Skip to main content

HEART PAIN to SOUL GAIN - the panacea for broken hearts

"When love is lost, do not bow your head in sadness; instead, keep your head up high and gaze into Heaven for that is where your broken heart has been sent to heal."

I am sure all of you'll have experienced a feeling of being let down by someone whom you loved and trusted, a feeling of heartbreak, a feeling of pain when people whom you loved didn't reciprocate back to leave you broken. This world is such that instances like these keep happening now and then. Sometimes they are intentional but many times unintentional. That's the nature of this world. Just like a forest fire sets off without anyone igniting it similarly, misunderstandings and heartbreaks happen even without intentionally creating them. In any case, these heart-pains leave their scar deep in our hearts. We all know and have experienced that the pain of the heart, emotional pain is more difficult to tolerate than physical pain. For physical pain, you can apply a balm or a band-aid or take painkillers. What is the remedy for emotional pain? Which band-aid, which balm, which cream can we apply to our heart-pains?

The Srimad-Bhagvatam mentions a very interesting and an emotionally touching story of a little boy named Dhruva. Dhruva was the son of powerful King named Uttanupada. One day, five year old Dhruva innocently and excitedly goes running to sit on his father's lap. But his stepmother, Suruchi stops him and chastises him for trying to do so. She harshly tells tender Dhruva that if he wants to want to sit on his father's lap then he should die and be born again through her womb. What an ugly way of speaking to a kid who doesn't understand the nuances of this world. But when one has envy, his language can go stoop down to any level. Isn't it! Suruchi was envious of Suniti, the King's co-wife and the mother of Dhruva. She vented the poison of envy of this little boy.

Hurt, broken, devastated, confused and utterly dejected, Dhruva ran to his mother Suniti crying hysterically. Can you imagine Dhruva's plight? Being rejected by his father for just wanting to sit on his lap. The wound went deep within his heart. Being hurt by a stranger in one thing but being hurt by the one closest to you is all together different. But that's the irony of life - one whom you love the most can also potentially give you the greatest pain. Anyway, for Dhruva the pain was unbearable - the shock was powerful. He spoke to his mother in anger and frustration, breathing and hissing very heavily like a trampled snake. He asked her explanation for this incident and asked her intervention to correct this matter. But, Suniti was helpless. She told him pointblank that she couldn't help much because his father loved Suruchi more than her. She told Dhruva that if he really wanted help, he should go to the forest and pray to Lord Vishnu. He's the one who can truly help everyone and heal one's life.

Dhruva without wasting a single moment or considering the consequences, at once left to the forest. All he could see was revenge for the wrong. Forest or any other obstacle for that matter was not even a consideration for him. The only thing in front of him was to seek revenge. Dhruva was so focused on his goal that he religiously followed all the instructions that his spiritual master, Narada gave him. In six months, he had the direct darshan of the Supreme Lord Vishnu. All his intense austerity reaped fruits. The Lord of all benedictions was in front of him, face to face. Seeing the Lord and experiencing the unlimited unconditional love emanating from Him, Dhruva forgot about his revenge. On seeing the Lord, he forgot why he came to forest in the first place. He felt that he was looking for some broken piece of glass while he now received the priceless jewel of the Lord's darshan and His love. His heart was completely healed. He realised at this point that love is the only balm, the only cream and the only ointment for broken hearts. And that love is only possible from the source of love, God.

Dhruva returned back to his kingdom happy, blissful, healed, transformed, realized, pure and above all grateful for everything. He came to the forest in a state of heart-pain but returned back from it a state of soul gain. Credit to his mother, Suniti. She knew the power of the raw emotions of anger, hurt and revenge. She channelised them and converted them to something glorious. She didn't give her son empty promises and patch up emotional work. She connected him to the ultimate source of emotions and love. She proved herself to be a great mother.

Dhruva's story is not just "his" story, it is "our" story. We will also go through our quota of heartbreaks and heart-pains. It's an unavoidable part of this world, after all. But if we can use these pains to further deepen our relationship with God and seek shelter in His love then we stand to gain a lot and can emerge glorious and victorious. If we learn this art of channelising every emotion, every feeling to connect to God then we move from being a victim to being a victor - from heart pain to soul gain.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

THE MASTERSTROKE - Reflections on the retirement of Dhoni & Raina

  "Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it." - Ann Landers Everyone is sad about the retirement of M.S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina from international cricket. This shows how much love and respect these players have earned from their fellow Indians. Indians also should be proud of the example these players are setting by retiring timely, thereby setting a healthy precedent for the other players to follow. Voluntarily retiring at the right time by the elder generation in order to make space for newer and younger generation is a sign of maturity and wisdom. This has been the mindset of great leaders of this great land of India - to live with dignity and leave with dignity. This is the spirit and ethos of India. To hold onto a position till one is made to forcibly quit it, is not a dignified life. Only those wh...

LIFE BEYOND LABELS

One of the main pastimes of the mind is to label. It loves labeling, in fact it thrives and exits on labeling . Labeling is a wonderful tool to learn concepts by making it simple, but when it comes to experiencing life, it doesn't work so well for us especially if our labels of life are negative. Simple words, labels affect us in ways beyond our wildest imagination. They shape our views, color our lives with different perspectives. These mental labels affect practically every aspect of our life - be it personal, relationships or our experience of life in general. The mental labels start right from our birth. We identify ourselves as our body, our name, our gender. Then as we grow older, so many other labels add up to our identity. Our education, our profession, our economic status. What others tell about who we are slowly become important to us, our new labels. If someone repeatedly calls us ' useless ', slowly that turns into a label. It's not that only others ...

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 ...