How frequently we get frustrated, depressed and even distraught when the Universe doesn’t deliver what we want! It’s as though we are in a unanimously agreed upon delusion that the Universe is there to serve up our desires and expectations! After all, Amazon does it. UberEats does it. Instacart does it. And when they don’t get something right we are absolutely justified in demanding a refund and giving poor marks for service.
But one of the most important lessons in the world – and one that defies so many of our deeply held beliefs – is that the Universe is not a vending machine. It does not operate on the principle of “Put in your metaphoric money through your good deeds or good thoughts or just by virtue of being born, push whatever button you want and your selected chocolate bar will drop into your hands.” There’s no scripture, spiritual teaching or guru in the world worth their salt who would encourage us to see the Universe as something to be bargained with.
Nonetheless many of us have assumed this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say –and have even thought myself – “I’m such a good person, how could this awful thing happen to me?” Or, “I do good deeds, I’m honest , generous and helpful, I am entitled to that thing I want”. We’ve all silently agreed to be complicit in this myth and to comfort each other when the cosmic delivery man doesn’t get our order right.
And when the vending machine doesn’t deliver the metaphoric chocolate bar we wanted? We lose faith. I hear so many people say, ‘I need a new guru, or a new mantra, or a new religion. Mine doesn’t work.” It’s as though we’ve kicked the vending machine as many times as we can, and still our chocolate bar won’t descend no matter how much money we put in. We just keep getting bags of carrots and bottles of water, over and over. So we’ve decided the machine is broken. We need a new one. Or we give up and walk away from faith like we walk away from the faulty vending machine, never to return.
The truth is, though, that the Universe gives us what we need, not always (or even frequently) what we think we want. Got the water and carrots instead of chocolate again? Maybe the Universe knows you’re three-hundred pounds, diabetic and on the verge of a heart attack. It’s trying to help you heal, not escort you to your death.
That which we are given is that which is the most conducive situation for us to take our next step closer to Truth, closer to self-realization, God-realization, awakening, enlightenment, nirvana. It doesn’t always feel good. It’s not always fun. But it is always the most conducive situation for our soul’s karmic journey in this lifetime.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagawan Krishna gives a very clear message. The message is simple and universal. Whatever your religion, culture, or tradition may be, it’s a teaching for all of us:
Do your dharma, fulfill your highest purpose, engage in right action, and simultaneously remember that you have no right whatsoever to the fruits of that action – no matter how dharmic or yogic it may be. Our job is to plant our metaphoric seeds, water them, shine light on them, but to not be attached to what flowers and what bears fruit. It’s hard. Really hard. We think, “I’ve done all this great work, this dedicated work, diligent work, of course my seeds should sprout and flower. I planted it. I watered it. I bought the best seeds.I got the best organic soil. I should get succulent zucchinis, sweet tomatoes or fragrant roses.” But that’s not how the world works.
What we get – in return for our right action, in return for staying aligned with dharma and purpose – is peace of mind, gratitude, love and connection in our hearts, and deepening and ripening of our own spiritual realization. But we do not get an automatic entitlement to the rewards or outcomes we were looking for. Instead, we are again given the most conducive situation for us to take our next step closer to awakening. It might be success. It might be failure. It might be gain. It might be loss. It might be pleasure and it might be pain. But we can be sure, it is exactly what is required for our soul in this incarnation to get closer and closer to the ultimate reunion, or remembrance of its union, with the Divine.
If we want the ultimate gift of peace, joy, meaning and fulfillment in life, we must release our clenched our grip on what we think we want, what we think we deserve, what we think we need. We must stop calculating our give-and-take contract with the Universe. We must let go, not of the right, dharmic action, but of our attachment to what we think the results are supposed to be.
Slowly we realize that the same Creator who turns seeds into trees that then give us fruit, and who shows caterpillars how to become butterflies, and who channels cosmic intelligence into eggs so baby birds know how to crack their way out and then how to fly out of the nest…. Surely that Divine Creator knows what to do with us.
