Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
20 September 2019
Trust (5)
“Certainty”
Man lives in uncertainty and man wishes to be certain of life. Man prays when he is uncertain. When you are uncertain, you can never pray because you will be uncertain whether your prayer will be answered or not.
Primitive man was initially uncertain of nature. Later, when he got used to nature, he began to accept it. He understood that he was needlessly worried and needlessly uncertain.
As long as primitive man was rejecting nature, pre-historic man was uncertain of it. Slowly and steadily, when he accepted nature, he began to trust it. The moment he trusted it, from that moment onwards he was not uncertain of it.
Then his attention was on those things that occupied lesser periods of time. They were animals that were running around and trees. Slowly and steadily, he began to accept those plants, which were poisonous or harmful.
He began to accept animals as friends and he tamed them. He accepted them and began living with them; he was certain of them. But the present-day man is uncertain of every little thing; he is even uncertain of man.
Even husbands and wives are uncertain of each other. When you observe the time-scale, uncertainty has reduced in duration: man is uncertain in the moment and the moment is life, which is timeless and thoughtless – hence, uncertainty is illusory and not real. So man is uncertain of man and life.
Because there is health, there is the possibility of sickness. He does not trust that growth has health as well as sickness. Trust that health will happen in its own way; trust that sickness too will happen in its own way: it will run its course.
If you are uncertain of sickness; be very sure you will be uncertain of health too. Sickness is bound to follow health, just as health is bound to follow sickness.
The moment you trust that sickness is happening in aliveness, in this moment here and now, your acceptance will bring trust in sickness.
The moment you trust your sickness will go the way it is meant to go, you will be certain that your health too will go the way it is meant to go. The moment you trust you will accept life as it is.
The enlightened accept every moment of life as it is with trust because they understand that life cannot be other than what it is in any moment.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2019
Editor’s Note:
It is undeniable that man experiences having needs in daily life. Certain needs may seem to be satisfied by man’s own efforts and ingenuity as his intelligence evolves, thus strengthening his belief in being able to look after his own welfare and that of his family and the wider environment. However, when his solutions are not succeeding, consternation and even desperation follow. He may even resort to measures that are anti-social and self-seeking, albeit illusory. If it is meant to happen, however, on his path in life he will meet a wise man whose deep understanding of nature, as revealed in this article and elsewhere, opens the door to certainty and trust in every moment of life, no matter what it contains. Such is the nature of acceptance.
Julian Capper, UK
German Translator‘s Note:
Of course, you are particularly concerned about your own health and that of your relatives and friends. Your mind often interprets human behaviour as irrational, both as an affected person and as an outsider: "Why don't you do this or that thing like this or that?", "Leave it alone, it only harms you...". How could the hint of the Enlightened Ones, as in this article, help you that every moment inevitably and certainly contains exactly that level of health and disease that is present? Wouldn't it be better, you might ask yourself, to do something for your health, be it preventive through a healthy diet and sufficient exercise, or in case of illness through therapy and medication? Understand, there is no contradiction here. The health-promoting measures will happen to you as they are meant to happen to you, no power in the world can prevent this either, just as the health-damaging things can only be avoided if they are meant not to happen to you. This deep insight into the true nature of human behavior, especially health issues, gives you clarity rather than confusion. This is trust in the transformation process of life, in which you and everyone and everything is contained.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.