Life is a journey spent in the pursuit of excellence. Every human being in this world has within himself the desire to evolve. Evolution is a sign of progression and dynamicity. All through our lives we keep on evolving with time; so much that at one point we come to a stage when we are hardly able to recognize ourselves. There remains within ourselves but a shade of our past as we continuously shape our present and our future.
Greatness is indeed a rare achievement. To be great is to be in every way different than everyone else. The human existence is epitomized by its many weaknesses. These weaknesses hamper man in his quest to evolve; in his quest to achieve greatness. Man on his part also loves his weaknesses and he loves to be impaired by them. This in turn greatly shunts his capability and his desire to evolve which in turn negates any chance at achieving greatness.
Greatness is built upon many things; but the most important of them all is an abject rejection of mediocrity. If any person is to ever achieve greatness, he first has to harbor in his heart an intense dislike for mediocrity. Humans naturally tend towards being mediocre. It is in our blood. We like to be in our comfort zone. We don’t necessarily like taking risks and are content with what we get even if we know deep down that we are more capable and more deserving. Such is mediocrity. Simply owing to the fact that we lack the courage and the drive to go out strive for the best; we are content to settle for the rest.
Greatness is also built upon our capability to overcome our impulses. After living through the paces of life, man often comes to a point where he needs to sacrifice his personal desires and his personal impulses in order to do that which is necessary. At such crucial junctures, the frail human spirit often fails the man and thus he foregoes the opportunity. Ultimately failure is nothing but the sum of all opportunities that we fail to capitalize upon. Many times it so happens that our instincts and our petty desires become our adversaries in the quest to achieve superlative success. We greatly love our instincts and to turn away from our impulsive desires is something that is indeed very painful. In such situation, the image of greatness no longer seems to be that alluring; and the human being readily foregoes it to indulge his heart in his petty desires. By the time he realizes his mistake, all his lost to him and the opportunity is gone.
I often say, “A thousand broken dreams pave the road to greatness.” While many may construe this to be pessimistic, I consider it to be nothing but realistic. The road to greatness is indeed paved with the sacrifices that a seeker makes in order to get there. Our dreams and our illusions are like ghostly images etched upon the mirror of life. In order to go ahead and do that which needs to be done, man often needs to shatter his own dreams and his own illusions. Imagine the road to greatness as one which is strewn with shards of broken glass; all representing your shallow dreams. The only way you can get to the other side is by walking on it. As you walk on it, the splinters of your broken dreams and your unrequited desires cut into your feet, drawing blood and yielding you great pain. But yet with courage in your heart and great perseverance, you walk on till the very end, where what awaits you is immortality.
Such is greatness…All yearn for it, many seek It and yet there are few who truly achieve it. Such is greatness…
The entire colorful mosaic of human existence is indeed a grand illusion. It’s an illusion that makes the human being believe in its realness to the point that the individual forsakes all that he has to acquire that one illusion. Many a times it so happens that all great individual achievements and grand success stories have at their center naught but an illusion. Many a times, it so happens that owing to the virtue of that one illusion, a person is able to achieve the impossible in his life. However what happens when reality sets in and the illusion ceases to exist? What happens when the person realizes that the secret to his success was indeed that one illusion that he had held so close to his heart? What happens when the illusion breaks?
That is a question that I have often asked my own self incessantly through the years. Human life is centered around illusions. These illusions give the human being the will to live; the will to endure and the will to persevere. If we but introspect, we realize that all of us in our heart secretly covet a solitary illusion in our life. That one illusion is the key to all our energy; that one illusion is the key to all our efforts; it is indeed the reason for our enthusiasm and our determination.
So what happens when reality crashes this party? What happens when that solitary illusion that we so earnestly covet is shattered to pieces? The answer is simple. We falter. All our intricate plans of grandeur come to an eerie standstill. There remains within us no enthusiasm, no determination and no courage to move on with the purpose that has been ordained to us in life. As the illusion falls, so do the many real things are associated with it for long. Thus when reality checks in and drives the solitary illusion away, the illusion departs taking with itself a part of our own soul. When the illusion that we so covet within our own self, dies, with it dies a part that is associated with that illusion. With it dies a part of our own self.
As we live this life, we always feel a constant need for an obsession, a possession around which we can shape and style our life. In our heart we always yearn for an image that we could cherish and love forever. Still at some point in our life, we find out that we can never satisfy our heart and its endless thirst through these illusions. For that is what they truly are, shallow illusions, in which we try to find our happiness and our purpose of life. And if that one thing, for which we would turn away from God Himself, is lost to us, our life becomes a living fallacy.
Thus in the end, that one illusion ends up representing our entire life; the intensity with which we latch onto it only increases the grief that we experience at its end. In the end, the human being realizes that he cannot live in the absence of an illusion; in the absence of an image that would occupy his heart. Thus he moves on through this world until he finds another illusion that pleases him; one that attracts him. Besotted with this new found dream, the individual finds his love for life renewed. With great zeal and unparalleled enthusiasm, he goes ahead and accomplishes many great things. But yet as is the nature of any dream, it always fades away with time; thus does the illusion wilt away as the seasons pass in line. Again the cold winters set in and alone lies the man; wishing for naught but a dream to covet through the endless span. Such is the endless story of doom, where man in his life moves on fluidly from one illusion to another, until a day dawns when he realizes that he indeed cannot continue to live in such a way. That is the day when realization dawns; and that is day when man is reborn.
