ADVERSITY---THE REAL TEACHER

                                                    

  “Sweet are the uses of adversity “says the English bard William Shakespeare! It is adversity that brings out the real quality of man. There is not a single individual in the universe who is not a victim of some sort of adversity or suffering. Life is not a bed of roses .It is also not a bed of thorns. It is something of both. Caught in the meshes of this cycle of birth and death, man undergoes a life full of vicissitudes and suffers for some time and enjoys at some other time! He has to balance himself and maintain equanimity. The precious and noble qualities of an individual are tested severely by adversity and it is only then we know if he is really noble or great! If he succumbs to adversity and loses himself , he is no more a great personality. He has to rise above all adversity and establish his supremacy over it!

         “Joy and sorrow, success and failure, praise and criticism—all are intertwined. They can never be experienced singly. As sandal  wood  does not give the fragrant paste unless it is rubbed on the stone, so the goodness of the people does not come out unless they go through difficulties.” remarks Bhagawan  Sri Sri Sri Satya Sai Baba. Gold in its purest form is unfit for making ornaments. It has to be melted in a crucible under very high temperature to get rid of all impurities. It has to be mixed with certain amount of copper for making ornaments. Only then it becomes ductile and malleable and can be fashioned into attractive designed ornaments! Similarly going through the test of adversity man shines forth in his true   colors . Undergoing all troubles and turmoil he emerges unscathed and resplendent!

          In the lives of great devotees, sages and saints we find brilliant example of acute adversity and a severe test of their patience, devotion and sincerity. Take the case of the child bhaktha, Prahlada. Is there any torture that he was not subjected to? He was put in a room fulll of poisonous snakes, allowed to be trampled upon by the elephants, thrown into the ocean simply because he was a staunch devotee of Lord Narayana! Finally he was administer ed a cup of poison and Hiranyakasipu was happy that his son’s life was over! But Prahlada was saved by his constant nama japa—repetition of the name of Hari  and he came out unscathed! But because of his intense and enviable love for God , he did not feel the excruciating experience of the entire torture. It is the nature of God to test His devotee to find out if he is sincere in his devotion or love for Him!

             Gopanna or Ramadas, as he was familiarly called was a devotee of Sri Rama! He was in charge of his area and had to collect taxes and report to the Tanisha. Ramadas had a fond desire to build a temple for his chosen deity in his place, Bhadrachalam. His ecstatic love for God made him totally forget his duty for man! He collected all taxes, and with that money went ahead to build the temple for Rama. He decorated Rama with diamonds and other precious stones and garlands. He offered scintillating necklaces to Sita, the wife of Sri Rama! He was in an ocean of bliss after he fulfilled his dream of building the temple. Meanwhile the Tanisha, came to know about the dereliction of duty by his subordinate, Ramadas.  He grew terribly angry and summoned Ramadas and imprisoned him For a number of years Ramadas was tortured by jail warers of the Tanisha and it was beyond the endurance of Ramadas.

              Ramadas could not get freedom till he repaid all the taxes spent by him for the construction of the temple. Who is to come to his rescue and pay back the money? Then Ramadas started singing for the mercy of god. He wondered whether Sri Rama did not see his suffering in the jail. He complained whether He was not satisfied with the adornments presented by Ramadas. He called upon his God to come to his rescue. He appealed to Sita to recommend his case to Rama so that he would take pity and save him.  He reminded her that he had presented a ‘ chitaku pathakamu’—a pendant in the shape of the leaves of the tamarind tree to look more beautiful! In this manner Ramadas composed many devotional songs which are the outpourings of his intense devotion and love. As expected, Sitadevi, could not tolerate her devotee to suffer torture anymore! She prompted Sri Rama to get Ramadas released from the prison!

                Sri Rama and Lakshmana disguised themselves as the servants of Ramadas and appeared in the dream of the Tanisha! They introduced themselves as the servants of Ramadas and deposited all the money collected and used by Ramadas for constructing the temple. They ordered the Tanisha to release Ramadas immediately! The Tanisha could not believe his own eyes! The money was there really but Ramoji and Lakshmoji were not there. He woke up immediately, went to see Ramadas in his cell,  and praising his devotion,  released him! He gave presents to Ramadas and sent him back! In spite of such devotion Ramadas had to suffer incarceration and torture! If God had willed, He could have prevented the sufferings of both Prahlada and Ramadas! But He wanted to show to the world, the greatness of his devotees and how steadfast their love and devotion to HIM was!

                Adversity brings out the golden qualities in Man! Ordinary men cannot withstand it. It is only the brave, and confident that can withstand the severe tests of God! But God recognizes the devotion of such an individual and runs to save him from his critical situation!  Adversity thus is the teacher that   educates us in every aspect of life! We should be able to learn lessons from our adverse circumstances in life!