Paradox

Life is a great mix-up of all things known to man; and most of the times it turns out to be the things that man doesn’t know about that end up influencing his life the most and directing his decisions towards it. Spirituality brings a man closer to realizing that unknown part of himself whilst realizing life in order to make it a more wholesome experience. In the end spirituality bridges the gap between the illusion and reality thus seeking to bridge the paradox that always exists in a man’s life. However this only happens at the end of the journey, where there remains no duality within the man himself; in the run-up to this elusive stage, a seeker is always faced with multitude questions pertaining to life and the illusions that surround him.

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The spiritual journey in the end aims at bringing man out of the duality and out of the paradox that surrounds him. A paradox is nothing but a state of utter confusion wherein the seeker cannot distinguish between the illusion and reality; moreover paradox is a state of mind, wherein the seeker, having realized part of the indeterminable truth is besotted by it; whilst being in a state of utter confusion. In such a situation, it becomes hard for the seeker to truly enjoy either things; it becomes exceedingly difficult for him to truly relish the pleasures that the illusions offer as deep down he knows that these illusions are nothing but shallow dreams that would melt away once the time came; however being immersed in those illusions, the seeker cannot get a true grasp of reality; and thus he cannot completely submerse himself in the truly liberating and blissful experience of meditation.

The reason why the seeker completely loses all heading or sense of purpose in these times is that he is indeed at the crossroads of life, wherein he has seen some part of the unimaginable truth, but has not yet seen it all; and yet all through his life he has lived through the illusions of life that cling onto him thus keeping him away from realizing that truth. Thus caught in the midst of the maya and brahma, the seeker completely loses all sense of bearing and despairs. This in turn ends up making his life more and more miserable.

The thing to realize in the midst of all this confusion is indeed one principle; relativity. What the seeker doesn’t realize that as long as he lives in the midst of the illusions, he has to acknowledge them as real, for he himself is naught but an illusion. There are many layers of impregnable maya that surround the seeker; and in a way, the seeker tries to realize the brahma through the maya whilst trying to hold onto the maya itself. This inherently hampers the seeker’s progress towards liberation.

We have to realize that spirituality does not deal with absolutes. The only absolute necessity that it states is that seeker be happy unconditionally. When man reaches that stage; as in when he realizes the way to be unconditionally happy every single moment of his life, he achieves liberation; beyond that there is no brahma and no form of maya can indeed replace that triumphant moment of self-realization, which is absolute bliss.
Thus the only way to move beyond this paradox of illusion and reality is to not incessantly think about it; but to just be aware of it. Know the illusion to be but an illusion and the truth to be nothing but so. Both have their relative importance in life and beyond the paradox that lies amidst the two, lies the true destination that we are all seeking to reach; the spiritual heaven of liberation and self-realization.

Rejoice and be Complete…

Love,
Aj

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The Illusion of Life

Life is indeed a great journey of sorts. It takes us through the varied experiences that constitute countless interactions with the people around us. All through this journey it makes us consciously believe in its own existence. It makes us consciously believe in its own realness. Such is life. At times, while living through life, it really does occur to me that our true identity and our true nature are both lost amidst the different experiences that we get in this world. In a way the illusions of life completely transform and mutate our own spirits until we no longer resemble the individuals that we once were.

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Now maybe this change is a good thing; maybe it’s not. It all depends on how you choose to look at it. Upon closer introspection, a man realizes that even that change is not permanent. The illusion of life makes him put upon himself masks upon mask; and yet every time, he encounters a new situation; every time he goes through a new experience, his personality is altered and he dons another mask. The mask is nothing but a gloriously vain attempt at impressing upon the world the fact that “YES, I am the way you want me to be!” Living through the illusion of life, thus man himself starts to become an illusion.

Now maybe being an illusion is a good thing; maybe it’s not. It all depends on how you choose to look at it. Every illusion has its own advantages and disadvantages. Every illusions yields you some real things; things that are indeed of great value in the eyes of this world. Yet when that same illusion ends and reality sets back in, you start to realize that there was something within yourself that was lost in that illusion; that there was something real which went away. This is simply owing to the fact that every illusion has its roots in real things. When that very illusion is uprooted from its very existence, it takes away with itself some part of reality. That is why the loss of any illusion pains us beyond measure.

Now maybe pain is a good thing; maybe it’s not. It all depends on how you choose to look at it. But upon closer introspection, man realizes that pain is an inseparable part of his mortal existence. Man starts to realize that as long as he lives as a mere man, he is bound to suffer pain and misery in life. But fairly speaking, pain is an essential part of life; for it brings an individual closer to reality than anything else. We can never acknowledge reality in times when we are happy. In that phase of mind, all we yearn for are illusions; illusions that make us feel nice and happy inside. However in pain and misery, we are forced acknowledge reality; we are forced to deny the illusions; in a way we are forced to realize the truth.

Indeed pain is realization. Pain is acceptance of reality and pain ultimately is the price for every illusion. Thus being the grandest illusion of them all, life itself yields us pain and misery in the end. Many may perceive this article to be pessimistic and highly depressive. However it is always better to acknowledge the reality of life rather than the reality acknowledging you. It is always better that you get onto the bus, before the bus gets onto you. The gist of this entire journey would thus be; that even though the illusion of life may force you to become an illusion yourself, never ever lose the touch with reality. That would create a conducive balance between the illusions of your life and the reality that you seek within. Such a balance would ensure that you not only win through in the battle of life, but in the end, within yourself you find lasting peace.

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