Part 2: Beyond Life and Death
A devotee once told me, 'Master, my cancer was my own creation. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to you.' People bring the diseases with them, so that they can be with the Master, even if their ego gets hurt.
There is a beautiful story from Tamil literature:
A great poet, Appar, missed his spiritual path and the possibility of enlightenment in two or three births. The next time, when he took birth, he came with a stomach problem. He says the stomach problem was to be a constant reminder to his enlightenment. He came with the attitude, 'Let me suffer with this stomach problem till I get enlightened.' The moment he got enlightened, the stomach problem left him.
In the Mahabharata, Kunti, mother of the five Pandava princes, prays to Krishna, 'Let pain and sufferings come from the four corners of the world. This will make me constantly remember you, O Krishna! This will constantly remind me of my goal, my only goal of enlightenment.' This is a technique for enlightenment. Some people even bring depression.
Take the example of Lance Armstrong, the famous biker who has become the epitome of courage and grit.
Lance was a very successful professional biker who was ranked number one in the world. He won a number of prestigious tournaments and was at the top of his career when he was literally forced off his bike by an excruciating pain. To his horror, he was diagnosed with cancer that had spread all over his body. But his courage and determination made him not just work towards getting back to normal but also gave him the strength to get back to his passion for biking. He totally recovered from the deadly disease. But it had taught him to look at life with a broader perspective and he wanted to work towards awareness of cancer and help the thousands of people who are going through what he underwent. He trained hard enough and returned to not just participate but to win the most strenuous cycling championships - Tour de France - 6 times! What to most people would have come as a lethal blow, killing the spirit and eventually the body, became a turning point for this man, who has now become a great source of inspiration and hope for thousands of people.
However, there is absolutely no need to take a few births, then come back with some serious disease, in order to get enlightened. In this janma (birth), you can do it. Don't miss it! Just use your intelligence.