PHRASES IN THE GITA - 89

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PHRASES IN THE GITA - 89 

दुःखालयम् अशाश्वतम्  ।  (अध्याय ८ - श्लोक १५)

து:காலயம் அஶாஶ்வதம்  ...  (அத்யாயம் 8 - ஶ்லோகம் 15)

Duhkhaalayam Ashaashvatham  ...  (Chapter 8 - Shloka 15)

Meaning :  This is impermanent .  It is an abode of grief .

Shri Krishna is describing the World .  It is an abode of grief .  A place where pain is a permanent stayer .  That which seems to be pleasant is temporary .

It is a Factual description by Shri Krishna . We can see sorrow and grief , heaps of sorrow , long tunnels of grief, in lives of people around us . Allow me to mention a few . (I do not want to venture into reasons for grief .)

1 . A ... He lived a comfortable life . He actively participated in social and Religious activities in the village and also contributed large amounts . He lived with good reputation . All of a sudden , wheels turned in the wrong way . His life tumbled and he was bankrupt . Today , he has to put in strenuous efforts to earn a meagre amount of 100 Rupees a day . His son faces attacks of fits . All these developments have spoiled his relationship with brothers and wife . Sadness !!!

2 . B ... She was married at an age of fifteen . The groom disappeared the same evening . Physical work was extracted , rather over extracted from her by the family she had to rely on . At the age of 75 , she was thrown out and she took refuge in an old-age home with tired and diseased body !!!

3 . C ... She was middle aged . Life was smooth . Suddenly , husband , the bread earner died without prior indications . Son had passed out from Engineering college but could not find an employment . His education loans seemed higher in the new situation . Even daily food was a hectic challenge .

4 . D ... She is 85 years old . She saw the death of her husband . Her grief did not stop with that . She had to witness deaths of one of her sons , one of her daughters in law , one of her sons in law and one of her grand sons . She had to see her another son and a daughter being afflicted with deadly with deadly diseases . Her another daughter - in - law separated from her husband . One of her grand daughters eloped , in the name of Love . Deluge of grief !!!

5 . E ... It is a two years old child , innocent . It cries and cries , for hours in the basement of an apartment . Its mother is a sanitary worker in the apartment and is busy morning to evening . She has no time to take the child in her bosom and console . The child is deprived of affectionate warmth of its mother !!!

6 . F ... She is a twelve years old girl . Her name is Beauty . She was at our doorsteps today . (On the day this note was written) . She asked for donations for a Home for destitutes and Blind . I refused as it was run by Christian agency . She went away and reappeared after a few moments . She said she is hungry and wanted food . I served her food and collected information about her . She is a student of eighth class , in a Government run school . Her father is dead and her mother blind . This agency offered to help with free shelter . The agency not only forces her mother to work in the institution , but also forced this child to quit school , go around streets begging for the institute . She says , the Pastor threatens to throw out her mother if she did not comply . Result ? This girl child has to roam on the streets with hungry stomach !!!

I returned to the street where I stayed thirty years ago and found almost half of the total number of thirty families narrating sorrowful tales . His son got good education and got a good job in Air Force , but ... within a few months , he met with an accident which smashed his vertebra and dumped him into bed for three decades . She was forty , when her husband was struck with a peculiar disease , by which his appearance turned into that of an 80 years old man . His father aged 80 and his son aged 15 were there in the family apart from his wife . The neighbour was a mother who was left to fend for herself and her three young daughters , due to sudden death of her bread earning husband . The son of a retired Police officer fought with and drove away his six sisters and usurped the property . He turned mad and lived all alone in the house . Families plunged in neck deep debts were there . A mother was insane but gave birth to two sons . The house was a locked house in eternal darkness and grief . The sons studied and got employed in Government organizations . The mother died and the two sons got married . The family seemed to back on rails , after years of emotional torment when suddenly the elder son and the younger daughter in law passed away . The family was disturbed once again . There was a family where the daughter in law gave birth to a girl child and was paralysed and bedridden for more than twelve years . Another family had a good looking daughter ready to be married , but , fate had different plans . She was struck with a peculiar disease in which lost sensation of her limbs . The next house was of a successful businessman who retired from his business and handed over the business to his son at a ripe old age of seventy . But , the son died in an accident within a few months . Grief struck the family . These are from a single street of thirty houses . Proportion of grief , sorrow in the world !!!

Tormented families due to sudden death of the only bread earner ; persons caught in the mess of fiscal indiscipline and debts ; persons suffering from chronic ailments and bedridden ; persons who always tasted failures ; persons spending long phases in life in courts , police stations and disputes ; persons subject to heckle , mocking and insults ; persons suffering emotional and physical tortures from bad relatives ; persons living life all alone after having lost relations ; betrayals , disappointments , frauds , Oh ! there seem to be umpteen factors for sorrow and pain in life ...

One seems to be happy and seems to be leading a comfortable and pleasant life today . We do not know how much pains are in store for him tomorrow . Same with the past . We are not aware of how his yesterday was .

A friend of mine said , "Pleasure is like a prostitute , loyalty not guaranteed and company not permanent . Pain is like the loyal , dedicated wife , always with you . We , out of ignorance , discard the wife and chase the prostitute" .

One another friend said , "Pain and sorrow are like dark clouds collected all over the sky . Pleasure is like the lightning , which dazzles and blinds your eyes , for a few seconds and vanishes" .

Recently , I got a chance to interact with a Sannyaasi . He asked me a question . "Is a life without grief or sorrow possible ? How , if possible ?" I said in reply , "Yes . It is possible , if one just takes it as an experience and not tag it as 'Sorrow-ful' .

Is it right to see 'Sorrow' in others' lives ?

Can we put in effective efforts to erase sorrow from the hearts of others ?

What is Grief ? We find many who are enthusiastic and happy , in spite of mountains of sorrowful experiences !!!

Many times , the mind becomes restless and suffers on seeing grief in others' lives . Sometimes , it moves away with a thought , "Oh ! I am helpless and can't do anything about this" . Sometimes , it suggests that , "it is arrogance in you , which sees sorrow in others and makes a show of grief" .

It is true that the world looks sorrowful when sorrow prominently finds place in our own minds . Pain sits embedded and hidden in pleasure and pleasure is hidden in pain . The hidden is invisible to us . Hence , we jump and shout and glee in moments of pleasure . We arrogantly tear apart others in such moments . On the contrary , we plunge deep into ocean of sorrow , delink ourselves from others and even resort to extreme acts like suicide .

Disease , Death , old age , problems due to debts etc . are common . Almost everyone has to face all or some of these . The only possible option available for us is to remain contented and happy . Joy in us is contagious and may catch the minds of persons around us . These minds may experience short stints of Joy . To claim to be striving to erase misery from lives of others is false and such efforts are vain efforts . It is impossible for us to erase sorrow and grief in others .