It is common sense that the way out of any problem is the way by which we entered into the problem. We need to sit still and think over the problem we are stuck in: What happened? Why are we stuck in this way? How did we enter into the problem? We must accept the truth that we created our problem and we are responsible for it – not our parents or spouses or kids or relatives or our neighbor or our neighbor’s brother’s wife’s father or the neighboring country or the tsunami in Japan. Since we are responsible for putting ourselves in the problem, we are also responsible for finding a solution – a way out of the problem. Only we can do it.
We suffer from bouts of anger, greed, lust, thirst for revenge etc. We face these daily. Let us step back and see how it came and how we entered into it and became enslaved by it. When we reverse the direction of entry, we find the exit. It is so simple and yet complicated as we rarely acknowledge that we are directly responsible for our troubles and stresses in life. Instead of looking for the entry door to exit, we search for other means to solve the problem – which is primarily blaming others and trying to change others. Hence we generally fail in finding the right solution to the problem.
The stupidity of the human mind is seen in the behaviour of the bee. The bee enters the room through the door but wont exit the same way. It will fly around and try to leave through the window even though the glass doors of window are closed. Unable to find its way out, the bee will buzz around aimlessly in the room bumping into walls, furniture and fittings. We see the desperation and the frustration in the bee as it buzzes around. It becomes more and more scared and blind. There is no point in our shouting or directing its way out. It loses all normal capacities and intelligence. We too behave just like the bee when stuck with a problem.
This story is about how Buddha demonstrated the concept of solving a problem in this particular manner. He came to the assembly carrying a kerchief. As he looked around, he tied five knots in the kerchief. He then asked if the kerchief was the same it was before the knots were tied. One of his chief disciples answered: The nature of the kerchief is the same but the form of the kerchief has changed due to the knots.
Then Buddha pulled at the kerchief and asked if he could untie the knots by doing so. The disciple answered: No, you will tighten it if you pull the kerchief from both ends. Please let me come close and take a look at the way so that I can understand how they have been made. Then only I can find out how to open them. Buddha was very pleased with him. He said: This is the most fundamental thing we need to understand when we have to fix anything. We must understand how we got into it and rather than asking how do we get out of it. If we do not know this truth of how we got in, we will make matter worse and the problem gets unbearable.
Let us learn to look at our own problems. We have created them with certain weakness and expectations or lack of certain qualities. We know how we went in. When we reflect with a calm mind, we will know the same way out. By doing so, we understand that we are responsible for our own happiness and our pains. Then we do not shove the blame on others. We work on self transformation. We reach the peaceful place within us which is bliss – which is the very nature of soul. We are happy as a desire is fulfilled. But this happiness can go away. Bliss is the nature of our soul. It needs no cause. It just exists. We are blissful for no reason. This bliss cannot be taken away from us as it is the core of our existence.
Let us learn to find the way out. It is the same way as we went it. When we see the bee in action, it is funny and frustrating too. When we reflect on our past behaviour we find that we have spent most of our lives buzzing. We are not bees. We are divine beings on a human sojourn. Let us learn to live with happiness, peace and balance and finally go back home.
