Swami Sukhabodhanda on Stress

When god gives us lot of trouble, it appears god is very cruel but we need
patience and we have to wait. When bad things happen to good people, they become
better and not bitter. So all difficulties are part of a cosmic design to make
us really beautiful. We need patience, we need understanding, we need the
commitment to go through in a very calm and wise way. So all difficulties are
not to tumble us but to humble us.

-- Swami Sukhabodhananda
(http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Stress/id/9378)

This is the kind of solace spiritual gurus had been traditionally proferring, it is strange that a more modern-minded swami like Sukhabodanda continues playing to the same tune. Consider the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, the trouble is upon us in a bad way — so what are we to do? Are we supposed to wait in beatific patience? The economy is hit hard, I have lost my job — so am I to consider this is as part of the divine cosmic plan or something, and wade through the morass by sticking a saintly smile on my lips? I have every right to get angry and bitter, just as Mumbai and India as a collective entity has every right to get angry and bitter. Only then can things be done, and the situation can possibly get better. Adrenalin surge, the fight or flight reaction, is very essential to get work done, to move things around. I don't know for whom these swamijis go on preaching such claptrap! And Sukhabodhananda is actually popular for conducting training sessions for management people! God knows what they learn from him! There is something to learn though, I myself once attended a three-day seminar and came out learning a few things, but the way the swamiji goes on continually muddling up sensible advice with the inane variety is rather disconcerting.

The teleology implicated in cosmic design and divine plan are moronic Judeo-Christian and Islamic concepts (kismet etc). India traditionally was emphasizing on the philosophy of individual karma to explain adversity, which is a much more reasonable and scientific notion although it was hugely misused and misinterpreted. Judeo-Christian, and Islamic theologies have an extremely short-spanned linear concept of time, whereas India has (had) an eternal, cyclic concept of time — so where does the notion of cosmic design in a teleological sense come here? The beauty, harmony and order of our universe do not have to imply a future-oriented plan or design. I don’t think God has any designs with my life or has created some destiny in store for me or even for humanity! Things don't exist purposefully for our benefit. The whole race can be wiped out in an instance without making the least ripple in the cosmic order of things. The greatness of Hindu thought lies in realizing that this universe is all God's play and not some goal-driven work for God. It is sad to see that these swamijis bearing the banner of Hinduism do such a disservice to the very fundamentals of this philosophy.

"When god gives us trouble" — so all troubles come from God or chance? The majority of the time, we bring it upon ourselves through our own ineptness and stupidity. We have to assume the responsibility, we have to get angry and we have to get disgusted with the way things are going -- ourselves, others, the whole mess -- only so can we garner the motive power to act. Calmness is the last thing we need. Rage sounds more like it, the order of the day! Of course, fortuitous events do happen all the time, but our focus should be on how we bring the misery upon ourselves, because only then something can be done about it, and thereafter we can possibly even proceed to tackle the troubles which seem to drop from the blue or simply are the given conditions of our life. When the childish mind inside us feels "God is very cruel" — we don't need to calm ourselves and assume a fake wisdom and forbearance, invoking the concept of a cosmic design to bring us solace: ‘Ah whatever happens is for our good’! What we need is to look at it as an interesting challenge, but still without bringing upon undue stress and distress upon us, just as we would when we are playing a match with friends. Fun, and not repressive calmness, is the antidote to stress. And the concept of fun can be actually elaborated into a whole framework of philosophy.

The swamiji was talking on stress; the no.1 stress buster is understanding and appreciating the fact that this world is God's play, a sheer eternal and exuberant outpouring of divine energy! On the other hand, the no.1 cause of stress is a rigid perspective of goal-orientation along with an extreme limitedness of time. I am all for goal orientation in personal lives, but we need to understand to take it in the spirit of play rather than work, because in the end even if we lose the goal, or lose our job, or even lose our lives or that of our loved ones — it is not the end, life always begins anew! We need to trust in the inherent beauty and wisdom of existence and identify ourselves with that vast background truth of our existence, trying not to totally get caught up in the fluctuations at the surface.

There is no need to humble ourselves as the swami rants in a rhythmic fashion, but to aggrandize ourselves , think beyond the vicissitudes of our daily lives, and identify ourselves with the grand cosmic order of things. Indeed my personal life is a mess, as is so much about the world situation and expected future, I don't think there is any divine plan or teleology involved in it, we ourselves are to blame and have to make it our concern to improve things at full force. But when we do so with the acknowledgement of the vast deeper background of some divine order, such an understanding can act as positive, refreshing strength in our endeavors, and not just as some soporific solace to calm us down. The calmness comes of its own, we don't have to assume it - and stays in the background as a support and sustenance for our agitated, raging minds. Indeed, true spirituality is achieved in such a complex, paradoxical merging of the opposites!