Building TRUST into your relationship with the universe

What they don’t teach you at school is that being a winner in life isn’t about winning in all that you do, but about building a good relationship of friendly give-and-take with the universe.

How do you do that? Well, mostly by trusting and being trustworthy. You set out every morning trusting that the world and its creatures will treat you right, and play fair. You cultivate a habit of casting a generally benign eye at everything and everyone. Without necessarily becoming a do-gooder or busybody, you should generally feel that if the call to serve comes (whatever that means in any particular context), you will serve honestly and give of yourself generously, without pulling back.

It is this sort of vague but firm belief that we have in our key relationships — with our parents, siblings, spouses, children and close friends. In the absence of this promise to the world, your relationship with the world and all that lives in it, including yourself, is on the sorting of shaky footing that we have with passing acquaintances i.e. you owe them nothing, and they owe you nothing.

Instead, solemnly promise to serve. Say, “Awaaz do, hum saath hain” and mean it! To the extent that you really get around to meaning it (Forgive me for assuming that you don’t already have a wonderful relationship of trust and faith with the world), your reality will stand transformed, because the world will no longer remain an alien place where you happen to live and struggle. The world will truly become your home, and all the creatures that inhabit it (whether cute and cuddly or creepy-crawly, venomous or ferocious) your family.

By this simple and ancient pact (remember Vasudhaiva kutumbakam? ie. the world is one family?) people are no longer stranges, and animals are no longer filthy, crawling things that defile your surroundings. They are family. They are yours and you are theirs to cherish, to love, to honour and to protect, until death do you part.