First, a short narrative of the election period of the officials of a society. This was an election to elect the office bearers of a simple residential society. There was neither much to be gained nor to loose in this election. But still, the candidates and their team members were filled with lots of emotions. All the candidates were strongly trying to present their thinking, ideas in the best way to everyone. All the candidates were trying hard to attract more and more voters to their sides. After the efforts of almost one-two months, nobody wanted to see their hard work going away. The underlining point is that nobody wanted to see their hard work going away. Everyone wanted the results to be in their own favour. The condition of few of the candidates was that, if they lost the election due to one reason or the other, they would reach to an undesired mental condition!
The deep attachment that comes for any outcome, any attainment is a sign of great danger to our wellbeing, to our happiness. There is a rule in life that the more you try to keep the sand tight in your hand, the more it will slip out of the middle of the fingers. It would be better if we take the sand in hand, but only enjoy its movement, its speed, rather try to keep it close tightly in the hand. The fighting electorate is not a wrong thing, you are free to use your energy wherever you want. You must have given a thought on what you are planning to do. That is a goal for you, but just not getting the results your way should not reflect on your well being, it is not a good mental state we should expect for. We should face and accept the result as it is coming to our life. We should be clear in mind that the result comes only in two shapes, either desirable or undesirable and you have equal chances for any of the two states. Not accepting the result the way it comes can give a chance to generate other negative energies like jealousy, hatred, depression that can influence your life to such an extent that you might be wasting a good time period of life which you could have used joyously in other useful things.
The meaning of ‘slipping sand’ is that, no matter what age or circumstances we are into, we should not have an attachment to the results. For example, a teenager may have many goals or circumstances; maybe getting a higher rank in school exams, getting ditched by boyfriend or girlfriend or if have completed college studies and then looking for a job; whatever is the stage of the life we are into, we should be clear that life is dynamic and there is nothing permanent in life so no result should disturb the mental peace. Those who consider the different stages of life as permanent will be like they are trying to hold the sand tight in their grip without success. Your views at the time of your college days will not be the same when you will join your first job and the views at the time of your first job will not be the same after 10 years of your professional life. As your experience changes, your thoughts changes, and as your thoughts changes, your attitude towards life changes. But the only thing you have to keep in mind during the journey of the life is that the basic purpose of life is bliss and the real pleasure is from watching the events happening in life and not being attached to them.
Remove the idea from your brain that says, you have control of the results. In such a large creation of God called the universe, you are just an immature creature. You just try as every creature does. Every creature tries to fulfil its needs with its own thinking and efforts. Everything is not in the hands of a creature. A lion tries to hunt the deer, sometimes he succeeds and sometimes not. Every result has to be accepted. If you do not accept the result, leave the relationship with the world, you are not able to establish a relationship with yourself too. And if your relationship is not good with yourself, you will not be able to live with yourself in your own shell, inside your own body. This gives enough reasons for you to miss the bliss the creation has offered to enjoy. Buddha has given the word ‘Aho Bhaav!’. The meaning of Aho! is the acceptance of whatever is happening in our lives. This sense of acceptance is the key to a successful and enjoyable life.
People who are trying to achieve their objective, whether it is personal relationships or professional achievements, in every case, attachment to the result is very dangerous. One should be aware that both the dimensions of the result are possible. Everyone tries in the direction of success, but it is possible not to get a pleasant result. If you are comfortable with the happening of an unpleasant result, then you will feel comfortable to move in the direction of the attainment of the purpose. So if you enjoy the performance without worrying about the result, then you will come closer to the result. If you really want to win any result, then you should get free from the fear of defeat. You are sure to lose until you enjoy doing something.
All the people who win at a big scale in life are the one who enjoyed the process and not the results. Defeat and victory are just the vocabularies of judges. In fact, every person who has enjoyed the process of completing the work is the winner. The real victory is joy, not the scoreboard. Do not make life a scoreboard. Incidents of different colours keep happening in life and the experience of the event itself is a real pleasure.
