Modi, Trump, whoever, whatever, your inner peace comes only from acceptance

Whatever it is, it is what it is!

Our world has changed considerably in the last 24 hours. For us Indians, Prime Minister Modi’s announcement of demonetizing Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- currency notes, in a bit to snuff out the black money menace, means some days and weeks of being unsettled before we get used to a new way of buying, selling, earning and paying. And out there Donald Trump has gone on to win a bitterly fought election to emerge as the next President of the United States. Now, I am no Modi fan. Plus I anticipate huge issues with the execution of the roll-over to a new series of high-denomination currencies in the coming weeks in India. I am not even sure last evening’s move will strangulate black money, corruption, terror-financing and counterfeiting. So, I didn’t quite like what I heard when Modi unveiled his grand, ambitious plan to ‘wipe out’ the parallel economy. And I have been seriously hoping that Hillary Clinton would win. So having Trump as US President for me, like for several million others, is a shocker.

But with close to half a century of being around and at least a decade of understanding Life better, I have understood that it is always what it is. The sooner we accept any new reality and move on, the more peaceful we will be with ourselves and our world.

So, in this time of upheaval, I will lean on these epochal developments around me for spiritual perspective and growth. Intelligent living, as I have known and understood it, has only two tenets. 1. Just be. 2. While just being, be at it.

‘Just be’ really means being in the moment. And whatever is in the moment is what it is. Always. Arriving at this state of awareness does not take time or practice, it only takes a moment of awakening. Looking at just these two developments since last evening (IST), there’s a great opportunity to awaken to be accepting of what is. Consider this carefully. No matter what you think or do, Life has an independent mind and operates on its own. When you realize this and when you let Life take you on its own course, you just are. Then, you don’t resist, you don’t fight, you don’t agonize and so you are peaceful. But letting Life flow at its own terms does not mean stopping to do what you must do. This is the action that the Bhagavad Gita talks about, this is the duty.

So, in the current context in India, as I see it for myself, one way of doing this duty is to partner with the man Modi and his team and give the new process my time and support. And if I oppose him tooth and nail, then I must take on the process that an elected government has engineered and begun rolling out. Just sitting there and complaining will serve no one’s purpose – neither mine nor for the cause that I am complaining for. As for Trump, at least for people in India, there is no choice. He is the choice of a majority of the American people. Period. So, we must all simply go along.

Life’s constantly reminding us through all our experiences that the key to sanity, inner peace and happiness is acceptance. I don’t appreciate Modi’s communal agenda or his Hindutva ideology; I can’t forget what his leadership did to, and about Godhra, in 2002. But as I observed in a blogpost here on the day after he and his party won that mammoth mandate in May 2014, if this is our Life, so it is. If he is going to pull off a massive ‘cleansing’ of India’s black money stables, then, wow, he needs everyone’s support. Including mine. If he can’t then the world can crucify him. For now, I don’t see a role for myself as either commentator or complainer. I see myself as a contributor, who for the larger good of India, is willing to set aside personal preferences and play ball – sincerely, to give a well-intentioned effort a chance.

I glean an important learning from Life here. After all, Modi, Trump, whoever, whatever, your inner peace comes only from acceptance. And so, for your own inner peace, in any new situation, participate if you can, collaborate if you can, work on changing the reality if you can, but begin first with acceptance!

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