Faith

I am definitely not an atheist, though I am not a spiritual person in the real sense of how we all understand the meaning of this term. I do not follow many rituals and traditions, but I don't follow any, is not true either. Some are ingrained in my being as I have seen them being followed and being performed since I was a child so continuing with them is what comes naturally to me.

Over a period of time, I have developed strong faith in the philosophy of re-birth. This may be because I do not find any better explanation for a  lot of things that happen with me and around me in the world.

I understand, there are various ways to attain enlightenment or peace (in simpler term) - a) through devotion (bhakti-marg),  b) through knowledge(gyan-marg), through karma(karma-marg).

Devotion path is not very clear to me - the doubts about what should or should not be done come as hurdles at every step on this path. Knowledge appears very enticing but I find myself ill equipped for this path too so the only path that people like me can venture is the Karma path - the path of doing one's duty in a sincere and honest fashion.

There is no great shakes in doing one's own work, one might think but that is precisely the interesting trick of this path. Day in day out, what has been designated to you, what has come in your lap as a duty, do it just the way it demands, do it just the way it should have been done. 

Identify the roles that are assigned to you, live those roles fully, enjoy being in them, dispense those roles faithfully and this becomes a way to convey to Him that you trust His decision, that you are capable of performing in that role, that you being His choice for this role couldn't have been better.

Fine, one can condition oneself to work towards this goal but what about the people around us, what if they do not recognise our work, what if they do not acknowledge what we keep doing for them and what if they do not respond back in the same terms, what if they do nothing for us in return?

Yes, these thoughts disturb the clear objective of just dispensing one's duties. Over time I have come to understand a few things and if nothing else, the same have brought peace to me. I would prefer to believe that we are not here to judge other's ways. Why worry about a human's acknowledgement when you can be sure that even your simplest of actions are/will be getting acknowledged by the one who assigned you this work. That is what matters eventually, right? Moreover, even if this is not the case, what other option does an individual have? So the best bet is to work towards your duties as if nothing else matters or exists.