Joy or stress: a choice of the drop of water

A drop of water, with a desire to experience life, comes out of the ocean and becomes part of the clouds. It flows with the clouds freely till it reaches the mountains and takes the form of snow on the mountain. It enjoys the stillness of snow till it melts and takes the form of a river. It doesn't know the final destination but keeps flowing with the river, till the time it reaches the ocean again. At each stage, as cloud, as snow, and as river, it experiences life differently and each of the experiences is equally rich and beautiful.

We also come to this body, from the vast ocean of consciousness. Sometimes, we live a life of Satva, flowing like clouds. We live life of harmony. Sometimes, we live life of Tamas, wherein there is not much of movement and life is stable. Sometimes we live life full of Rajas, wherein life is full of action to reach the intended outcomes. Life is equally beautiful in all the three forms.

So far the drop of the water remembers that it is a drop of water and part of the ocean, there is no stress or fear at all. The problems begin when the drop of water forgets its real nature and starts identifying with the clouds. Being afraid of going to the Earth, it just wants to flow with the clouds. Alternatively, the drop of the rain is quite unhappy flowing with the clouds and wants to get down to the Earth. In both cases, it makes efforts to get the intended outcome. Depending upon the weather conditions, humidity, and temperature, it may or may not be able to achieve the intended object. It becomes sad when it does not get the intended results. 

Similarly, while being on the mountain peaks as snow, the drop of water enjoys the experience of stability so long as it remembers its nature as a drop of water. It may develop a deep desire to move with the river or may develop a fear to melt. In both situations, we develop stress.

While being part of the river, the drop of water enjoys the movement so long as it remembers its true nature being water of the ocean. The moment it forgets that nature, it develops a fear to get trapped in a dam or a lake if it gets fixated on the movement. Alternatively, it develops a deep desire to get stability and gets stressed with the continuous movement.

This is what happens to many of us. While living a life full of harmony, we may develop a desire to settle down. On the other hand, when we get too fixated on harmony we develop a fear of stagnancy. While living a stable life, we develop a fear of instability. Alternatively, we develop stress of not being able to move towards the desired outcome. Similarly, while being in heavy action, we get fixated on these activities and any situation that hinders the action generates stress. On the other hand, when we may not like the action and every situation that warrants more such action may create stress for us since we want stability.

In sum and substance, the cause of stress and fear is always our fixation. We get fixated on these forms because we lose awareness of the substance, the real nature being a drop of water that has come from the ocean to experience life. Going back to the ocean is its natural destiny. It will go back to the ocean sooner or later. Till that time, it has come to the Earth to have a wide variety of experiences. By dividing these experiences into good and bad, we make our life limited and stressful. We keep craving the experiences we like and run away from the experiences we do not like. Not only it creates perpetual stress and anxiety but also it makes life very limited and meaningless. Constantly remembering the true nature of self allays all the fears and stress and makes life rich in experiences and meaningful.