EVERYTHING COMES IN A CIRCLE

"Life is a full circle. Everything comes back the way it is handled." - Elsie Mathew

Once, I was drinking some fruit juice in a stainless steel glass in our ashram. I had to leave for some place in a hurry. I left the glass thinking that someone would wash it. I came back after two days and saw that the glass was there in the exact place I had kept it, as if waiting for me. The irony is that not only I had to wash it personally but it took me more time and energy because by now the juice particles got dry and stuck to the glass. I had to do a lot of scrubbing. I realised the fallacy of procrastination. If I had washed it as soon I had drunk the juice, the job would have been accomplished in seconds. Small incidences like this have happened time and again, teaching me that in life everything comes in a circle. What goes around, comes around. That's the law of karma in action. We can't avoid responsibilities in life - what we are supposed to do, we will have to do - today or tomorrow.

We have come to this world to learn certain lessons. These lessons keep appearing again and again in different ways till we have learnt what they want to teach us. We may keep postponing them, snoozing them, shoving them under the carpet but they won't disappear rather they appear with greater intensity. There is no escape. If anyway we have to face our lessons, let's face them earlier, otherwise they come with interest. 

 

A few more examples to help you appreciate this concept better.

THE STUDENT EXAMPLE
As a student, you either study on regular basis or you study at the end, but in any case you have to study - there is no option around it. Better, is to start earlier. If you study on regular basis then last minute you can be relaxed, if not last minute you have to study so much and be in stress. And we all know that last minute business is always a risky one.

THE HOUSEKEEPING EXAMPLE
Either you clean your house on regular basis or after one month, either way you have to clean the mess. It is much simpler to clean on a regular basis because if you start cleaning after a month it will take you a hell lot of work. It will come with interest. If you have experienced it, you know what I mean. One of the biggest trick of the mind is procrastination - we put off for another day what we could have easily accomplished today, thereby making our life more complex.
THE BALANCE SHEET EXAMPLE
If someone takes a loan, he has to repay it or he will have to take another birth to repay it but repay he must - that is the law. If you hurt someone, you have to ask forgiveness - today or tomorrow or next life. That is the law. An intelligent person thinks - "let me clear all my karmic debts as soon as possible - why delay?" To enter the spiritual world and to not come back, one has to have his balance sheet of life fully cleared, any backlog will lead one to come back and slog. And this principle applies to our heart as well. We have to purify it - today,  tomorrow or later. No one can enter the spiritual world with an impure heart, all the impurities have to scrubbed off our heart. Remember my experience with the glass - the earlier you scrub, the easier it is.

THE GAMBLING EXAMPLE
The Mahabharata story takes a major turn with the cunningly orchestrated gambling match by Duryodhan where he makes Pandavas loose everything and leave them penniless and the Mahabharata ends with fratricidal war of Kurukshetra which is like another gambling match intelligently orchestrated by the will of Lord Krishna to make Duryodhan loose everything and leave him lifeless. As they say - the laws of God work slowly but exceedingly fine. No one can escape it's fineness. History has seen the most powerful yet most cruel rulers meet with the most painful ending by the most powerful God and and His most powerful laws. These are just a few examples. If you look around the world and in your own life, you will find sufficient examples to illustrate this point.

The conclusion - everything in life comes in a circle. This is the boomerang effect of the law of karma. As you sow, so shall you reap. Therefore, we have to learn not to shirk responsibilities and deal with whatever we are supposed to deal with at the earliest. The logic is simple - "if anyway I have to face it, why not today."

- Achyut Gopal Das