Man often lives his life in the pursuit of desire. It is the innate craving that he bears in his hearts that at times makes him willfully strive through the worst phases of his life. Indeed man’s desires dictate the course of his life. We often say that desires are something that should necessarily be overcome; that desires end up being the greatest hurdle in man’s eternal spiritual quest to be one with The Great One; however we often overlook the fact that indeed in the materialistic world, it is only desire that drives, sustains and accomplishes the dream.
Spirituality is essentially a journey of evolution; and evolution itself is a journey of time. It is a journey that takes eons to complete. Indeed the spiritual evolution itself takes thousands of lifetimes before the soul can truly be at one with the super-soul. However to evolve spiritually one has to pass through the land of dreams; through the mortal world. Thus in a way the seeker who seeks to go beyond all the illusory dreams of life has to do it whilst being a part of that dream himself. That in itself creates a certain paradox in the life of the aspiring seeker. Being part of the mortal world, he is forced by instinct to be drive by desire and yet his intuition constantly ends up reminding him that what he is mindlessly running after; that desire itself is but a dream.
However the seeker knows that if he is to truly evolve, he needs to chase that dream; he needs to fulfill that desire for it is only then that he shall truly learn its illusory nature. It is only after the seeker achieves all that he aspires; it is only after the seeker fulfills all his materialistic ambitions, would he finally realize the sheer pointlessness of having desired those things in the first place. That is how it goes. The process in itself seems to be recursive and long; however it brings with itself great realization. The realization brings with itself great wisdom and that wisdom alone is a sign of the spiritual blessings that the seeker receives from the masters.
So coming back to the point at hand, it indeed seems that contentment would in a way kill the process of evolution in a seeker; that satisfaction would in a way douse the passion that the seeker bears in his heart. Resultantly it would only end up making him uncreative and un-productive, taking him further away from the reality of life. It is only through deep passion that something extra-ordinary is achieved. Hence today I say to you, if for once you find that your heart is filled with a million desires and with passion so great that you find no peace, it is indeed a good thing. For that very passion and those desires, would help you make more creative and more productive than ever; and in the end the understanding that would arise when the passion is doused by the waters of realization would be something that shall last for eternity. The wisdom that you would get when the dream comes crashing down around you would indeed yield you great peace; for then would you have truly renounced the dream.
People hardly realize this, but renunciation is something that arises out of desire. It is only when you achieve all that you desire and realize that it is truly worthless indeed; that is when you renounce it and that is when you move a step closer towards shedding your own illusory garb. Renunciation is something that comes on its own accord; you cannot force it. Hence today I say to thee that the path to dreamlessness indeed lies through the dreams; the path to renunciation lies through incessant craving; the journey of being dispassionate commences through being incredibly passionate; and the journey towards realization comes from deep ignorance. It is ironical indeed; but that is how life works…
Cheers. 🙂
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.
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.
Throughout his spiritual journey, the seeker and the skeptic alike are faced with one question. What lies at the end of the spiritual quest? What does the seeker gain upon gaining realization? What is the final frontier in the journey of life that a spiritualist spans in this world? The aforementioned questions have varied answers. They differ according to the singular path of every individual seeker. However there is one reality, one truth and one consciousness that is common to all ends. Today we elaborate and elucidate on that one thing that lies beyond the journey of realization…
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…:)
The spiritual world is a world that is inhabited by many kinds of people. Some who are pretenders; whilst a few who are genuine contenders. The intermingling of such people hence leads many seekers to delusional ends; as often one ends up following someone with a preconceived notion of his greatness. Then when the seeker realizes that the person that he idolizes or follows is indeed not that virtuous or that spiritually endowed he becomes despondent. Most of the times, this leads him to turn into a skeptic, as he starts to harbor a sentiment of distrust for the path. The reason as to why this happens is primarily due to the fact that people hardly ever make a distinction between knowledge, realization and wisdom.
The three aforementioned attributes; though they may appear as similar are inherently different in their essence. Strictly with respect to the spiritual world, the difference between a realized soul, a wise master and a knowledgeable person is vast. But before we start to make the distinction between these three attributes, we first need to address the difference that exists between knowledge and information. Information is something that anyone can gain out of reading a few books and listening to a few dissertations. Information is hardly of any practical use, as the one possessing it hardly knows how to apply it in his real life. Simply put, one may know how an airplane stays in the air, but if you were to be asked by someone to make a prototype of that airplane, you would be hardly able to do so; the reason being that you have the information pertaining to the process and not the complete knowledge of the same. Information is the easiest thing to procure, and hence in today’s world, one can see many pretenders who try and collect as much information as possible to make it appear as if they possess knowledge.
