Some years back the Rubik Cube came out as a popular and interesting game. It is a cuboid with six faces of six different colours. Each face consists of nine squares and each square can be rotated on two different axes. The game involves rotating of these squares in such a manner that each face of the cuboid becomes a single colour. Overall it is a complex exercise and most players fail to achieve the desired result. However, many have acquired such a skill that they can achieve the desired result in a surprisingly short time. It is a beautiful sight to see the six faces of six different colours presenting a harmonious look. Some books have also been written on this game and shows held to demonstrate it. I myself however never got much interested in the game and therefore did not often play it.
Once I had gone to Trichur on the occasion of Guru Poornima. In the evening I was on a walk with another devotee who is settled in Muscat. He told me about the craze for this game in certain countries and how some of the players had acquired a great skill in it. And then we started comparing life with the game of Rubik Cube. We felt that life too was as complicated as the Rubik game and that it was a question of acquiring a skill in living if we wanted to make it harmonious. In the Rubik game, as one proceeds, one finds that despite one’s best efforts different colours intrude and it becomes almost impossible to bring the same colours on all the six faces. Some are able to achieve success on one and some on two or three faces. Very rarely does one find a player who can restore all the faces to a single colour.
In life too, as we proceed to achieve harmony, some event or the other breaks it and we have to start afresh. It is only after we have learnt the art of living that such events do not disturb us but in a way make life more interesting and challenging. With the growth of wisdom, the time taken to accept these events gets reduced further and further. Thereafter, all events of life are accepted in a very natural manner. Eventually one becomes like those players of the Rubik Cube who reach the six~face stage within a very short time. For such people life becomes harmonious and nothing can disturb them. Such persons are the yogis in the true sense.
Reaching such a state of harmony is the ultimate purpose of life. For this one has to understand the principles of life, believe in them and practise them. There is no short-cut to it. However, once this skill is acquired, no one can take it away from you. You will then be able to play with life in the same way as a skilled person plays with the Rubik Cube, notwithstanding its complex nature.
