I don't do things, things happen through me...

The other day I sat to write a blog on some topic, somehow I was not able to proceed beyond two lines. Finally I ended up choosing a different topic which came first to my mind and wrote about it ("Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa"). Next day, I spoke to a loved one and that person told me about something which was happening in that person's life and how relevant the post was. Maybe that day, the blog was meant to be a solution for somebody.

One of my students asked me a question on a problem given in the text book. Till now I had tried a few times but was not able to solve that one problem, I always used to believe that either the question was wrong or there was a misprint. When this student asked me the question, I still tried to solve it one last time. As I was explaining the solution, I saw something in the question, got some idea from god knows where and tried some new approach, and alas... the solution was staring at me, even now I don't know why I had missed that approach earlier or why I tried it this time with this student. All I know is that the student was supposed to get an answer through me and he got it.

In both the above examples and at many more times, it was not I who was doing something, but it was rather that something was happening through me.

I'm sure we all go through this experience when we do something which we know we cannot do otherwise.

• You got some very difficult task in the office that day and you had no clue how to do it, suddenly you stumbled on some document, or somehow you figured out a way and the problem was solved. You still don't know how you did it, knowing yourself in all honesty, you know you couldn't have pulled it off.
• You went to write the exam and there was this googly problem which carried 20% of the total marks, having no choice, you started solving it and somehow you cracked it... later you see that this question fetched you those critical marks you needed in the exam. You still don't know how you cracked it.
• There were sudden guests in the house and you don't know what to prepare as nothing was there in the house. You scavanged the fridge to find a pack of krackjacks, two onions, a lonely tomato and some cheese. Helplessly and feeling afraid you prepared something like crackers with toppings, thinking that it would fail to qualify even as an appetizer. Guess what... the guests actually loved it more than anything you have ever made before... you still don't know how you did it.'
• The way you avoided that accident by some amazing presence of mind...
• Somehow you happened to be there and your blood group seemed to match and you saved a life.

Yes... there are times when we do things which we know we can't do on our own. The fact is that at all those times, we are not doing anything but the things are happening through us. In all such cases, there has to be some invisible factor that is working through us which we don't understand. Its just that we were supposed to be there at that time to do that act. If we had not been there, someone else would have done the job.

I know what your cunning mind is thinking "Gulshan, if we don't do anything and everything happens through us, then what is the use of running around so much and trying to do things, best is to sit in one place and do nothing... things will keep happening through us"

My dear, look back at all those experiences... whether it was workplace, exam, kitchen, road or any other place, it was always you who made the initial effort and then the actions happened through you. You started attempting the question paper and then the answer came through you, you started working and the result came through you, you started thinking and the solution came through you. It is always you who started and some force which finished the job.

If you had stopped even before starting, the answers could have been very different.

So, looks like the second and more important half of this understanding is that:

"I don't do things, things happen through me, provided I put in the efforts expected from me"

Now your cunning mind will say "So Gulshan, I really think that fellow is supposed to get beaten up through me. I will not beat him, he will be beaten through me."

All I can say to that is "BEWARE"