Positive Thinking 12 – IDEA at work 1 – Facing untimely death positively

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Transcript

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welcome back to our discussion on positive thinking, we are discussing the principles of positive thinking centered on the idea, identity, divinity, eternity and activity, now we discussed these four principles in our last four talks, now we move onward and discuss the idea at work, in this and the next talk, we will discuss incidents from history which demonstrate this idea, how they can help us, these principles can help us to think positive amidst negative circumstances, in the Mahabharata war, one of the most heart-wrenching incidents was the slaughter of a 16-year-old Abhimanyu by the Kaurava hordes, six warriors, six great warriors conspired to together slaughter this tender boy, and when the news reached the Pandavas, they were devastated, Arjuna had been fighting elsewhere and he had not yet come back to the Pandava camp, Yudhishthira got the news and he was mortally afflicted, because he felt himself responsible, he had sent Abhimanyu to bring the Chakravyuha and Abhimanyu had got trapped inside, because the Pandavas who were supposed to follow him were held back by Jayadratha, so he was heartbroken, in tears, and he just felt what is the point of fighting this war, what is, if such brutality can happen, if such adversity can happen, how can I ever see it, what is the point of getting a kingdom at such a great cost, thinking thus, he was increasingly losing heart, at that time Vyasadeva, the great sage came there, and seeing Vyasadeva, Yudhishthira composed himself and offered his respects, offered the sage’s seat, washed his feet, and then after the sage had comfortably seated, he told, O sage, Arjuna’s son, beloved son of Abhimanyu has been slaughtered, and we are mortally afflicted by this, please guide us with your words of wisdom, and Vyasadeva replied, O king, no living being, however virtuous he may be, can violate the law of death, everyone has to die, and Vyasadeva started describing histories of great kings, whose virtue was far greater than that of Abhimanyu, and he emphasized the point that, if even such great sages could not avoid the calamity of death, then why should it agonize us that Abhimanyu had to die, no one can escape the law of death, at the same time, although death is unavoidable, that does not mean that devastation is unavoidable, no, death is not the termination, it is the transition, and based on how we live, we get a post-mortem destination, Abhimanyu had attained martyrdom, fighting heroically in a righteous war, and he had lived a life of virtue, thus, although he had fallen at the earthly level, he had risen at the spiritual level, and he was going to attain, he had indeed attained, an effulgent form, where he was delighting in everlasting joys, so indeed one who has attained such a destination, that person is fortunate, and that person has already gone beyond the temptations of this world, which can drag one down, no matter how elevated one may be, so rather than lamenting for someone, who has attained such an auspicious destination, beyond temptation, we need to lament for ourselves, because we are in this world, where there is the danger of temptation at all times, so in this way, Vyasa Dev completely transformed the perspective, rather than seeing Abhimanyu’s death as a catastrophe, he helped them to see Abhimanyu’s death as a success, and then he said that, further Abhimanyu had Arjuna as his father to protect him, Abhimanyu had all the Pandavas, all of you were great warriors to protect him, and still he met his end, this means that his end was the will of destiny, and the will of destiny needs to be accepted, grieving for that which is unavoidable, that which is unchangeable, that which is uncontrollable, such grief, such lamentation actually, achieves nothing, except to sap the energy of the lamenter, O king, Vyasa Dev told Yudhishthir, that arise, you are a man of character, arise and finish this war, it is the sign of the depravity, of the desperation of your enemies, that they have resorted to such depravity in the fight, soon the war will end and you will attain victory, so the work that Abhimanyu has left unfinished, finish it O king, Vyasa Dev also told how, the inscrutable will of the supreme, is surely for the well-being of all living beings, the inscrutable will of the supreme, is surely for the well-being of all living beings, and if we do his will, we will understand how it is so, so this will is inscrutable, we cannot understand what is happening, why it is happening, but if we continue to serve him, then in due course of time we will realize, that his will has worked out things for our good, so we rather than questioning what he is doing, we should question what we are doing, and make sure that we do the right thing, so here we see such a catastrophic reversal as death, and unjust atrocious death, that through the spiritual wisdom, which Vyasa Dev gave, that consoled and empowered Yudhishthira, and Yudhishthira arose, consoled and determined to continue, and finish the righteous pursuit, for which Abhimanyu has come alive, similarly, so here we see the idea at work, by focusing on Abhimanyu’s identity beyond his body, his eternal side, by understanding the divinity that God can control, by eternity, understanding that there is an eternal dimension to life, where Yudhishthira, where Abhimanyu has already attained auspicious destination, and by activity, by choosing the right activity for ourselves, we can actually convert catastrophic negativity, into a positivity, thank you,