Many of us could successfully swim through covid but unfortunately, some of us could not. I have one such association in my life who is negatively impacted by covid. Let’s call her Jasmine(Name changed to protect privacy). Jasmine taught me an amazing lesson on Spirituality and I want to share the learning here. Before I share the lesson, let me introduce Jasmine.

Jasmine is from an influential and rich business family settled in Delhi. She is also into spirituality. She takes good care of her employees, donates generously, cares for mother nature, and tries her best to live in line with spiritual principles. I met her as part of my work. I still remember my first conversation with her. It was covid phase 1 and I called her regarding some work. She sounded cheerful and answered all my questions with enthusiasm. When we were just about to close our conversation, she said her entire family(including her) and helpers got covid and they are in isolation. I was amazed that she took work calls and stayed cheerful even in such a tough situation. Her big family, consisting of people of all age groups, successfully came out of covid.

Our association continued further and I felt her to be humble, kind, cheerful, and hard-working. And then came the covid phase 2. Her daughter Rose(name changed to protect privacy), who is married and has a 1-year-old child, got covid. By the time they realized its covid, the infection has spread deeper and after some days, lungs were damaged. Jasmine’s family used every resource to restore the health of Rose. They also did prayers, chantings, and donations. But nothing could save her and Rose left her body. One of the most difficult things on this planet is to go through the death of one’s child. Jasmine’s family went through this pain and mourned the loss for months.

Recently, a conversation I had with someone on spirituality took me to the question – “Will I continue my spiritual journey if something terrible like the death of a loved one happens?” The question made me quite uncomfortable and all the theoretical knowledge I had about Soul and death vanished. As part of my spiritual practices, I affirmed many times that I am not the body and I am the Soul. But this knowledge, which is only a theory but not my experience, faded away in front of this question. I felt lost and sad just by reflecting on the question. I felt I will leave the Spiritual journey if something terrible like this happens to me. What good is Guru and God if they cannot help me in such tough times? As I was going through this inner conflict, I remembered Jasmine and wondered about her approach to spirituality after her daughter’s death.

I reached out to her and asked her if she still believes in God and spirituality. She said – “I do believe in God today also. God has his own ways..cant understand why. These are all our karmas. Every individual has to go through their own journey.” I was shaken by her profound belief in the Law of Karma and God. She taught me not to leave the spiritual path even when terrible things happen in life. I bow down to Jasmine for teaching me this lesson through her experience.

I reflected further and realized life cannot be rosy always and every one of us will have some terrible situations to deal with. Yes, by applying the Law of karma, we can solve many of our problems but there will be some problems beyond solution and we need to go through them. These situations are the results of our past karma and God or Guru has nothing to do with these karmas. They are the positive and kind forces that give us the strength and teachings to face challenging situations. But when we leave these forces thinking they did not help us, we cut ourselves from the strength and wisdom and make our life even more difficult.

It is like the relationship of a parent and a child. A parent can be a phd scholar but the child needs to face his own exams. Yes, the parent will guide , share everything he/she knows and will work hard along with the child to help him succeed in exam. But parent cannot come and write the exam even though he/she is capable of writing 100 such exams. Only a child can write his exams. If the child fails(inspite of all the preparation) and thinks such a powerful parent, who is highly capable, could not make him pass the test and leaves the parent in sadness and anger, child’s life is going to become very difficult because he is still a child. It is wiser to come back to parent and seek further guidance irrespective of success or failure.

The Pandavas, who were under the wise counsel and love of Lord Krishna, had to endure many difficult situations. They were cheated, lost their kingdom for many years, lived very difficult life in a forest and even lost their children. But they held on to Lord no matter what. In every situation which could be manipulated, Lord did the manipulation to the best of his ability. But in some situations, which were beyond manipulation, Lord walked with his devotee as a wise and kind parent and gave the strength to face the situation. He consoled the devotee and showed the next step. Isn’t this enough to hold on to spirituality and God even in challenging situations?

Dear Guru and God, please bless me with the inner strength to practice the teachings and walk the path shown by you even in challenging situations. Please bless me with the inner strength to never leave you.

Sarve Jana Sukhinobhavanthu!