Rebuilding My Life After Loss And Starting Again
I was introduced to this practice by my childhood friend in 2011.
From that point onward, my life slowly began changing through the power of the Mystic Law.
In 2013, I started working in the BPS domain in Kolkata.
But deep inside, I always wanted to transition into IT.
The problem was that I had:
No technical background
No experience in IT
Very little confidence in myself
So I continued postponing that dream.
When Everything Changed Overnight
In January 2020, my elder brother suddenly passed away.
His death shattered our family emotionally.
My father, especially, was deeply broken.
Financially too, the situation became extremely unstable because my brother had been the primary earning member of the family.
Then the pandemic struck soon afterward.
My father lost his livelihood.
Suddenly, I became responsible for supporting everyone:
My parents
My wife
Our child
The pressure felt unbearable.
At that stage, I slowly began drifting away from practice.
I struggled to chant consistently.
I doubted the Gohonzon.
I became inactive.
But even during that period, my fellow comrades in faith never abandoned me.
They kept reaching out and encouraging me patiently.
Losing My Father And Starting Again
Then in 2022, another devastating challenge struck.
My father met with a serious accident.
He underwent surgery but passed away two months later.
After losing both my brother and father within such a short span, I felt completely directionless.
I was now solely responsible for my mother, wife, and child.
At that time, one guidance from Ikeda Sensei deeply encouraged me:
“It is by struggling with adversity and surmounting hardships that we grow stronger and more capable.”
(VC, Mar 2023, 46)
I determined not to let suffering destroy my life.
I slowly reconnected with my Soka family and started attending meetings regularly again.
Doing Whatever It Took To Support My Family
At work, I was handling a sales project where incentives formed a major part of my earnings.
Then suddenly, the client stopped all incentive payouts.
My financial situation worsened drastically.
To survive, I decided to take additional work.
For a brief period, I even became associated with Rapido to earn extra income.
Those earnings helped me:
Manage household expenses
Support my family
Keep things afloat during the crisis
But deep inside, I knew I needed a long-term breakthrough.
Challenging A Career Transition
I finally decided to challenge my long-held dream of moving into IT.
Despite my fears about:
Taking an education loan
Investing time and money
Starting over professionally
I enrolled in a postgraduate course in cloud computing through an online university.
Initially, the course felt overwhelmingly difficult.
There were moments when I genuinely believed I would fail and have to quit midway.
Still, I continued chanting daimoku and pushing myself beyond my comfort zone.
Balancing:
Work
Family responsibilities
Studies
Gakkai activities
became incredibly demanding.
Yet I somehow managed to dedicate four to six hours daily to my studies.
I also ensured I attended as many Gakkai meetings as possible.
Growing While Encouraging Others
As a Young Lions leader, I made it a point to regularly visit YLs in my zone.
I focused on creating genuine heart-to-heart connections with them and sharing Sensei’s vision sincerely.
Interestingly, while encouraging them, I myself began growing stronger emotionally.
My wife, Sanghamitra, became my greatest pillar of support.
Whenever I missed meetings because of work or studies, she would share the learnings and encouragement with me afterward.
At one stage, because finances became extremely difficult, she stepped forward and took up a job in a multinational company to support our family.
That allowed me to focus more seriously on:
Studies
Hands-on technical practice
Job preparation
Failing Again And Again — But Continuing
I successfully completed my postgraduate course in cloud computing with a remarkable 92 percent score.
But even after that, things did not change immediately.
Although placements had been promised, my resume was not shortlisted initially.
I uploaded my profile across job portals and started attending interviews aggressively.
But rejection followed rejection.
I failed nearly 20 interviews.
At times, I questioned whether I had started too late in life.
Still, I refused to stop.
I intensified my efforts even further.
Every day, I spent six to eight hours building real-world cloud projects independently to strengthen my practical knowledge.
Slowly, my confidence started improving.
The Breakthrough Finally Came
Then in June 2024, my perseverance finally bore fruit.
I secured an IT role with a multinational corporation in Kolkata.
The offer came with a staggering 350 percent salary hike.
For me, this victory was about far more than money.
It symbolized:
Rebuilding my confidence
Breaking through limitations
Proving the power of never giving up
Today, I share my experience to encourage YMDs and Young Lions facing discouragement in life.
In recent YSF 3.0 activities, nine youth from my chapter participated enthusiastically.
One friend whom I had introduced five years earlier has now become active in faith.
A Guidance That Stayed With Me
“It is by struggling with adversity and surmounting hardships that we grow stronger and more capable.”
Reflection
Loss and financial pressure can slowly crush a person internally.
There were phases when I:
Doubted myself
Doubted the practice
Lost direction completely
But Buddhism taught me something very powerful:
Human beings become strongest precisely while struggling through adversity.
I also realized that victory is rarely immediate.
Often, repeated rejection is part of developing the strength required for long-term growth.
Most importantly, reconnecting with fellow members and encouraging youth helped me emerge from isolation and despair.
Through supporting others, I slowly rebuilt my own life.
Key Takeaways
Challenges can become opportunities for deep transformation.
Consistent effort eventually breaks through limitations.
Career change is possible at any stage with determination.
Encouraging others strengthens one’s own life condition.
Faith helps develop resilience during loss and uncertainty.
Moving Forward
I now determine to:
Support and uplift youth sincerely
Strengthen the district I am associated with
Create a secure and joyful future for my family
Contribute meaningfully toward society and kosen-rufu
Above all, I will continue advancing with the conviction that no adversity can defeat a person who keeps standing up again and again.