We experience stress because we want certain outcomes, situations and results. However, the soul is not independent, and it is not within its ability to fulfill all of the desires. By nature, the soul is a servant of God. Now, what is the duty of the servant? To fulfill the wishes of the master. If we surrender to God and think whatever He does is for our welfare, this attitude of surrender will help us get rid of stress. A surrendered soul says:
राज़ी हैं उसी मैं जिसमें तेरी रज़ा है।
यूँ भी वाह वाह है त्यों भी वाह वाह है ।।
"I am happy in Your happiness. Whatever situation You put me in, I will blissfully accept it." Thus, stress is a symptom of lack of our submission to the Will of God. When we experience stress, the best medicine to cure it is to increase our level of surrender.
Now, what is the problem in increasing the level of surrender? Worldly attachments! We keep on pondering, "This should happen this way; that should happen that way." That is the main hurdle to complete surrender. For achieving that goal, we need to increase our detachment from the world.
Before God-realization, there will always be some amount of tension within everyone, because the extent of surrender will not be one-hundred percent. However, by giving us tension, God signals to us that something is wrong and we need to correct it by surrendering further to Him. This is just as when we put our hand in the fire, we feel pain. What would happen if we did not feel the pain? Our hand would burn without our knowing it. The feeling of pain is, in fact a form of Grace. It is a signal that something is wrong, and that must take the hand out. Similarly, stress is a signal that we need to increase our surrender and devotion to God.
A spiritual doctor will prescribe you the medicine of submitting to God for getting rid of stress, whereas a material doctor will give you all kinds of medicinal drugs. However, such drugs will not help eradicate the root cause of stress. By increasing the level of surrender, the source of stress will itself be eradicated. Shree Krishna states in the famous verse:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ।।
(Bhagavad Gita 2.47)
"Work with full dedication. Do not be careless while performing your tasks. But do not get attached to the fruits of those works."
Shree Krishna again says:
योगिनः कर्म कुर्वन्ति संगं त्यक्त्वात्मशुद्धये ।।
(Bhagavad Gita 5.11)
"A yogi is one who can work without any attachment to the results." If we follow this formula, stress will be abolished from its roots.