Knowledge is something that is gained out of experience. It is when one puts the information that one has to action, that he derives true knowledge. The essence of true knowledge is that it is extremely valuable and hard to procure. A knowledgeable person is thus one who is truly of any real use to a seeker. However there are some fundamental drawbacks to knowledge itself. Knowledge brings with itself great pride and self-esteem. A person who acquires knowledge, is automatically elevated in the eyes of his peers; and hence he starts to cultivate within himself a strong sentiment of all-pervading, all-conquering pride. He starts to think that he indeed knows it all. That is essentially the reason of his downfall; for once he thinks that he is complete, he can no longer acquire knowledge in its truest essence; and thus he becomes complacent in all walks of life. The resultant downfall however is a precursor to the realization that follows.
Realization is something that follows a bitter downfall. Realization is inherently something that man acquires, after he lives through the worst days of his life. This is simply owing to the fact that in those days, he truly realizes that all his perceived knowledge; all his delusional greatness is indeed of no particular substance; that it is of no particular use. Thus realization brings with itself a deep sense of humility and understanding, which truly gives a divine sheen to the knowledge that the seeker bears. Realization in the end also forces the seeker to look beyond his own self; for through self-introspection, he realizes that his true self is indeed not what he perceives it to be. Thus when the realized seeker, lives through his life, with that constant bearing in his heart, only with a genuine desire and craving to be benevolent, he then acquires the divine grace that finally takes him towards wisdom.
In the end, wisdom is something that is gained through realization. When the realization seeps in infinitely and the seeker then starts to live his life in complete harmony with God, it is then that he truly becomes wise. It is only when the seeker goes beyond all despair, regret and fear, that he can truly be called as a wise person. One cannot gain wisdom. It is wisdom that arrives on its own accord. Thus it can be truly regarded as the ultimate stage in human evolution.
‘God’; this single word brings to our minds a myriad of visuals. The moment we hear that word, we on our own accord try and visualize how God would look like; how he would speak like; how indeed would he think like. God has indeed been the most researched and the most misunderstood phenomenon in history. I use the word researched, for indeed there have been individuals who have been besotted with the enigmatic persona of divine power that is God. Men have often spent lives on end, trying to decipher God, trying to understand him, trying in vain to prove him. However, the only thing that they could accomplish was to realize him.
Realization is like a flash of brilliance in the darkness of the human mind. It is a flash that takes place with instantaneous cognition of the whole; simply put, you just know it all; however that does not necessarily mean that you understand it. There is a big difference between knowing something and understanding something; and realization comes in the realm of knowing things. Realization is ultimately centered on knowing things through experience. It is like tasting honey and then recommending it to others. All you can do is you can tell them that it is sweet; but beyond that you cannot prove the reason as to why it is so; the reason as to why it is so good. However a man of knowledge would aptly describe the sweetness of honey as being derived from sucrose irrespective of the possibility that he might not have even tasted it beforehand. Thus knowledge can impress someone, while realization merely expresses. To each, his own, but impressions can hardly capture within themselves the divine sweetness of life.
Thus we come to expressing God. When God is merely expressed, he is expressed as a personification of an all pervading divine power that acts in goodness; and that is the way that we should behold him; for indeed that is the only way in which we are capable of seeing him. If I were to impress upon you the true nature of God; his true form as is derived from the path of knowledge, it would hardly be of any use. The human intellect can only store within itself a finite amount of information. Mathematics can tell you the story of finiteness; of numbers. To impress upon that puny, finite intellect, the true nature of God, would be impossible, for it is indeed something that is purely infinite; and hence beyond the scope of impression.
But still to put in simply, one would say that God is nothing but the sum integral of all the energy in the cosmos. The consciousness that drives the great universe; the relativity which reigns supreme on the entire cosmic dream; the underwritten law that governs every single act of occurrence in the universe; all that put together and more in the end constitute God. God is a phenomenon that has no beginning and has no end; hence to know it, one would himself have to be like God; to be as large as God; as magnanimous as God; as universal as God; as endearing as God; as merciful as God; as loving as God. Only then would the human being realize that which is infinite; by breaking out of the human chains of finiteness; by breaking out of the human bonds of desire and weakness, finally cognizing and realizing the self to be but a expression of mirth; an expression of God. Then will the human being know God, and only then will he be able to suitable impress upon himself the true image of God; for then he would be the mystery himself and then there would be no mystery anymore.
“When we know what God is, we shall be Gods, ourselves”, George Bernard Shaw once said. However, you can only know God, by realizing him first. Thus today must we make a bid, to not try and know Him; to not try and understand Him; to not try and prove Him. Today we must simply try and worship Him; try and devote ourselves to Him; try and go beyond ourselves to search for Him; for in that way, we shall truly realize Him.
May we all taste that divine nectar one day…thus I pray…
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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August 30, 2010 7:32 am | 
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