Conducting yourself gracefully

A very large part of the Indian population worships Rama, but if you look at the situations in his life, and the way life happened to him, it seems like a continuous series of disasters. He loses the kingdom that is rightfully his and ends up in the forest. Then his wife gets kidnapped and he has to fight a brutal war even though he does not want to. Then when he brings his wife back, he has to suffer very uncharitable comments about her from everybody around. So he takes his wife, who was very dear to him and is pregnant with two children, and leaves her in the forest. Then he unknowingly ends up in a battle against his own children and then finally loses his wife. His life was a continuous disaster. With all that, why do so many people worship Rama?

The significance of Rama is not in the situations he faced in his life. The significance of Rama is with how much gracefulness he conducted himself through this series of disasters that occurred to him. Never once was he seen angry or cursing someone or freaking out. He conducted everything gracefully. So people seeking liberation and a graceful life sought Rama because they understood and had the wisdom to see that external situations can go wrong at any moment. Even with lots of management, external situations can still go wrong. You may have everything organised, but if a cyclone hits you, it can take away your home and everything. “Oh it will not happen to me,” is a foolish way to live. “Even if it happens, I will go through it gracefully,” is a wise way to live. People sought Rama, because they saw this phenomenal wisdom. It is not the question of how much you have, what you did, what happened or what did not happen. Whatever happened, how did you conduct yourself? Does this mean to say we should not manage our life properly? No, we manage what is around us well because it is good for everybody. If the situation is well-managed it need not necessarily make me feel wonderful. I will feel wonderful only when I can conduct myself gracefully through every situation. But you manage the situation because you are concerned about everybody’s wellbeing.

Rama tried to manage the situations in his life, but he could not always do that. He lived in difficult times and things went out of control, but the important thing is that he always conducted himself gracefully. This is the fundamental essence of becoming spiritual. If you want the right kind of ambience for your being to flower into a beautiful fragrant flower, you must constantly create an atmosphere of grace.

(Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service.)