Trust in life is a fundamental virtue and the highest achievement of a spiritual seeker. On the path of egoism and the spiritual path, on stress, and on accepting the events of life: do what you must, and come what may.
Let us look at a few questions:
- What is the difference between the spiritual path and the path of egoism
- How far is it possible to control what happens
- How to accept the events of life
- What are the causes of stress
- How to follow the voice of the heart and act rightly
Trust in life is a fundamental virtue and the highest achievement of a spiritual seeker. Having learned to trust, having found faith in oneself, a person achieves success on the spiritual path. Such a person will never fall or degenerate. They will always move upward and, in the end, will attain the supreme realization.
There are only two paths in life: the path of egoism (the path of delusion) and the spiritual path (the path of the spirit). The path of delusion is defined by a sense of controlling and managing one's life, a sense that the whole world revolves around one particular little ego at its center. With a little reflection one can conclude that something that seems an inseparable part of us — our body, for example — does not belong to us, because we are unable to control many of the processes going on inside it, and we cannot know exactly when death will come. We think we are able to control our friends, relatives, children and so on. But this is an illusion.
There once lived a great spiritual seeker. But his mind turned away from the spiritual path and went down the path of egoism. This man began to take pride in his achievements and boast of them: "I did this, I did that, I brought so many people to the spiritual path." But someone said to him: "If it is in your power to bring such a large number of people to the spiritual path, why don't you bring at least your own children to it?" The man had three children, but none of them had come to the spiritual path.
The reality is that the results of our actions are not in our power; we can only make the effort. That is why people say: "Man proposes, God disposes." We can make the utmost effort to plan the future rationally and to act according to our intellect and common sense. But what the result of that action will be, we do not know. We can hope for the desired result, but in the end everything will happen according to the supreme will.
Naturally, the more deeply we study the laws of the universe, the more opportunities we get to change nature. That is, with the help of material laws we are able, to a certain degree, to act on material objects. Yet even this way it is impossible to calculate every detail. Mathematicians had the idea of creating a theorem of "everything," after which supercomputers could compute new theorems and prove them on their own. At 25 the mathematician Gödel proved the incompleteness theorem for mathematical systems. Using mathematical methods, he proved that mathematics cannot account for absolutely everything. With that he set off an "earthquake" for all the other scientists. It turned out that the universe cannot be predicted; one can say something only about some part of it that follows from accepted physical laws.
The principle of uncertainty is strong in our lives too. So the right position in life is: do what you must, and come what may. When we accept this principle, life flows easily. On the contrary, by trying to control things that are obviously not subject to our control, we live under constant stress. Things rarely go according to our plan. Life always makes its own corrections. So the most correct thing is to increase our inner strength, develop intuition and strive to live in harmony with the cosmic flow. This is what "trusting life" means.
Once the Guru called a disciple and said that the Guru foresaw the disciple's demotion at work. But the disciple answered that he could not possibly accept it, and that the Guru must do whatever it took to keep it from happening. A demotion would be too great a blow to his reputation. The Guru objected that for a spiritual seeker such things are secondary, but the disciple insisted. And then the Guru agreed, saying that the demotion would happen when the disciple himself wanted it. The disciple was overjoyed, deciding that he would never want it and so it would never happen. Soon the Guru set off with the disciples to an ashram. This disciple smoked, and another disciple talked him into taking cigarettes to the ashram. The friend put a cigarette in his mouth and struck a lighter. The disciple took one drag and went outside to smoke. The Guru, angered, said: "I thought you were my faithful disciple and would defend the sanctity of the ashram at any cost, but you turned out to be the first to defile the ashram." The Guru set the disciple a punishment: he had no right to meet the Guru or to do Guru pújá. After that the disciple's spiritual practice stopped working: in meditation he felt nothing. It was agonizing. The disciple pondered how to make peace with the Guru. In his mind he began giving the Guru all his attachments. And in the end he offered the Guru his job. That same evening the disciple received a letter from the Guru saying that from the afternoon onward the Guru was no longer angry with him. On returning home, the disciple found a letter from work, sent to him 9 months earlier, notifying him of his demotion. The letter had been held up in the post. Then he understood that the Guru had staged the whole play.
Some events are "destined" to happen, and we must have an inner acceptance of them and the right attitude: everything that happens is for the best. This does not mean that we should not fight injustice or stand up for our rights and interests. We need to struggle for harmony in society. Life consists of struggle, and struggle is necessary. But inwardly there must be a readiness to accept any outcome. We go by common sense and by what we consider right. But the final result of an action is determined by the supreme will. At the moment of such acceptance, stress goes away.
It has already been said that there are two paths: the spiritual path and the path of delusion. The path of delusion is defined by belief in the ability of one's ego to control something. In that case a person feels fear: will it work out or not? If an event is in accord with the supreme will, it will happen. If an event is rejected by the supreme will, you do not need it. What is there to fear? "Do what you must, and come what may."
There are two main causes of stress: we do not get what we want, or we get what we would not want. If inside there is calm and a readiness to accept any outcome, stress does not arise, and energy is not spent on negative emotions. We must direct our attention to what is happening in order to understand the situation correctly. Then we can draw from it all the advantages that can be drawn. Life is like surfing. In high seas there are the steepest waves and the most fantastic pirouettes. But to conquer them, you need to focus on the "here and now." This is the readiness to make use of the opportunities you are given, without directing your energy into fear, reluctance and rejection of the difficulties that have arisen.
A spiritual seeker is guided not by the result but by the rightness of the action itself.
The spiritual path means following the instructions of the spiritual master. Only the supreme Consciousness, or God, is the Guru. It is manifest in everything around us. God teaches us through the events of life.
Our consciousness is not developed enough to catch all the sounds of the voice of the heart and of conscience. The more we meditate, the clearer our ability to distinguish them becomes. Intuition makes it possible to understand what is right and what is not. When starting practice, one needs to follow the principles of harmonious conduct — Five principles for how we treat the world: not harming, truthfulness, not stealing, keeping the mind on the Supreme, not living beyond need. and Five principles for shaping oneself: cleanliness, contentment, service despite hardship, uplifting study, keeping the Supreme as life’s goal.. Observing them means trust in the supreme will.
For a yogi the highest achievement is the ability to surrender completely to the will of the Supreme. But it comes as the result of an intense inner struggle. The ego does not allow you to renounce it, but spiritual practices develop trust in the Supreme. The first time you jump with a parachute, you think: "Will it open or won't it?" In time comes the confidence that all will be well. The same happens when you entrust yourself to the Supreme. Our fears and logic sweep such trust aside, but the heart feels that it is right. And if we nevertheless act according to conscience, any problem suddenly resolves itself harmoniously and perfectly. At that moment faith arises. Some people are endowed with such trust from birth. These are fortunate people who have been walking the spiritual path for many lives already. But others need to cultivate faith in themselves gradually.
So do your spiritual practice regularly, follow the moral principles and do not interrupt the spiritual path. See life not as a hostile environment but as a challenge, the way a surfer sees a wave. You can drown in it, or it will lift you up. If you are not afraid, you will become one with it — you will ride it. If you direct your attention to the "here and now" and forget your "I want, I don't want, I'm afraid, I'm not afraid," life will carry you up to the very peak, to perfection.