The Turn of the Wheel

A verse from the Mahabharatha mentions this:

सुखमापतितं सेव्यं दुःखमापतितं तथा । 

चक्रवत् परिवर्तन्ते दुःखानि च सुखानि च ॥ 

Sukhamapatitam sevyam duhkhamapatitam tatha | 

Chakravat parivartante duhkhani cha sukhani cha || 

This means that "Take pleasure from the joys (in life) and also accept the sorrows; for joys and sorrows keep changing in a cycle like the turning wheel"

Imagine something normal in our daily life. 

We get our promotion or the thing that we have wanted for so long. We celebrate it for a brief moment, but we do not soak in the joy. 

Within a very short time, the first thing we ask is, ‘what is next’?

Similarly, when it comes to the dark parts of our life, we forget that pain is a factual reality of existence. But pain is not suffering. Suffering is because of our resistance to the pain. 

When tragedy strikes or we face failure, a default reaction is to fight it, deny it or numb it. But running from our sorrow only prolongs the agony. 

Accepting the pain is the first step to growing beyond it. Accepting the pain does not mean giving up. It means looking at the reality for what it is and accepting it as part of our experience and moving on. 

That is how we take away the power of the event to destroy us.

This verse from the Mahabharatha holds the key to that emotional freedom. 

Life does not promise to be free of pain, nor does Life require us to suppress our emotions. 

Instead, Life simply requires us to accept our feelings.

We live in a society where we are taught that if we are not happy and growing, we are somehow failing at life. Unfortunately, reality does not work that way, because life is messy, unpredictable and often challenging.

That is where the powerful metaphor of the verse from the Mahabharata about the Chakra or turning wheel comes to the picture. 

In a moving wheel, it is certain that the point at the top of a wheel will inevitably go to the bottom and the point at the bottom will come to the top. So when we are at the top, this metaphor is for us to prevent arrogance and complacency. When we are at the bottom, this verse is our hope because no matter how dark or painful things are, it is not permanent. The sorrow will eventually give way to relief and to joy. 

But for that, we need to accept our feelings.

While facing hardship do not label your state as your identity. Instead of saying ‘I am a failure’, say that ‘I am experiencing failure’. It is simple and effective because this separates your identity from what you experience. 

During good times pause and actively acknowledge the event. Soak in the joy, let this be an anchor for you. 

Remember, you cannot control the events of life, but you can control how you react to it.

The wheels are always turning.