Four men were engrossed in a very animated discussion about a recently committed murder. Each one was entirely convinced about his theory of how the murder was committed and by whom. The murder mystery was later solved and none of them came even close to the truth.

It is not that only a few speculate, practically all of us from time to time speculate and waste a huge amount of energy. Some of the reasons for doing so are : We wish to appear more intelligent than we actually are, we lack real knowledge, we are too anxious about the future, we do not have the patience to wait for things to happen, we wish to control things as a part of our obsession with staying on top, we are too attached to some result either in the positive or negative sense, or because we would rather speculate than act, since speculating is much easier.

We speculate as a matter of habit. It is very similar to day–dreaming. The extent of speculation generally depends upon how attached one is to the subject in question. Nonetheless, such an exercise is negative since it brings no real benefit.

What should one do to prevent oneself from speculating? To begin with, one must remember that there is a difference between planning and speculating. Planning is positive activity as it helps us to focus and work towards our goals. But speculation, on the other hand, is based purely on hypothetical assumptions. The biggest problem with speculating is that it tends to increase one’s belief in things which actually might not be true. Thus, it leads us to act upon things which are unrealistic. Such actions can only have a negative outcome.

Therefore, one must develop faith in God and His unfailing system, which we as atomic souls cannot comprehend fully. This is similar to watching a trail of ants going in a certain direction. We can see where the ants are heading but the ants only follow the one ahead of it, not knowing where they are going.

In conclusion, let us try and be close to God – the omnipotent force that alone knows the final outcome of our deeds – and he may grant us divya drsti by which we won’t have to speculate but know things as they are. We should only worry about our duty and not the final outcome of our efforts. Then only we will experience true happiness.