“Why is Krishna doing this?†We may sometimes get this question when things go wrong and life doesn’t make sense.
To help us make sense of such situations, Gita wisdom broadens our perspective of life.
Suppose we start watching a drama when the hero is being beaten. We may feel that the drama director has made a senseless plot. But, if we just wait and watch, we may well see how the drama is developing towards a fitting finale.
Gita wisdom helps us to understand how this principle applies to our life: we are not perishable material bodies, but are imperishable spiritual souls. The present crisis, no matter how devastating, is just one act in a multi-act drama. In fact, our whole lifetime is just one small part in a multi-lifetime plot that extends to eternity.
O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
- Bhagavad Gita Chapter 02, Verse 15
No doubt, there are substantial differences between a drama and our real life. Firstly, in our life, we are not spectators but actors. Secondly, and more importantly, the script of our life is not a frozen story; it is an evolving story that is shaped by our choices.
This story can climax with our attainment of immortality, as the Bhagavad-gita (02.15) assures, if we don’t let life’s ups and downs violate our spiritual focus. Preserving our spiritual focus means not letting life’s upheavals cause us to abandon our position as servants of Krishna and assume the position of becoming judges of Krishna. Instead of asking, “Why is Krishna doing this?†we ask, “How can I serve Krishna now?†When we ask this question sincerely and seek its answer internally through prayer and externally through guidance, then we will gradually comprehend the benevolent sense underlying the apparent nonsense happening in our lives.
