Patience

Few days ago, I felt an urge to bake a cake. I found a simple recipe over the internet and tried to follow it. I carefully measured all the ingredients, and mixed them properly in a baking pan. Heated the oven to the required temperature and placed the pan in it.

According to the recipe, it was going to be ready in twenty minutes. I set the timer and sat down on a chair in the kitchen. Five minutes later, out of curiosity, I opened the oven and took the pan out to see what was happening. There was hardly any difference in the dough, so I placed it back in the oven. Few minutes later, I took it out again to see if it was ready. It was not so I had to place it back in the oven. 

I was too anxious to eat it so I kept opening the oven door every few minutes to see if it was ready. Finally, after 25 - 30 minutes I noticed the cake had risen in only a few places but was otherwise flat. The corners were also burnt and the middle of the cake remained uncooked. It was not at all what I expected it to be.

What went wrong?

Was the recipe bad? Or was it my measurements or the mixing that went wrong?

What went wrong was that I missed an important part of any process: Patience.

I needed to be patient. 

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We want immediate results. 

We pray, and want the answer right away. 

Any act of kindness we do, we want to be rewarded immediately.

We go to Satsang, do some Seva or Simran, meditation and start expecting something in return, right away.

"Dheere dheere re manaa, Dheere sub kuchh hoye
 Maali seenche sau gharaa, Ritu aaye phal hoye"

In this famous 'doha' (verse) in Hindi, the poet, (I believe it was written by 'Raheem') says that if we plant a seed and give hundred pots of water at one time, it would not bloom overnight and start producing fruit. Everything happens slowly in its own time and season. 

Patience teaches us not to rush. 

Patience is not only a virtue, it gives us strength also. 

Knowing that there is a reason and a season for everything, it enables us to face all situations and the challenges calmly.

                                                                                ‘Rajan Sachdeva’