Problems - The Manure

The nature is the best example of a spontaneous organization which manages itself without any external controls. For example, the planetary motions are controlled by the position and gravitational attractions of the planets. The rain forest manages its own affairs by balancing the flora and fauna contained in it unless otherwise its eco-balance is disturbed by human de-forestation. It looks like the plan of nature is to create a self-sustaining mechanism with built-in principles controlling it by itself. This is evident from the simple observation of animals having least amount of health problems which is haunting the modern mankind such as hyper-tension, diabetes, heart problems and so on.

It is interesting to observe that there are no systems of health care in a rain forest and still the life is healthy and peaceful. In the name of civilization, mankind has moved far away from the natures plan. We are perennially unhappy about what we have and in the name of material pursuits we postpone living for a later date – “I will be happy when I have.....”, and this ends up as a “tomorrow syndrome”. In the end we “see” without a “vision”, we “hear” without “listening” and we are “alive” and not “living”! The higher intelligence nature bestowed on us is invested in “searching a black cat in a dark room while it is not there!” Let us examine little bit of the secrets of nature.

We like health against disease, sweet against bitter, happiness against sorrow and so on. In every aspect of ephemeral human experiences, there is pair of opposites. There are foods very tasty to tongue and few of them are not. We prefer the ones which are tasty and avoid those which are not. The secret of nature is; those foods which are tasty are not good for our heath and vice versa! One of those human follies is to feel happy when our expectations are met and resent the problems we face. Is there a “message” the nature conveys through problems? Napoleon Hill in his famous book “You can work your own miracles” says “Every problem is a seed of equivalent benefits”. It means at the outset the problem appears to be curse and later it proves to be a big opportunity in disguise!

At the outset when we face problems we tend to run away from it which is equivalent to throwing away the seed which contains great opportunities. The author says if you put the seed in the soil, it will germinate as a seedling, grow and bear fruits which we have never imagined that the seed contained it in its un-manifest form! It s a great wisdom when I read the book two decades ago and it really made miracles in my life when I started looking at all problems with this new perspective. It is a new paradigm that can revolutionize our lives.

When I was a child in my village, I used to observe during festivals people pull a big wooden car carrying the deity around the streets. As the car moves through the streets, one person will put a wooden wedge below the wheel almost obstructing the flow of the car. I used to wonder why this guy is preventing the car rolling across the street while all people are struggling to roll it. Later when I grew up I understood, but for that obstruction, the car will go direction less and the guy is really steering the car to its destination. Similarly, nature introduces problems as a means of showing direction to us.

Only when we are challenged we become better; diamond glitter only when polished, gold requires heating & beating to glitter. Those who have not faced sorrow and challenges remain as immature people. Indulgence keeps the soul at the “Muladhara chakra” levels only. Probably nature uses obstacle as the tools to explore human potentials.


I had the biggest blow in my life when I had to end up in a poly-technique at the age of 16 when I had the dream to enter an engineering college. Now I know why nature planned my life that way. I knew more about myself as a “self-made person” by pursuing my education till I got my M.Tech from IIT. I have the great joy of fighting with road blocks and converting them as a stepping stone. “Problems are manures; it stinks but helps to grow” is the wisdom Shri. Ravishankar has given to the modern mind.

In summary,

There is a great wisdom in understanding the principle of nature and following it for peace, health and prosperity. Follow the flora and fauna for their alignment with the nature; don’t ignore them as they are less evolved than human.

All that are conducive to your senses are not good for your being and vice versa!

"Problems are the seed of equivalent benefits”. Don’t resent when they appear in life.

Develop the paradigm that Problems are opportunities in disguise.

Carefully pick the seed without judgement and nurture them carefully to grow them till they bear fruits.

Jai Gurudev

Love

NC