Worry and Happiness:

Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

Worrying has become second to humans today. Whenever things do not go the way we want or expect, we start worrying about the consequences.
Worry is preceded by the fear of untoward happenings. Take a simple case: Suppose one has to go to another town by train o plane on important work. While on the way to the railway station/airport, the taxi gets stuck in a traffic jam. As the clock ticks away, one starts fearing if one will miss the train/plane. Then one starts worrying about the financial loss and problems that will result if one misses the train/plane and that important work is not done. One may even get irritated, angry or frustrated, and start cursing the taxi driver for getting one into the jam or the traffic police for not clearing it up. All this while, one’s heart beats faster and one starts sweating in anxiety.
But what all this achieve? Does worrying get us any faster out of a traffic jam, or help us catch a train/plane? If one is in difficult situation and one can do something about it, it is better to act than worry. But there are situations in life where one cannot do anything. If one learns to calmly accept such situations one would be saved a lot of mental agony and waste of time and energy.
Accepting the situations in life calmly is not resignation. It requires knowledge of the real nature of this world and all that is happening in it. This world is like a vast stage upon which all of us are actors playing our various parts. Each actor has a distinct role, which is fixed. If we learn to look at this world and our actions and others’ as a spectator watches a drama, we would not be affected so much by the events in the world and in our lives.
Being detached helps us enjoy all that is happening around us without getting involved emotionally. It also saves us from fear, worry and sorrow if we keep in mind the Law of Karma. All that is happening with every soul/person in this world is the result of its/their past actions, whether of this birth or previous births.
The Law of Karma is accurate and inviolable. If we remember this, we will be spared from brooding over or getting agitated about what we consider misfortune or injustice – both of which, we will realise are the results of our own actions.
The biggest cause of worry is the fear of untimely death. We are afraid to die and fear for the consequences of our death on our near and dear ones.
The fear of death is the product of our IGNORANCE about our true self. We are all souls who are playing our part in the drama of this world in our present body. The body is like a costume that the soul discards upon death to don a new costume, i.e. take birth in a new body. It is the soul that brings life into a body and takes it away upon death. The soul NEVER dies, it only plays different roles in different costumes, or bodies, in this world.
As for worrying about what will happen to one’s spouse or children in the event of one’s death, one again need only REMEMBER the Law of Karma. We are deluding ourselves if we think that we are doing something for others or that others cannot do without us. Every soul brings with it its own fortune based on the actions it has performed in its previous births. Whether we live or die is not going to make any difference to the fortune of any other soul because fortune is the product of each soul’s past actions, and it cannot be made or unmade by others.
Keeping this knowledge in mind, when we come into relationship with other people, we remain free of any attachment to them, and the relationship does not create an emotional burden or worry for us.
But to be detached and loving we have to remain CONSTANTLY aware of our spiritual identity – that I am a soul (energy, conscience, life giving breath or give it a name that suits you best) – and develop a deep love for our spiritual Father/Mother, God, the Source of Supreme Energy (call it the name you want to). For only His/Her unselfish and CONSTANT love can save us from the attractions of the LIMITED love of humans.