I have been reading and listening to a number of books and lectures. While I was travelling, I sat back mulling-over few of the concepts that I read recently and related them to a few events of the present and the past both in the society and to myself. I thought it would be good to share this with you on this Diwali.

Most of us are God fearing and we sincerely offer prayers to God. Some of us offer prayers to God, with an objective of getting something. It could be anything from getting admission to a college / school, promotion, winning lottery just to name a few. Despite all our prayers, not all the times we get what we wanted. Despite all our prayers, even something “bad” happens. We get so disappointed and depressed that the barter system with the God did not work, accuse the God for not granting what we wanted and we go to the extent of changing temple we worship, change the form of God we worship, seek advice from the so called modern God men and in worst case we change our religion or even become an atheist. If you fall in any of the category of people mentioned above, it is important to remember “You have the right to desire whatever you want, but God will never fail to dispose what you deserve”.

This does not mean that you don’t deserve what you have not got, but there is a reason behind the gap between what you have and what you wanted to have. May be God thinks that you are not ready yet to get what you wanted, or God has a different plan for you that will be best for you and / or for the society. There is a reason the “so called bad thing” has happened to you, even though you did not want that to happen. The reason may not be evident or obvious to us when that “so called bad thing” had happened, however if we tune our mind to accept things, history will prove that things that have happened were for good. Let’s illustrate this with some examples of the modern times and from our epics.

One of the founders of Apple computers, Steve Jobs was fired by the board of Apple computers in 1985. That only moulded him to be a better person, more creative and a business man. Jobs put it this way in his speech to Stanford graduates: "I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter into one of the most creative periods of my life," he said. "I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was an awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love." In 1997, Steve Jobs became the CEO of Apple Computers again and revolutionised the world of computers with tablets and iPods etc…

If M K Gandhi was not humiliated and thrown out of the train in South Africa, one day, Mr. Gandhi would have died probably as a successful barrister. That humiliating so called bad thing should have happened for India to get Independence and the world to get a Mahatma.

Taking some examples from our Hindu epics, if Sooran had not imprisoned all Devas and tortured them, there was no need for Murugan avatharam. If Kaikeyi did not separate Rama from King Dasaratha and if King Ravana did not take away Sita Devi from Prince Rama, we would not have the famous epic Ramayana. If King Kamsa had been the same affectionate king to his sister, well, there is no scope for Krishna Avatharam and if there was no war at Kurukshetra, the world would not have got Bhagavat Gita. If Narakasura realised that he was the son of Bhooma Devi and had not been a demonic king doing all demonic activities, we will not be celebrating Deepavali.

In summary, God definitely has a plan. Only history will prove that the “so called bad thing” that may have happened in the past has not been that bad, instead it has always brought the best.

With this thought, we wish u and your family a very happy Deepavali. May God fulfil all your wishes in wealth, health & happiness in your life.