84 th problem

“Many times we are our worst enemy. If we could learn to conquer ourselves, then we will have a much easier time overcoming the problems  that are in front of us.”

-upanishads -

There is an old story about a man who came to see  Goutama  Buddha as he had heard that Buddha was a great teacher. Like all of us, he had some problems in his life, and thought the Buddha might be able to help him sort  them out. He told the Buddha that he was a farmer.

“I like farming,” he said, “but sometimes it doesn’t rain enough, and my crops fail. Last year we nearly starved. And sometimes it rains too much, so my yields aren’t what I’d like them to be.”

The Buddha patiently listened to the man.

“I’m married, too,” said the man. “She’s a good wife…I love her, in fact. But sometimes she nags me too much. And sometimes I get tired of her.”

The Buddha listened quietly.

“I have kids,” said the man. “Good kids, too…but sometimes they don’t show me enough respect. And sometimes…”

The man went on like this, laying out all his difficulties and worries. Finally he wound down and waited for the Buddha to say the words that would put everything right for him.

Instead, the Buddha said, “I can’t help you.”

“What do you mean?” said the man, astonished.

“Everybody’s got problems,” said the Buddha. “In fact, we’ve all got eighty-three problems, each one of us. Eighty-three problems, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you work really hard on one of them, maybe you can fix it – but if you do, another one will pop right into its place. For example, you’re going to lose your loved ones eventually. And you’re going to die some day. Now there’s a problem, and there’s nothing you, or I, or anyone else can do about it.”

The man became furious. “I thought you were a great teacher!” he shouted. “I thought you could help me! What good is your teaching, then?”

The Buddha said, “Well, maybe it will help you with the eighty-fourth problem.”

“The eighty-fourth problem?” said the man. “What’s the eighty-fourth problem?”

84th problem is the desire not to have any  problems.!!

No  one  can  help   not  even  Budda can  help  you  but  yourself !! then Why  to spread our  problems , sorrows &  worries   to  gain temporary  sympathy   from  this  world ?  instead  let  us  understand  the way to  overcome  once  for  all .As DVG  puts  this  in  his  kagga ತಲೆಪಾಗಿನೊಳಕೊಳಕ ಪಂಚೆನಿರಯೊಳಹರಕ ।
ತಿಳಿಸುವೆಯ ರಜಕಗಲ್ಲದೆ ಲೋಗರಿಂಗೆ ।।
ಅಳಲುದುಗುಡಗಳ ನಿನ್ನೊಳಗೆ ಬಯ್ತಿಡದೆ ನೀ ।
ನಿಳೆಗೆ ಹರಡುವುದೇಕೊ ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ।।

The dirt in your turban, the tear in your clothes:
You show these only to the washerman, not everyone.
Likewise, keep your sorrows and worries within yourself,
Why spread them to the world? --Mankuthimma

During  my  school  days  after  watching a  jugglery  show in  a circus  even  I  tried to  juggle  number of  plates at  same  time by  throwing  six  plates at  at  one  go  into the air.  I was never able to reach that perfect balance. I fantasized as every  time  many plates were  falling  down when   I  was   busy catching  other  plates . yes  later  on  I  realised  the problems  are like  this  83  plates  It seemed that every week a new plate gets  added, often causing one or more of the plates  crashing  to the ground and shatter.  This, of course, created the added problem of having to fix the one that crashed.  As silly it sounds to me now, for much of my youth I took it personally, as if the world was conspiring to thwart me and make me miserable. The very nature of the world, I had  concluded at  that time  was to give me problems, not peace.    Later on , I understood that the world is as impersonal as the law of gravity, and just as unyielding and   if I really wanted peace, I’d have to find it within MYSELF  not  juggling  with  83 plates    and also  stop playing  this  game of  jugglery  .    I  also know   It  is  never  a  easy  task but  possible . "Problems" are created the instant we say, "And I don't want it to be that way!" Let us  understand that The world has no problems. Nothing is wrong. It is the way it is. Sooner  we  accept  it  is  better  for  us .

I  read  some  where in   Upanishads    which says that   that  the  world  we  live  in  is ;

” It is that way, because that is the way it is.’’

Acceptance does not mean leaving it that  way as  it  is and  ,but accepting  the way  the  world  is will  certainly    helps  us  to over  come  83  problems. Let the world be just as it is. Turn around and look within, finding  the  base or  what  we  call  as  moolaadhara  where the problem gets created. This is the great liberating insight given by  our  great  masters in  our  land  be it   rishis from yore   or  Lord Krishna to our  modern New Age masters like sri  sri  Ravishankar or sadguru or  any  one for  that  matter . The problem is we as  a human being not   understanding  the  84^th  problem! desire  to  over come  83  problems  , not acceptance of what is  and   constituently being  war with  one  self