Blame Game and whose fault it is ?.
This is a common thing.To blame others for the problems,issues or any difficult situations one is going through.So many times in life we thinks that something or someone is the cause of our problems and miseries.If only, that person or that thing is not there, I would be happy ever after. We never realise that the problem could be lying with us.
Here is a talk I had with my colleague,
“What’s wrong, you look sleepy – I asked one of my colleague”. OoH.. Only if these birds are not there my life would have been so happy.I am not able to sleep properly.Every day early in the morning, they come and sit on a tree near my window and start the chirping and making all the noise.I feel like taking a gun and shooting them.
But, its actually good for you because, they are acting like a natural Alarm bell for you, telling you to go to work.?
Yeah, that is when I go to bed,around 4-5 in the morning.
And, what do you do all night?
I watch TV, Movies, Sports etc.
But, why do you watch all that without going to bed ?
Because, I cant sleep man. I lost all my Super money last year after the market crash.
Why did you invest your Super in a fund that is going to go down like that.
Comon Man – I dint do it.My wife did it.
Why your wife.?
Because, she manages my Super.
Hmmm. So whose fault it is.?
Yeah, that is when I go to bed,around 4-5 in the morning.
And, what do you do all night?
I watch TV, Movies, Sports etc.
But, why do you watch all that without going to bed ?
Because, I cant sleep man. I lost all my Super money last year after the market crash.
Why did you invest your Super in a fund that is going to go down like that.
Comon Man – I dint do it.My wife did it.
Why your wife.?
Because, she manages my Super.
Hmmm. So whose fault it is.?
On contrast we find this interesting story of a Brahmana from Avanti, who does not want to blame anything or anyone for his suffering and situation. This comes up in the 11 Canto of Srimad Bhagavatham, in the section called Uddhava Gita – Spoken by Lord Krishna to Uddhava.So, this brahmana was a miserly person and would never give a penny to his family members.His only goal of life was to earn and save money.When this man became old, his family members took away all of the wealth and drove him away from home.Then, the poor brahmana became a mendicant,develops a spirit of renunciation realises his mistakes and starts wander from place to place.He had a tough time, treated badly by people and society, including harsh, insulting words by people and even young kids used to make fun of him and would throw stones and pass urine on him etc. However, the old Brahmana accepted everything with tolerance and thus, quotes this Verse,
The Song of the Avanti Brahmana – SB 11.23.42:
nāyam jano me sukha-duhkha-hetur
na devatātmā graha-karma-kālāh
manah param kāranam āmananti
samsāra-cakram parivartayed yat
The brahmana said: These people are not the cause of my happiness and distress. Neither are the demigods, my own body, the planets, my past work, or time. Rather, it is the mind alone that causes happiness and distress and perpetuates the rotation of material life.
nāyam jano me sukha-duhkha-hetur
na devatātmā graha-karma-kālāh
manah param kāranam āmananti
samsāra-cakram parivartayed yat
The brahmana said: These people are not the cause of my happiness and distress. Neither are the demigods, my own body, the planets, my past work, or time. Rather, it is the mind alone that causes happiness and distress and perpetuates the rotation of material life.
Thus, this section of Srimad Bhagavatham informs us that “Neither mortal persons, the demigods, the soul, the ruling planets, the reactions of work nor time are the causes of one’s happiness and distress. Rather, the mind alone is their cause, because it is the mind that makes the spirit soul wanders in the cycle of material life. The real purpose of all charity, religiosity and so forth is to bring the mind under control”.
