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People pray to God in so many different ways, and through
so many different faiths, but still the suffering never seems to end. The Christian goes to church every Sunday, the
Jew goes to the Synagogue, the Buddhist and Hindu go to the temple,
and the Muslim to the Mosque. Some
pray once a week, others once a day, and some 5 times a day, but the
suffering, cruelty, intolerance, and selfishness go on increasing minute
by minute, hour by hour, and day by day.
Why?
Human beings may have good intentions, but without
knowledge of the soul (Atam-Gyan), without knowledge of our True Nature,
we will continue to victimize ourselves and others.
‘Knowing our religion’ is not enough.
We need to know ourselves. To
know ourselves we need to have an open mind and a pure heart. With our mind and heart we need to know our
Essence, we need to realize our True Self.
Until we know our True Self, we will remain selfish and self-involved.
As long as we are selfish and self-involved we will continue to suffer
and remain confused and unhappy, regardless how much we know about the
ways of the world, the tenets of our religion, the arts and sciences,
or whatever.
What ‘we have become’ is NOT what we really are. What
we are, what we really are,
is the pure, indestructible, divine spirit—ATMAN, soul, Real Self. What do we mean by ‘divine?’ We mean that which is not a product of nature
or the mind—it is that which is beyond both mind and matter; it is pure
Consciousness devoid of all superimpositions.
As long as our mind is filled with images, and we are busy imposing
our images on others, we remain separated from God—or you can say Allah,
or Jesus, or Buddha, or whatever you like to call it.
We like to call it the Essence, or the Absolute, or simply ‘the
Truth.’ The Truth is within the
heart of every man, woman, and child living on this planet Earth. But
unfortunately, few people grasp the Truth because few people really
take hold of their own mind. Our
mind has been raised as a Christian, Hindu, Jew, or Muslim; or maybe
as a Buddhist, a Pagan, or an atheist.
Our mind has been molded according to our limited experiences.
Most of us are copycats of our parents, our culture, and our
friends. We have learned how
to imitate others, but very few of us have broken out of the shackles
of our own bias and limited perception.
We need to take hold of our own mind and become artists
of life. We should shape our
mind into something that is beautiful.
A beautiful mind, a beautiful heart, is one that is free of any
animosity, hatred, fear, cruelty, bias, and superficiality.
When we shape our mind to become like our True Self, our mind
becomes pure and unselfish. But
as long as our mind is dominated by ego, we remain a slave to our desires,
moods, bad memories, and false feelings.
It is self deception to think that we can change the
world when we can’t even change our own mind.
One might conquer the hearts of others through eloquent speech
and crafty debate, but if one hasn’t conquered himself he is simply
a propaganda tool of his own little ego.
We might convince ourselves that we are right, and
we might even convince others too, but if we are ignoring the Truth
then we are only self-righteous fools.
The fact is we have been ignoring the Truth our whole
life and that is why we remain ignorant of our Real Nature. If we were NOT ignorant, we would NOT be looking
outside of ourselves for happiness—we would realize that the Truth,
which is all-pervading, is certainly within ourselves. Only divine wisdom can make us certain of the
Truth—and religion is NO substitute
for divine wisdom. Religion
is manmade and parochial, whereas divine wisdom is eternal and universal. When we become wise, we know for certain what
is right and wrong. But we also
know that we cannot ‘make others know’, we cannot ‘know for others’;
just as we cannot eat or drink for someone else, or we cannot breath
for someone else, or love for someone else.
As the tree is laden with delicious fruits, or the reservoir
is filled with pure water, or just as the air is all around us, in the
same way love is universal and the Truth is all-pervading and accessible
to all, but it is up to each of us to accept it of our own accord.
Some persons deliberately reject the truth and embrace
falsehood, knowing full well that what they do is wrong and will surely
lead to no good. But most people
are just ignorant like little children and simply need some guidance. If possible, we should guide others to the truth,
but we cannot force anyone to accept the truth. You can guide the horse to the river, but you
cannot make the horse to drink from the river. Similarly, by walking
the path of truth ourselves, we may be able to lead others to the truth,
but we can never ‘make’ anyone accept the truth.
“The Truth will set you free.” This is a familiar saying, but what does it
really mean? Free from what?
What is the Truth and where is it found?
Is the Truth found in religion?
Entire volumes have been written to answer these simple questions,
and there is little, if anything, that we can add in this short article. So, let us conclude with the following:
The Truth is, you ARE free.
You are free from your
mind, your body, and your ego.
You are boundless, so how could you be bound?
It is only the mind that is bound, and it is the mind that must be
set free.
You are Real, and the Real can never become unreal.
Neither can the unreal ever become Real.
Only the mind is becoming, or unbecoming:
But you are eternally the same, changeless, beautiful self.
You are free from old age, decay and death.
You are unborn and can never die.
It is only the body that grows old and falls away.
You remain established in your own Real Nature,
But the nature of the mind is unstable—until the mind is established
in Truth.
The mind flickers and fluctuates as it flirts with the gross world
of matter.
But the mind shines and glows when it is connected to Pure Consciousness.
Beauty they say is in the eyes of the beholder, but the Truth is
in the eye of the mind.
If the mind does not perceive the Truth, the Truth does not stop
shining, but the mind cannot shine without the Truth.
If the mind is blind to the Truth, the mind will destroy the body
in which it lives.
That which outlives the mind and body both, that is the Truth.
When the Truth is realized in the mind while living in the body,
The mind is freed from the death of the body and remains established
in the Truth.
The Truth is all-pervading and eternal.
The Truth is Absolute; it is not dependent on anything or anyone—not
on religion or prophets, not on places or people, not on things or
ideas.
But the peace of mind is dependent on the Truth, for without the
Truth the mind can have no permanent happiness.
The Truth is everywhere, but we cannot find the Truth by looking
everywhere with our mind—we have to turn the mind within.
When the mind grasps the Truth within, the mind will perceive the
Truth everywhere.
Through that mind, established in Truth, we experience our own True
Nature and are extremely, extremely happy.
When the mind is established in Truth, our life is full and our purpose
(of living) is fulfilled.
OM Shanti Shanti Shanti OM
Peace, Peace, Peace be unto All.
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