Realization is a process that follows keen self-introspection. Hence today, in the fourth episode of the second season of The Mysteries of Life, we elucidate and elaborate on the concept of introspection. What is introspection? Why is it so essential on the spiritual path? How can an individual effectively introspect and analyze his own actions? What benefits do they yield him? Listen to the following audio snippet to find the answers.
The aforementioned lines brilliantly portray the nature of human life and the intricacies that it bears within itself. We as humans are ignorant creatures in our very being. We cannot understand the minute details of anything that we perceive. Incidentally, we also fail to see the big picture. So what do we see in life? What do we see in any situation? Well the answer to that question is quite simple. We only see what we want to see; we see that which is indeed very convenient to see; and hence the true gist of any story often remains beyond the scope of our understanding.
Such is life. To understand it completely, we need to look minutely at its intricacies. At the same time, we need to be aware of where we lie in the big picture. Ultimately the intricacies of life are reflected in the big picture; and hence through conscious and relentless self-introspection, can we truly understand life. I have often looked at life and quizzed about its strange occurrences and the way in which it spans out . Often life seems nothing more than a compilation of unfinished stories. It simply seems as a chain of unfulfilled events; a series of unsatiated desires. Every time we introspect, we understand that we can never truly derive fulfillment from life; that we can never derive complete happiness from it. Why does it so happen? Why does life bring with itself a sense of unrequitedness and yearning?
As I started to introspect further into the aforementioned questions, I came upon the realization that human beings indeed have very diverse desires in life. Desires spur from impulses; and the impulses in turn are rooted in the instincts. Moreover, man is also driven to a great extent by his intellect and to a small extent by his intuition. Both in a way contribute to his desires. This makes up for a very conflicting flux of desires, wherein the instinctive desires, overbearing that they are counter the intellectual and the intuitive desires. These desires act like forces, influencing the human spirit to action. Thus the actions that the human being exerts on his part, are also conflicted.
Consequently the results that he acquires through such mixed set of actions is always incomplete. It can never be absolute and fulfilling. Thus does the human existence transform into a chain of such unfulfilled experiences on part of the seeker. Every story seems like an unfinished one, for no desire gets fulfilled in its entirety. The human being sways between the impulses generated by his random desires and thus in his life, he loses all sense of bearing and direction.
Such a misguided human being is always prone to make hazardous decisions in his life. In the end, he is bound to get nothing but perpetual regret and unhappiness. The only way out of this is to control your impulses and to watch your desires. An individual’s sense of awareness indeed needs to be so high that he can be intuitively aware of all his impulses and the varied desires that spur from them. In doing so, he would be able to willfully navigate himself away from the conflicting desires, in the end striving to fulfill those that are creative and productive.
This wholesome approach towards life, would ensure that no person would ever encounter unhappiness and despair for most of the times, our uncalculated actions alone are responsible for our turmoil. Watch your thoughts, be aware of your desires; through such willful meditation, life can indeed be a wholesome and fulfilling journey in itself.
This week we finally cap off the Conquer It Series with a discussion on what the human life is all about. Human beings are at the top of the evolutionary ladder; but where do we go from thereon? Where does our spiritual journey truly culminate? Through the days, we have talked about ways to achieve greatness. Today we but summarize all that we have discussed through out this series. Today we simply remember and acknowledge the entire scope of our wondrous journey as human beings…
The spiritual path has often been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism from the world at large. Many feel that spiritualists propagate an idyllic lifestyle that is meant to drive people away from their sense of responsibility and belonging. There are many who completely misconstrue the true motive behind spirituality. To put it simply, I would say that the true motive of spirituality is liberation. But what does liberation mean? From what would we be liberated? Are we prisoners? Why would we want to be liberated?
To find the answers to the aforementioned questions, a seeker needs to first dispassionately self-introspect. A seeker needs to go deep into meditation and question the motive behind each and every action of his. Upon doing so, and upon observing the lives of those around him, he would realize that all human lives indeed follow a similar pattern. The childhood is marked with playful ignorance; the youth with wasteful arrogance; the thirties are marked with worldly exuberance and the forties with dull indolence. Through the years, man follows the same graph of life. He keeps on doing the same things through countless incarnations. He keeps on succumbing to the same weakness through many lifetimes.
All in all what does it result in; nothing? What does the human being accomplish through this entire exercise of pointless indulgence? He accomplishes nothing. All his achievements are momentary and flitting in their very nature. His desires induce him to act and his unrequited actions bring forth with them even more desire. This ultimately results in an endless cycle of unrequited yearning on part of the human being. That same yearning indeed represents the human existence. Why would you not yearn for liberation from such a redundant and recursive way of life? Why would you not yearn for salvation?
