When Doubts Arise

Many daring and courageous youth who have stepped out of the beaten track face this issue. Recently there was this boy who had a research career and also a corporate job. His heart wanted him to take up research in spite of the pay but his parents and well wishers wanted him to take up a corporate job. So many doubts crop up in our mind. So how will he decide? Even if we stay in the beaten track, we stay there because of our fears and insecurities. Daily morning we wake up and hare going to office but somehow we manage to go. This is one way to approach it — a very difficult and misery bound way. The better way is to see the larger reason why we are doing things. This gives us a sense of purpose and direction. But when doubts assail us, how do we handle them?We don’t know which is right for us. GRE or CAT? Corporate job or higher studies? If you ask hundred people, they would give hundred different opinions. When we get inputs, our manas or mind swings from here to there and back here. Not just 2-dimensional but sometimes 3-dimensional and hyper-dimensional spinning happens. It is very complex. We must understand that it is not confusion but a process of gaining exposure where you get more data about something. When you are deciding on a bike, someone gives you a suggestion based on mileage, someone else advises based on maintenance. There is no confusion here. You are only gathering inputs from several people and gaining a holistic perspective. You become rich with data. You do not need to decide yet. Only when the decision point comes, you need to decide. Till then you can evaluate these various choices. But many people convert this process of gathering data into a complex process of deciding each moment and this looks tedious. You do not need to get confused at each moment. After making a decision if a doubt arises, what do you do? Before decision making it is a process of data gathering, after decision making you just need to stick on to it for a while. When you are young, if you have the support of people around you, you can experiment. You can experiment for a couple of years and then decide whether to stay on the path or switch. This is a very valid process. But now people think very unidimensionally. They do not look at richness of experience. They look at money. If that is top priority for you, then this sort of a exploration is not a good idea. But! incase money is not the biggest focus for you then exploring is not harmful at all. In fact, you will see that after 30 you become really rich in experience, after 40 people actually consult you seeking your wisdom that you have gained through that richness of exploration because your data points are varied, wide and extremely accommodative of multiple arenas. So if you explore one path, the path of exploration is clear, if there are doubts you hold it bay until that period of exploration is complete. To proceed on a path, you need to earn the support of people around you. As I said, people are everything in your life. If people do not support you, then its very tough. Towards that there is no harm in keeping at bay your inclinations for sometime and allowing it surface later on. Or sometimes compromising by taking another trajectory. It is not wrong! When you see the larger scheme of things, you will see that there are various paths to the same destination and hence it is okay! That is inner space. It accommodates varieties of paths. That is very important to invest in. That is where meditation and all these inner sciences come in. It gives you the inner space to accommodate all the experiences that happen to you in a positive frame of mind. Otherwise you can become extremely bitter over this process and start this blame game “my parents do not allow me to do it.” It will never end. The circumstances govern what you go through. That is never a great idea. Your inner experience should not just be consequence of circumstances around you, it should be more than that. It should be according to what you see, the deeper reason that you see and apply in your life. That is a good way to lead life.