I have traumas from the past. Should I treat them, or just chanting is enough?
What happened already happened, and we can't do anything to change it. The question is what to do from now on.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that most of us have psychological issues due to traumas and different unfulfilled needs faced at some stage of life. A perfectly healthy person demands loving parents and other relatives, as well as a whole social structure we don't have nowadays. As a result, by the time we reach adulthood, we are usually badly scarred by all the neglect, violence, scarcity, and abuse we suffered as we were growing up.
What happened already happened, and we can't do anything to change it. The question is what to do from now on.
Sometimes, traumas and other mental issues hold us back is spiritual life, preventing us from being stable in our practice, and we may not be able to overcome the hurdle with spiritual practice and friendly talks alone. In such cases, makes sense to take time to deal with the issue, by searching for a counselor, a devotee psychologist or any other form of help that is necessary.
However, there are also cases that these issues may be manageable. Everyone has to deal which such challenges to a certain extent, and as long as we have enough balance and support to deal with them, just continuing without paying so much attention to it may be the best option.
There is a story connected with that.
It may look now something very distant from our reality, but there was a time when Germany was separated into two different countries. East Germany was part of the Soviet Union, while West Germany was integrated into Europe. The division between the two countries was symbolized by the Berlin Wall, which divided the city into two.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the wall was quickly dismantled, and people from East Germany suddenly became free to go to the other side. Many were so fed up with life in the Soviet Union that they just took their trabant cars, drove to the other side, and abandoned them, starting a new life, never to return.
The Trabant was an interesting car. It was even worse than the Ladas people were driving in other parts of the Soviet Union. It was a tiny and uncomfortable car and propense to many mechanical problems. It was practically impossible to keep a Trabant in perfect working condition. However, good or bad, these were the only cars people had. When the opportunity arose to get out, they just drove the cars they had, without caring much about the discomfort or problems. When they would get to the other side, they would just abandon their Trabants and start their new lives.
Similarly, there is a clear division between the material world and the spiritual world, and life here is not very comfortable. We also have very uncomfortable cars (the material body), and they give us a lot of problems. However, these are the vehicles we have. Therefore, when the opportunity of getting out appears, we should just take it, without caring much for the discomforts of other problems the car may have.
If, on the other hand, we want to first fix all the problems before the trip, chances are we will never go, because there is always going to be something wrong. We can imagine that if someone in East Germany would first try to somehow would want to transform his Trabant into a comfortable car, he would never go anywhere because it was not possible.
Similarly, the more we try to reach a comfortable situation in this life, solving all the numerous issues, the more we become entangled, because the situation is not solvable. For each issue we can solve, two new problems appear.
Thus, our approach to solving material problems should be multifaceted. On the one had, we should take time to solve serious problems that can jeopardize our practice, solving them before they have the chance to grow, but on the other hand we should exert tolerance in dealing with the different small problems and discomforts we face daily, that although annoying, don't prevent us from performing our duties and advancing in spiritual practice.
The idea of Krsna Consciousness is to use the current body and the current situation we have now as a vehicle to go to the other side, despite all the limitations, since if we first try to come to a perfect situation, chances are that we will become distracted and end up never going.
We hear that there are two types of karma: prārabdha karma (the karma that is already giving fruits) and aprārabdha karma (the karma that is stored in the form of a seed). When we start practicing Krsna Consciousness, and especially after we are initiated by a bona fide guru, all the vast stocks of aprārabdha karma are very quickly destroyed. However, the prārabdha karma, the karma that is already giving fruits, continues. Therefore, we continue with the same material body, with the same imperfections, and we continue often in the same material conditions, without much change.
We may question why it is so, and the answer is actually quite simple: If Krsna were to take all our prārabdha karma from us, together with the aprārabdha karma, there would be nothing to maintain the material body, and it would just drop dead. The problem is that we are not ready to just drop dead; we still have a trip to do, and for this, we need a vehicle. In this way, Krsna allows us to temporarily keep the vehicle we have, be it good or bad, so we can go through the lessons we still have to learn and successfully complete our trip back to Godhead.
Therefore, it doesn't matter much if the engine is smoking or if the windows don't open; the idea is to just use it for the trip and then abandon it. It's just for a short while.
In one sense, we need to be practical and maintain the body in working condition, since if it breaks prematurely, it will not reach our destination. On the other hand, however, we need to understand that it is just for a little while and thus not become distracted from our final goal.
The point about spiritual life is thus not about completely fixing our current situation, but just dealing with the pressing issues that hold us back in our spiritual practice. Once this is reached, we can advance further by just using whatever resources we have now (be it money, intelligence, attention, or whatever else we may have) to serve Krsna and thus use the opportunity to purify ourselves and conclude our journey.
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I love reading all your articles and your compassionate views on topics. However, this one was very simplistic in my opinion. Traumatic experiences have the potential to shape someone’s spirituality. Almost everyone needs connection to heal, not more philosophical information. Unfortunately, devotees are quick to slap on philosophy or quote scriptural passages/characters, rather than lending a compassionate presence or ear.
Thank you very much for addressing this important topic with such a wonderful examples and clear explanations. 🙏🏼 Very helpful and supportive article.