Confusion in Life

Confusion in Life
[Vinod Anand]

In this world, you usually have two types of options. In Sanskrit the word dvividha means, two options. If you play around with this word, it also sounds as duvidha, which means confusion. The more options you have, the more confusion you face.

For example, when you have food at home, and there is only vegetable and daal, you will have no confusion as to what to eat and what to leave. But if you are attending a wedding, where you have a lot of choice, you will also have lots of confusion. What to eat? What not to eat?

Therefore, it is a given, maybe we can even call it a law, that option creates confusion. If you analyze this law more deeply, you will find that the more you climb the ladder in an organization, the more freedom you get. The person who is in the lower rung of the ladder has fewer options.

For example, if one is a simple worker in a factory, he has less freedom. The manager has more freedom and the managing director (MD) will have even more freedom. By the same token, the worker has less responsibility, the manager has more responsibility and the MD has maximum responsibility. Therefore, freedom also implies responsibility.

Life is by choice, so if you want to achieve higher aspect of life, in an organization, home or country, then one has to take responsibility. A leader is one who takes responsibility head on. A leader leads from the front and inspires others to follow him. The leader has a choice to choose from various paths.

The power of option is available to all human beings, whereas animals have few options. For example, a tiger has no choice between eating flesh and grass. A cow also has no choice between meat and vegetables. Therefore you are privileged as nature has given you options.

The problem with us is that we want to lead without any load. We want choice without confusion. We want to evolve without effort. There is a saying, “Uneasy lays the head that wears the crown”. Going back to the same logic, let me ask, what type of life do you want to provide to your children or to yourself?

If it is based on choices, then be prepared for mistakes, for falls, for obstacles, and perhaps some confusion. Once you have made your choice, you have no control over the result. For example, you want to travel from Delhi to London; you have the choice to opt for any airline, any kind of ticket. Once you buy the ticket, you still have the choice whether to travel or not.

Even when you reach the airport, you still have the choice to board the flight or not even after you acquire the boarding pass. Once you have boarded the flight, even then you can choose to get down from the flight or travel. But, once the flight has left the runway, you have almost no choice.

Hereafter, whoever is your co-passenger, whatever type of service the airlines provide, whatever is the quality of the flight; you have to accept it. In future you may not take that particular flight but during the next eight hours, you have no option; you have to go through it. Therefore, nature gives you options.

If you are in a lower realm of affairs, the options are less but at the higher level, the options are more. But once you make a choice, you have to accept the consequences.