Overcoming obstacles and challenges

I cannot help feeling a glow of blessedness with this delightful elephant god, Ganesha, who is known to be most friendly besides being an ardent remover of obstacles.

Being the offspring of Shiva and Parvarti, his entire being emanates an aura of goodness and lack of malice to anyone. No wonder he is, therefore, one of the most popular gods and almost all Hindus pray to Him fervently for his goodwill and blessings in their everyday life endeavours.

Being the remover of obstacles, it goes without saying that every person has their share of problems, challenges and obstacles. No one is free from them, although the proportion of sorrows to each person varies in quantity and depth. While for some, God appears to be benevolent, others are literally snowballed with problems making the saying, “It never rains, but it always pours”, hold good.No one’s life is purely sanguine, optimistic, hunky-dory and rosy.

In everyone’s life, there are both good times and not-so-rosy times, for which one must indeed learn to balance out the ups and downs judiciously. For example, in the average person’s life, there are birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, but if there were only celebrations and felicitations, one would become laid back and complacent without a drive to succeed.

Therefore, there are also negative occurrences like tragedies and deaths, which, though appearing very negative and unnecessary, act as “levelers”. There has to be a mix of both good and bad occurrences, and only then does life becomes a heady mix.
One can either weep and wail and cry out to God due to the unfairness of it all.

However, one cannot assuage the situation if one tries to take the “easy way out”, or if one “takes short-cuts”. Instead, one should take the problems head-on and try to solve them dispassionately and find an apt solution.

If one does not take steps to solve problems by beseeching a benevolent god but just moans, groans and complains all the time, one will be labeled “a wet blanket”, “a spoilsport” and “a complaint box”.

One should fight back valiantly against the injustices meted out to one and face them courageously. A person should not say, “God, I have a problem”, but he should say, “Hey Problem, I have God”.

After one has been in the valley of despair, and one does not succumb but emerges triumphant, one will feel true contentment and happiness. Only if one reaches the nadir of disappointment, can one appreciate the pinnacles of success.

  If one has not experienced the depth of pain, one will never be able to experience the heights of pleasure. How true is the following poem, “Greet it with laughter/ What fate sends to you/ If clouds, then right after/ Are the skies clean and blue/ It’s all in a lifetime/ Joy, sorrow and pain/ There is never a rainbow/ Until after the rain.”