"All life is a struggle to find causes for what is not."
The Guru was in a slightly assertive mode today. The statement, made emphatically and with a benign smile, confounded many in the audience, including myself.
The Guru seemed to like the reaction his statement caused among his followers. His smile, now bordering on the wicked, only grew broader.
"Does anyone want to challenge this statement? How can there be a cause for what is not? Are all our pursuits futile, then?"
The audience remained silent.
I felt like challenging the premise but held myself back. I didn’t want to look like an idiot challenging something I barely comprehended.
"I shall ask in private," I said to myself.
The Guru looked around and waited for a minute or two more. He then stood up and, with a Namaskaram, told everyone to think about his last statement and come back if they really found it worthwhile to humor a madman.
"Do not follow anyone whom you do not understand. It is a waste of time," he declared.
I waited for everyone else to leave, then hesitantly approached the Guru.
"I think what you said makes sense, but I do not know how," I said.
"So? Go back. Spend some time thinking about it. A mind capable of coming up with a question is also capable of answering it. You just have to do the Samudra Manthan," he chuckled.
"You know I am an idiot but a curious one. So please, give me some more pointers," I begged.
"Vacharambhanam Vikaro Namadheyam, says the Upanishad."
He peered into my face to catch any faint glimpse of understanding. There was nothing of that sort, for sure. I stared at him blankly—as if to say I probably should have left along with the others.
"All distinction is because of labeling or naming," he explained.
"Success, failure, good, bad, beautiful, ugly, victory, defeat, pain, pleasure, happy, sad, and everything else - all these are labels. There is no difference between them. The world and its things just are. A label for a state is not actually the state itself."
"How am I to process this? How can all these conflicting things be the same?"
"Same, conflicting - those are all labels, too."
I could clearly see that I was way out of my depth here. I looked at him in that helpless fashion a low-level goonda looks at the unbeatable hero in a Telugu film.
"All I can tell you is that you have been conditioned to believe in labels and expected emotional responses to those labels. You need to come out of that conditioning. Then the labels go away, and with them, the responses and the consequent looking for causes."
"I still don't follow. In the corporate world where I make a living, labels are everything. They define a person, their position, and their influence. Without labels, there is nothing."
"Vacharambhanam Vikaro Namadheyam," he repeated.
"Promotions, pay hikes, and respect are all contingent upon titles. No matter how much we intellectualize, nothing is going to change. So, what’s the point?"
"Nothing is going to change? Nothing needs to change except your understanding and perspective. If you acknowledge everything as just a label, your ability to accept will go up and the emotional turbulence will come down. The world can go on as it is."
I looked at him, bewildered still.
"The more I speak, the more I will have to use labels. That’s the trap, and it will only muddle things. You will understand ... or not. For me, the world remains as it is."
"I might not understand, but I will try to implement it nevertheless," was the best I could respond with.
He smiled knowingly and with a lot of compassion. He then patted me on the back and walked away.
Now, I am wondering if knowledge and compassion are labels too!
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