactly what he was doing. I had so much knowledge about what we were doing that I could have crushed him then and there. But I didn’t. Just as I was about to a voice told me 3 times not to do it. Later that day I still wanted revenge and I wanted to do it. Again something told me not to. Something told me to keep going as I was. I was good at my job and I would succeed without destroying him.
I spent my time meditating and working on my books and I promised that I would never seek revenge against him and I would never look him up or look at his site. For 8 years I kept that promise and my sales quadrupled. I just concentrated on doing what I was doing. If I had crushed him at that time another force would have crushed me at another point in time.
So you see now how important it is forget what others are doing and focus on what you are good at. Ignore those tamas thoughts because they will only get you into the trouble. You have no right to teach anyone a lesson so don’t do it.
It is not what you have come here for. I am speaking from a place of knowledge and I am so happy that I did not act on that Tamas thought because it would have come back to me. My friend was so fixated on money. I wish him the best but I know his lust for money will not work in his favour.
The king’s anger
I want to leave you with one more story from the Mahabharat. There were 2 groups. The Pandavas and the Kauravas who were fighting each other in battle. It was in this battle that Krishna recited the Bhagavad Gita to Arjun. In the end the Pandavas won the battle because of Krishna’s wise words.
After the battle Krishna took them to the blind king who still ruled over the Kauravas and their kingdom. He took them so they could receive his blessing as this was the custom at the time.
The blind king was full of anger because his sons had been killed. Bheema was the strongest of the Pandavas brothers and he was the one who had killed the king’s most beloved son. He told him to come and he would crush him. He was blind but had been gifted with great powers. If he embraced someone he could crush them.
Krishna read the kings mind and he knew he was going to do this. So Krishna took an idol statue which was about the same height and width and placed it in front of the blind king. The king embraced it and crushed it to dust. After this the king started crying. He immediately regretted what he had done. Krishna consoled him and told him that he had not killed him. Krishna knew he could not control this tamas so he did this to help him.
This blind king’s anger exists in every person, in every home across the world. So whenever you feel hatred and revenge remember this story and dissolve it. Do it because it will be for your own good.
No matter what someone does to you just smile and reply with good words. Remember that whatever you put out will be reflected back at you so you will be helping others as well as yourself.
I hope I answered your questions. Remember you keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.
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Why Bad Things Happen To Good People
– A Step By Step guide of how great ones discovered answers to life’s challenging problems and overcame them with absolute ease and How You Can Too in Less Than Seven Days.
Part III
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Sri Vishwanath
