Struggle is a part of every individual’s life. One cannot attain happiness in life without some kind of struggle because it plays an important role in refining personality. Nature ensures that struggle presents itself in varied degrees in the life of a person. Those who run away from it remain undeveloped and incomplete and those who take it in their stride go a long way in enhancing their personality. That is why struggle is very important in life. Its value is rightly understood by one who has incessantly been part of that struggle.
The process of struggle hides within itself the happiness of life. One cannot enjoy the bliss without that. A life sprinkled with struggle is an important asset in itself. Just like ore of gold when put in fire gets refined and turns into pure gold, similarly man attains his true form after being subjected to struggle. It unravels the latent characteristics in man that make him useful to his own family, society and to the entire nation. Such a person is fearless, unambiguous and thoughtful and can easily face difficult and challenging circumstances. Irrespective of whether the struggle has been done for oneself or for the benefit of others, eventually it proves to be helpful to our health and prosperity.
To struggle is like accepting a challenge in life. Unless we accept challenges, there is no scope for winning them. Hence struggle should not be perceived as trouble; in fact it is an effort to get oneself out of trouble. It is a path for attaining peace and happiness. Struggle can be defined as dealing with any kind of physical or mental situation. Only when we learn to deal with these situations do we learn to live. This process of struggle has been beautifully associated with the life of each and every living being by Mother Nature. Those who cannot tolerate the difficulties and cannot manage to struggle will not remain alive. Every being has to struggle with situations, with nature, with environment and even with its own mental state.
There is a story that is apt in this context. Once a small boy was watching a chick coming out of the egg and it was undergoing immense struggle. The boy felt that if he helped a bit, then it would become easy for the chick to come out. So he broke the egg and got it out. But he saw that this chicken was not like the others. It was neither able to stand or flap its wings like others. What the boy did not know was that it was the process of struggle that a helps chicken attain strength in its limbs and ability to spread its wings. All of us do this mistake in life. We all try to run away from struggle or we seek help from others in an effort to make our difficult-looking struggles to become easy. As a result we end up not being self-reliant.
It is an incontrovertible truth that depending on the level of struggle that one undergoes, nature gives the results in the same proportion. If we move away from struggle, then the nature is not able to help us. Once we totally shut ourselves to struggle, nature also makes us weak and incapable. Thus we move away from the path of progress.
Life struggles cast two different kinds of influence on us – positive and negative. If a struggle makes us more generous, modest and industrious, then they can be called as positive effects of struggle. While others which break us down internally and we end up being angry and weak are negative effects of struggle. According to psychologists, trying to transform an unfavorable situation into a favorable one is called struggle. But it is imperative to have faith and tolerance. Faith does not let the fatigue of struggle overwhelm us while tolerance keeps us steady and focused during tough struggles.
The process of struggle keeps teaching something or the other, but we have to ensure that we are struggling in the right direction in order to have some meaningful results. Struggle is like sadhana. Depending on the direction of your sadhana, you will achieve the appropriate siddhis or accomplishments. In this context we are not referring to any yogic attainments. We are in fact alluding to expertise in action. Hence it is important that our struggle does not spread thin and is focused towards a specific goal.
Once a Guru gave 40-feet land to his disciple and asked him to dig a well. The disciple dug the entire 40 feet but did not find any water. So he went and reported the same to his Guru. The Guru came and saw how the land was dug up. He noticed that instead of digging deep, he had dug up on the surface. The disciple had struggled to do what he did, but since the direction was not right, he did not get the desired result. But as soon as the Guru gave the much needed direction, the disciple followed it and a pond was built there. Similarly, when our struggle also is without direction, then we do not get the desired result; but be assured that no struggle goes in vain. It teaches us something or the other.
If we have to move along with the ever- changing times, we need to struggle. Time keeps flowing and does not stop even for a second. Similarly, the changes in nature are incessant. The ever-transforming nature is also inspiring everyone to march on the path of struggle and progress. Just as Sun and Moon rise and set on time, just like seasons that come and go on time, man should flow with the tide of change and struggle to keep himself on the forward path of progress.
As long as we are alive, struggle is our constant companion. We have to struggle to realize our desired objectives and derive happiness and bliss. We can understand the value of effort only after having undergone the struggle. Hence we should understand that struggle is the true source of happiness and be ever ready to take on new challenges.
Akhand Jyoti Magazine 2015 Mar-Apr