When Things Fall Apart

Blog post by Chaitanya Caran das - gitadaily.com

Sometimes, life seems to hand us one reversal after another and all that we are doing seems to be falling apart. We may feel that the universe is hostile; we may question the benevolence or even the existence of God.

At such times, it’s important to note that life hasn’t always given us a raw deal - we have had things fall in place for us. Whenever we have achieved anything substantial, it was not because of our efforts alone, but also because of many things beyond our control falling in place.

The Bhagavad-gita (5.29) reminds us that Krishna is our greatest well-wisher and that he is always in control (9.10). Even if things are taking a bad turn at present, Krishna is expert enough to bring good out of bad. If we strive to become conscious of him by praying to him, by seeking to take our consciousness to his loving, soothing, sublimating presence, we will realize that the shelter of his remembrance is still available to us. Being reassured by the inner security and serenity coming from our inner absorption in him, we will realize that things are still in place: he is still in control. This world is a place of dualities, wherein everyone has to go through bad phases; the present is our bad phase. Just as things have fallen in place in the past, they will fall in place in the future too. We just need to keep plugging on without becoming disheartened.

By thus meditating on the timeless truth that higher than the world’s duality stands Krishna’s unfailing love, we will, at the very least, not ourselves fall apart when things seem to be falling apart - and thereafter to do our part for helping things to fall in place.