The term 'Life' has a deeper meaning and connotation than we actually know! The very word is made of 'L' for Light, 'I' for Intelligence, 'F' for Force, and 'E' for Energy. Indeed, Life is Life-Force, Prana or 'Pranic Energy'. Light and Creative Intelligence are inherent aspect of Prana (Life) of any living being (jiva). Life force circulates all over the body- from head to toes. The human eyes are eulogized in the Veda as 'akshi purusha'. One can see oneself in the pupil of the person whom he/she is seeing! So, one exists in all, and all exist in One! One can see objects even in darkness! Once a teacher asked the students: How do you find your way when you enter your dark room? The students said: We will find the electric switch and put on light. Again, the teacher asked, how do you find the switch in dark? The students said that they can find the switch by habit, moving our hands on wall till we touch the switch. Our sense of touch (sparsh jnyan) has intelligence to locate the switch in dark. We can walk holding the wall and find the switch. So, the teacher said, your touch can guide you. He asked, how do you find if some person is already there or not in the dark room? The students said, we can call out loud and find out. So, touch (sparsh) and sound (shabhda) are useful in locating the persons and things in dark.
It is surprising how blind people live! It seems that they possess some sort of intelligence, extra-sensorial power, a sixth sense, and live mostly by this. But ordinary people have to struggle a lot in life even for small things like these.
Now, when we come to day-to-day life of ordinary people, life is full of uncertainties. Nobody knows what lies ahead and how to tackle the problems that arise. Nothing is known about the next step and every step has to be taken carefully, one at a time, judiciously. Starting from childhood, we learn elders by observation, hearing and seeing how they work. Later on, we learn much from schooling. However, all these are of lesser importance when we face the real life. Only a few gifted ones realize how an unknown powerful force takes us by hand and take us all through life. The 'divine forces' governing our lives, may be, it is destiny, luck, blessings of elders, God's grace, or just the fruits of previous action.
It seems that most of the time, what we get in life is already determined by our action (karma), be it of the past (prarabhda), accumulated over time (sanchita), or the forthcoming (agami). It is said in our epics that we take repeated births in order to settle our accounts (RuNa). This is like our relation with the Banks where we take loan or keep our Term Deposits. We have to run to Banks till we settle it and close the account. Our Life is governed by the same set of Laws. The Bhagavad-Gita has clearly stated that one has to take repeated births unless the living being attains oneness, sayujya, with Him. There is a verse that clearly states that "Anyone can overcome this limitation and get redeemed from rebirths ('punarjanma na vidyate').
Hence, there is always a way out. Trust in Lord with full devotion and faith. That's all. All problems appear like mountain and disappear like the retreating waves! But, the ignorant jiva gets shattered at the very first blow! There is no easy way of escape from the prarabhda karma, and one has to suffer. It is also important to note that we learn from all these scriptures how to evade or avoid the future problems. It's better that we plan now for a total redemption and look for God's grace to avoid coming again to this mrutyu loka. First, we should realize that there is nothing to enjoy here for one who is really wise. This earthly existence is one of limitations of time, space, and causality. So we should work for our early departure, clearing all our dues and see that we never return here. Nothing prevents us from working for a total liberation, mukti. Chant the name of Sri Hari Narayana till He hears you!
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