Skip to main content

CHOOSE YOUR CHAOS


There is a very interesting theory called the Deterministic Chaos Theory. I was quite fascinated when I first learnt about this theory and the impact it can have on our life. We live in a world with so many laws both gross and subtle. Better to understand them and live our life in accordance with them, because as the saying goes "You can't break the law but can break yourself against it". With this little introduction let us try to understand this theory in action.

Deterministic Chaos Theory in it's simplistic sense states that a minor difference at the start of a process can make a major change in it as time progresses. Just like an avalanche. It starts with a small ball of snow falling down, slowly it gathers more and more snow and very soon the ball becomes so big that an entire village is destroyed. Another example to explain this phenomenon is the example of a plane. If there is an error by a slightest degree when the plane takes off then it could land in an all together different destination. Let's see how this theory applies in our lives.

 
THE NEGATIVE CHAOS
The classic example from the Ramayana is that of Sita Devi getting attracted to the false deer and making the mistake of chastising Lakshman which lead to her suffering in Lanka and beyond. Sita Devi by her example is showing us how one small mistake from her side costed her a heavy price. That's how life is. Material nature is quite harsh.

If you visit a prison house and talk to the inmates, they will tell you that one moment of weakness costed them a lifetime of imprisonment. It is explained that the cause of the entire Kurukshetra war in which all the Kauravas lost their lives along with that of all their followers was their one mistake of insulting Draupadi.

THE POSITIVE CHAOS
The good news is that this theory works in positive way too. One small positive change we make, one small help we do to others can catapult into a massive positivity in our life. When sage Vishwamitra comes to ask Ram from King Dasharath to help him fight some demons, Dasharath with a heavy heart gives Ram and Lakshman in the service of the sages. The result was that Vishwamitra awarded Ram with the knowledge of celestial weapons and orchestrated the marriage of not only Ram but that of his other three brothers too to the best of the brides. All this would have been impossible had Dasharath not served Vishwamitra.

The positive side of Chaos Theory is taken to the highest level when we render service to God, even if it is seemingly very small. The classic example is of Draupadi, who on seeing a cut in Krishna's finger without a second thought tore her costly saree to tie it on Krishna's hand. The result - at the most crucial time of her life, Krishna supplied her with unlimited saree.

The path of spirituality is actually meant to create a huge chaos in our life and to bring down our sinful tendencies like a pack of falling cards and to flood our life with bliss beyond imagination.

So, we can't espace this theory in action in our life, there is chaos bound to happen in our life, the only choice we have is - is it going to be a negative one or a positive one.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

POWER OF BELEIFS

One time Prabhupada asked the devotees "How can we say Krishna is God?". One devotee said, "Because you say so, Prabhupada". Prabhupada replied "I am an old man, how can you believe me". Someone said "Because it is mentioned in Scriptures". Prabhupada countered "But people will say that is simply blind faith". Prabhupada finally answered "Krishna is God because you can experience Him". Prabhupada was not minimising the importance of hearing from Guru and Scriptures, but the point he was making here was that we should be eager to experience God and genuine spiritual emotions in our lives. As devotees we know that Krishna is God, that we are spirit souls and that we can experience great bliss in the process of Krishna consciousness. The question is, shouldn't our lives be examples of someone who has genuine experience and realisations of all these aspects of spiritual life. And if the answer is 'Yes', then the ...

THE BREATHING BELLOWS

Every morning when I wake up and notice my breathing and observe my chest swelling up and down being pumped with air, I invariably remember a verse from the Srimad-bhagvatam which states that our breathing is like the breathing of the bellows of a blacksmith. Both the bellow and our body is made of leather. The bellow may feel that it is breathing on it's own and is fully independent but, it does not know that as soon as the blacksmith stops pumping air in it, it will stop breathing and lay lifeless. Similarly, we may be proud of our breathing and our life and may feel fully independent but, we don't realise that as soon as God decides to stop pumping air into our system, our body will stop breathing and lay lifeless.  What is there to be proud of when we don't even have control over our breath?  We should be grateful to God for giving us the wonderful opportunity and gift to breathe and live. And, the way we express that gratitude is by using ...

MAKE IT A POINT TO MAKE THE POINT

A few days ago, as I was traveling on the ferry that takes us to our ISKCON Center at Chodan island, a relatively young man approached me and started to talk to me. My Vaishnava (devotee) attire probably attracted him to me. He was asking me if I was a preist in a temple. To which I said "Yes". I asked him where he stays and what he does. He told me that he stays in Panjim and runs a chicken shop in Porvorim. I asked him his name and as I guessed, he happened to be a Muslim. I could see marks of dried up blood stains in different places in his shirt. I at once told him to try to switch his profession to one which involves less violence. I suggested to him to start a vegetable or a grocery shop.  He seemed to be taken a little aback by what might have appeared to him to be a stange suggestion by a stranger. I told him that killing innocent animals is not right. They too have life and feelings like us. He was hearing me out. He then asked me, if one can eat chicken ...