‘Problem’
is a common word. Generally we apply it whenever we are in a fix, fail to understand some
thing and take decision, face a difficulty or find things complicated in our day to day
life. Since there is no dearth of such situations, we use the word rather repeatedly and
extensively. But to define the word in such a way that it denotes its meaning or conveys
the sense in full, is certainly difficult, if not impossible. In other words, to define
‘Problem’ itself is a problem.
Nobody
appears to escape ‘Problems’ in this mysterious world. Perhaps ‘Life’
and ‘Problem’ are complementary to each other. The whole life of man is spent in
search of solutions to problems. And at the same time life is no life in the absence of
problems. It has no meaning, no charm. It gets stifled and loses momentum. In fact, nobody
can deny even remotely the importance of problems in human life.
When
we fail to think of a solution to our difficulty, it becomes a problem. Problems thus are
from our own ignorance, our own intellectual deficiency. Whenever there is a problem, we
find ourselves connected with it, involved in it. We get so close to it, unwittingly of
course, that there is no distance, no difference between the problem and ourselves. In a
way we become one with the problem. Without us problem appears
to have no identity, no existence of its own.
In
such a situation we are unable to look at the problem in detached manner and think of the
solution neutrally. So we start thinking; What to do? All our intellectual ability fails
to solve the problem. This is where we realize the need to consult someone else. In fact,
we find our-selves compelled to do so. When a doctor falls sick he cannot treat himself
since there is no distance between him and the disease. The doctor cannot diagnose the
ailment thoroughly. He must, therefore, go and consult some other doctor. Similarly, a
distinguished surgeon, who might have carried out a number of operations successfully,
finds himself unable to operate upon any of his own limbs. Not only that, he is too feeble even to operate upon his own wife and his own
child. His hands tremble, because they are his close relations. He loses self-confidence.
Just
as a doctor fails to diagnose his own disease, a surgeon cannot carry out the operation of
his own wife or his own childs, due to loss of self confidence, similarly we find our
intellectual capacity or wisdom to be too inadequate to solve our own problems. On the
other hand, we have a solution for every problem, which is not our own, which belongs to
others. It means, our intellectual capacity or wisdom continues to function when others
are in difficulty. We are able to consider the problem thoroughly and without any kind of
bias because in such a situation there is a distance between us and the problem. The
doctor himself is not sick, it is some one else. On operation table is not the surgeon’s
own wife or child but some other patient. Thus every individual can be a good and useful
adviser to others and not to himself or herself.
Problems
are there even for a child. They, however, become ineffective when he is grown up. Man
forgets, about them even though he might have left them unsolved in his childhood,
Similarly, youth has its own problems and the man tends to forget the same when he grows
old even though he might have not solved them while he was young. Often it happens that
the problems that baffle a young man so much that he becomes prepared to commit suicide
appear to be so simple, so trifle in old age that the man laughs at them.
In
this context, if we look at the matter a little carefully, we shall come to the conclusion
that in life we seldom solve problems. We only go on putting them off, carrying them
forward. Our effort is only to reduce their seriousness. But the fact remains that
postponement or carrying forward does not solve the problems as such. They only change the
place. They stand slightly shifted or moved away from us.
If
we consider the matter a little further and more carefully, we shall realize that we can
understand or appreciate the problem better when we look at it from a distance. More the
distance, better the view, clearer the problem. We also realize
that weaker the mind, stronger the problem. A man with weak intellect will find his
problems correspondingly hard for him. It shows that our problems are our own creation.
They are the result of our own intellectual shortcomings. It is our own mind that provides
roots to the problems and nurtures their growth. Thus the basic question is not that of
problems, it relates to our own mind. If the mind, the creator, reforms itself, the
problems that surface from it are bound to disappear automatically.
If
we adopt the company of saints, use the talent and other God-gifted qualities of head and
heart and thus rise above our usual level of thinking, we may discover a new focal point
within ourselves from where we can view things in altogether a different manner. While
standing there we can look far beyond the scope of the problems. If we stretch the canvas
of our mind a little we can watch the problems from a distance like spectators. Once we
become spectators we realise the reality marking the problems.
And
now we are in a position to advise ourselves, although there may be no need to do so.