Man is burdened with shaping his life. But can life be shaped by man? Or does life shape man? What we think is the shape of life is not so at all. Life is like passing through somewhere in a train. We say that we lived as a child, a young person and grew old. We say that “I was there from the beginning till the end”. But what we don’t know is whether we can call it life. So, we understand life as our desires. For instance, we say that we have to shape a great life or a ‘better’ life for ourselves. We understand that life will be shaped by something that we think will happen. We understand that our lives are running fast. But what are we really saying?
We may be saying that this life is something other than us. We may say that receiving what will come tomorrow—that which we do not have in our hands yet—that is life. Or we may say that to live is life. Or maybe that what we have been blessed with, that is life. So, what is life actually?
Questions about life often come to us, and we begin thinking: is this life or is that life? Is life like a bird sitting on a branch—something to catch or to marvel at? What do we mean when we say that we won’t get this life again? What is life and what is living? When are we living and when are we dead?
We say that we are living life, but do we know that we are living? What then is living—is it having and being in a body, or waking up daily in the morning and going to sleep at night, or, as many like to think, is thinking the same as living? Is the one who thinks, living, or is the one who lives, thinking? Maybe life is the attainment of knowledge. With that which is to be known, I can know this life. That makes me the ‘knower’ of life. Or with that which is to be known, I can live this life. With that which is to be known, we see the sight of light. But what is the key to knowing that, to attain the sight of light?
In fact, to be in life is life. And I am. It is to be surrounded by the dance of nature—of the universe. All the things in nature and in the universe are there with us. Plants and animals, trees and birds, green pastures and the vast sky and the blue oceans and millions of other things in the universe—they are all there. And all of them are there as they are, happening in the being. So, their happening in the being is life. But am I here? Is man here or is he somewhere else?
The dilemma of man is that he is neither here nor there, but somewhere else. But then where is he? Being here is life. So, can he be here? Life is in the ‘beingness’ of life. And I am here in each moment, continuously, endlessly, always. But when I am here in the being in every moment, then how does the feeling of not being arise? Man has lost the sense of being. The absence of that sense is why he feels that he is always somewhere else. I am somewhere else—but still I am. And I ask whether life is also here? Am I living or am I dead? Or am I the one who does not die?
What is this life? In this life, if I am, then I am as everything else is. That is life. The sight of light will open up to you when you come to know that which I am and that which I am not. That I am and will be, always. We don’t have to go anywhere to find this. We don’t have to take any long journeys to go far or come nearer. Nearness is the distance which becomes infinite in the being. That which is God is both farther than the farthest and nearer than the nearest. Because ‘that which is’ is myself and I am the one observing in total relaxation, seated on that eternal majestic seat which cannot be shaken. If your mind tries to find yourself, it would take aeons because you would be stressed about life. And when you will leave all that you thought was life—your desires, thoughts, gods, rituals, religions and karma—then you will come where I am. And where I am is in the being, where only beingness remains and I don’t. That is what is called life.
Life is not like a bird sitting on a branch—it is like you being the bird, being in the beingness. So, don’t say that you will shape your life because life is what shapes you. In fact, this life has already shaped you. There is nothing to be shaped out of life. The shape already exists. Thinking of how you have to shape life and how you are shaping your life will only cause you anxiety and paranoia.
Life is and you are. You are there in it. You are life. You don’t have to shape life. Your mind does not have to shape a life around you with its thoughts. Where you walk is life, what you say is life, what you hear is life, and what you touch is life. You put yourself into life at every moment. You are both the musician and the music of life. You are the dancer and also the dance of life. The dancer and the dance cannot be separated, and the moment you separate them, the dance is no more. So, just be and enjoy life by being in the beingness of it. Life has already shaped you..
The author is a spiritual coach and an independent advisor on policy, governance and leadership. He can be contacted at arunavlokitta@gmail.com.