To elucidate on what liberation truly is, I would say that it is a process that completely uplifts the spirit from the unimaginative human existence. It breaks the link that our spirit bears with our impulses and our instincts. In a way it completely annuls all the ties that bind us to our human existence. Liberation in the end achieves great things. A liberated individual is not affected by the idiosyncrasies that accompany each phase of life. A liberated individual does not follow the same graph that millions around the world do. He is born with a purpose and a greater motive than mere humans; and within himself he has the strength and the courage to successfully expedite his goals; his ambitions which are ultimately targeted towards the greater good of mankind.
Liberation in itself is a torturous process indeed. Imagine the vibrant and pulsating human existence that you have loved through countless incarnations. You love your impulses and you love your instincts. You love your weaknesses more than anything; for in a way, your weaknesses make your life worth living. However these weaknesses are the ones that bind us to the human existence; that in the end make us human. The process of liberation severs all these ties. It completely negates the instinct with the human being; and that in itself is an extremely painful process. It in only when we are free from that physical instinct that we realize how great a change it brings into our lives.
Such is liberation. Yearning for it only takes us closer to achieving it. However, to liberate oneself completely from the rot of this wretched world takes great devotion, courage and determination. That, we can only hope to gain through the grace of the Master.
In the inaugural episode of the second season of The Mysteries of Life, we elaborated on the concept of realization. Today we go ahead one step and elucidate on the concept of self-realization. Self-realization is nothing but realization that comes from within. It is complete and utter awareness of the self. Self-realization is both expansive and rare. What is self-realization? How can we experience it? How can we see beyond the illusions that surround us?
Listen to the following audio epistle to the find the answers.
In this episode of the Conquer It series, we discuss ways in which we can overcome doubt and distrust. Trust is a very important factor on the spiritual path. It also plays a great role in any worldly achievements. Trust in nothing but unconditional faith. It is faith in its purest forms. The greatest of achievements are realized only with unshaken faith. Today we learn ways in which we can preserve this genuine attribute in our heart. Today we learn as to why trust is imperative on the path that leads to success. Today we conquer the doubt that lingers within our hearts…
Life is a series of events that happen to an individual. The aforementioned epistle clearly puts forth the fact that life is nothing but a series of occurrences. These occurrences are often dealt with a poetic twist that makes us feel that life is indeed an eventful journey. As man walks through the journey of life, he experiences every event within himself. Every event creates an imprint of itself within that individual. Based on relativity and the individual’s orientation, he thus starts to derive happiness or sadness from the said event. The moods of life, in reality are just that. They are simply the reactions that our mind gives to the events that occur. They are entirely based on our orientation and our attitude towards life.
As man moves through the journey of life, he always loves to just meander aimlessly. Emotionally man loves to cradle his moods and to objectify his grief. This gives him a sense of belonging and a sense of achievement. Man in every sense of the word starts to love his grief. Not that he welcomes it, but still on his own accord, he never misses to derive it at every single chance that he gets. Eventually it so happens that instead of experiencing the joy in living every moment of his life, man starts to find ways to derive grief from every occurrence.
For any true spiritualist, it is imperative that he finds a way to overcome the moods of life. In a way he must find ways to negate the reactions that spur from the mind; find a way to rise above the occurrences of life. Only when man learns to successfully rise above the relativity of life, will he truly learn to live life in the way it was meant to be lived. That is what true spirituality essentially accomplishes.
However in our day to day scenario, we often see that man loves his mood swings. He loves to be angry; he loves to be sad; he loves to be happy and he loves to be mad. Why? Many people would say that these moods are what truly define life; that our emotions truly define us as humans. Well I would say that all our moods end up with accomplishing is that they diminish our potential. They deter our evolution and they embroil us in the redundant and recursive way of life that the human existence epitomizes.
In reality, our moods and our emotions act as the connection between our soul and our karma. That is the reason why every single occurrence that happens to us comes with a reaction from within. That is the reason as to why every single emotion has its trigger set in an occurrence. Our emotions and our sentiments bind us to our karma; and thus if we are to truly be free of it, we must accept our karma with zero reaction. We must accept every occurrence of life with graciousness and peace in our heart. When the torrent of our emotions and our moods subsides, what shall remain is peace. And in the end; that sense of inner peace and that sense of inner satisfaction would take us beyond all the illusions of life. That state of being would then end the series of events that happen to us and then we would finally proceed towards complete and utter emancipation of the soul from the journey of life…
In the inaugural episode of Season Two of The Mysteries of Life audio series, we shed light on one of the most debated topics pertaining to true spirituality. Through ages, men have talked about realization, about attaining enlightenment and spiritual knowledge. How do these three differ in their very essence? What is realization? Is it a stage of spiritual evolution ? or is it an endless process of spiritual awareness? In the first episode of this season, we make an attempt to find an answer to those questions. Stay tuned; the search for enlightenment has finally begun…:)
A Spiritual Revolution added to Articles. Embracing Reality added to Articles. Rebellion added to Articles. The State of Liberation added to Articles. Hypocrisy in Spirituality added to Articles. Pointless Spirituality added to Articles. Two Bytes of Life added to Articles. Change, Consistency & Success added to Articles.
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May 14, 2010 5:33 pm | 
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