“Sab Kuch Changa Hai Ji…!” – Everything’s fine and the way it should be!!

Your Life’s happening at its own pace, of its own accord and in the way it must happen.

A recent blogpost I wrote on my experience with vaastu drew varied and interesting responses.  Addressing the sentiments of some readers, I must clarify that I do not have anything against any practice. Vaastu and feng shui, I know, are very well researched, documented practices. I have tried them and have found them working myself. In fact, I also firmly believe that astrology is a science and I do consult astrologers. But approaching anyone or anything thinking they can solve your problem is wrong. Vaastu and feng shui can at best correct the flow of energy in your living and working spaces. Astrology can help you understand the cause for turbulence in your Life and tell you how long the turbulence will last. None of these crafts can change your Life for you. And if someone is telling you they can alter your Life’s course, then, I am afraid, they are leading you up the garden path!

To be sure, you have to go through whatever Life has planned for you. The Master Plan has no flaws. At best, a science like astrology can help you make sense of this inscrutable Life, but beyond that you must live through, experience and learn from your Life.

Once your inner awareness grows, when you evolve spiritually, you will stop looking for validation from external reference points. You will, like me, begin to believe that everything happens at the right time. Good or bad are labels that we human beings place on events and situations. In Life, there’s really no concept of a good time or a bad one. So, why agonize over things, events and people because we seek instant gratification? In an SMS/WA generation, this is even more starkly evident. Everyone wants everything now and fast. Practicing mindfulness, enjoying every breath we take, every morsel we eat, every sight we behold, is the best way to live. This doesn’t mean you must not be ambitious or aggressive. This means don’t rush through Life. Don’t stress over it. Learn to be patient. Everything happens to a plan, and just because we are not aware of that plan it doesn’t mean there isn’t one!

Kabir, the 15^th Century weaver-poet, has said this so beautifully:

Dheere Dheere Re Mana, Dheere Sub Kuch Hoye

Maali Seenche Sau Ghara, Ritu Aye Phal Hoye

It means:

Slowly, slowly O! Mind….everything happens at its own pace…

The gardener may water with a hundred buckets, but the fruit arrives only in its season…

So, go easy with your Life. Don’t let anyone tell you they can make it better for you. Know that everything’s fine and is exactly the way it should be.

I am reminded of what I learnt eons ago from our neighbor, a Sikh, a sardar, in Jaipur. His last name is all I can recall – Aneja. I must have been barely 9 years old when this incident happened. We all used to sleep on the terrace at night in summer to beat the 40+-degree desert heat. Past 12 o’clock, one night, a telegram arrived for Aneja. He read it out aloud: “Burglary in Delhi house. Rush immediately.”  He reflected on the message briefly as everyone who was awake crowded around him. And then he exclaimed: “Sab kuch changa hai ji! Chalo so jao. Savere chalenge, Dilli! – All is well. Go back to sleep everyone. I’ll leave for Delhi tomorrow.” The next morning my dad asked Aneja before he left for Delhi, “Arre bhai Aneja, how is it that you were so calm even after you came to know that your house had been burgled?” Pat came Aneja’s reply: “Sirji, what had to happen had already happened. What was I going to do ruining my sleep? Sab kuch changa hai is a good way to live Life. Zero-complications!”

That lesson has stayed with me. Thanks to the cathartic, transformational experience I am going through, I have learnt to live my Life fully – knowing that always, whatever be the issue, circumstance or problem, sab kuch changa hai!