Thousands of years ago, humanity flowered. Existence and humanity became one. This gave birth to the flowering of the human mind. It did what existence wanted it to be. Like a flower flowers and dies. It has a purposeless purpose. Choice-less choice. Yogis called it “Sahastrara” (thousand petals lotus flowering). Vedas described it as Brahman. Oneness with existence was what the purpose of this purposeless life. Sat-Chitt-Ananda (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss). The joy of being.
For the next 10,000 years, the truth, that-which-is, was the purpose of humanity. A place in the whole world which became the epicentre of the truth was called Brahma. Brahma was a search for a quest to know the truth. A search to know that-which-is. No matter anywhere on earth you lived, if you had the thirst to know the truth, You would be called Brahman. Brahma was not a physical place but a place higher in the conscious cosmos.
The whole purpose of Brahman was to find out that-which-is. For thousands of years millions and millions attained to that purposeless purpose. Millions immersed into that space-less space of Brahma. Millions dipped in holy waters, pigmented their bodies, wore orange white black green robes and practised the way that was prescribed to them in scriptures holy books.
Bharat is the land that engaged itself in the search, the quest of Brahma for thousands of years uninterruptedly. It has been the epicentre of mysticism of the world. Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Adinath, Adi Shankara, Bodhidharma, Chaitnaya, Nanak, Gorakh, Kabir, Farid, Dadu, Mira, Nimbarka, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Ram Tirtha, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Osho, J. Krishnamurti… the list is endless. India keeps on creating mystics and enlightened ones even to this day.
When a Westerner looks at Indians, he is mystified to know why millions of people waste their time sitting beside the river, under the tree, in mountains, at holy places wasting their lifetime doing nothing. To a Western mind time is money or to go after the objects is money. Western mind creates sciences and technologies that make wealth. But Indian mind is engaged in the quest to be free from all that.
Buddha said, “One has to be free from the self.” You are the bondage. You have enslaved your-self. Unless you are free from yourself, there is no freedom. Freedom comes from making yourself absolute free from your mind. That’s what Buddha calls Nirvana (Enlightenment). That is the real freedom. If you are free. No one can enslave you. Freedom from slavery is the freedom from your own slavery. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, “No arm can cut it, No fire can burn it.”
Man has all the freedom. But what has he done with freedom. Choice is freedom of choice. In fact, you begin to doubt existence in choosing. But existence’s choiceless choice is freedom. Your choice prevents freedom. It creates conflict. Whether freedom is outside of you or inside you. Let’s explore.
To be free you have to come back to you. You don’t have to go out and explore the world. You have to explore within you. When you go out. You believe in outer exploration, you believe in things of the world. You begin doubting that which is. That-which-is is, and that-which-isnot is not. But in that-which-is-not, you create doubt in that-which-is. You create your misery. Roots take the ground. New leafs grow in the roots of doubting. Doubting the creation. Doubting that-which-is. One doubt creates infinite thoughts.
Thought is like a piece of cloth you wear to cover your body. Thought covers your-self. In thought you travel in time and create space to travel. You create logic and effort that creates conflict. You create beautiful thoughts like God. God is your own thought. It comes from your doubt that you believe in it or don’t. Belief is that you are a Hindu, Muslim, Christian and so on. But it is also a thought I am Hindu is a thought of my belief. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.” You are a doer. You need a thought to be a doer. You want to be something is a thought. Thought comes from doubting the real you.
Someone asked Bhikku, “What is the difference between a theist and an atheist?” Bhikku replied, “No difference! Neither of them knows whether God is there or not there. But they are enslaved by their own thoughts. For a theist to be true, God has to show up. For an atheist to be true God has to show up.” Belief also needs proof, as does disbelief. Belief is rootless. The more you are afraid of losing something, the stronger your thought starts believing in it. One who sees his true self does not need proof. It needs eyes. Buddha calls it Avlokitta (one who sees the false as false with open eyes), Mahavira calls it Shradhan (Total seeing & believing-a state where one has seen that which is of oneself.
Like you don’t say that you believe in the Sun. But you know Sun is there. Doubt drops like dead ash when you confront the truth. In knowing that-which-is, no thought comes to bridge you to things of the world. In knowing that-which-is the Sun of true-self witness rises, Vedas call it Sat-Chit-Anand (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss). The Joy of Being.
You are. You are part of thatwhich-is. You are God yourself; Vedas call it “Ahm Brahmasmi” (I am the God). This awakening that you are is there in you. You cannot say that you are not there. Even to say that you are not there, you have to be, because who are you making yourself understand, you only. This awakening in you needs to be deepened.
Don’t read books about God or keep on exploring God in the outside world. You will end up being a poor believer. Explore yourself. Once it happened a German scholar who read Vedas and Upnishadas came to Ramana Maharishi and said: “I have come to you from very far. I have come to learn from you.” Ramana Maharishi said, “You go elsewhere, because we don’t teach anything here that you will learn.” Learning about the world is something that you again go into the world. Ramana says, “Ask yourself who you are.” Once a young man came to Ramana Maharishi and asked him to make him his disciple. Ramana said, “First you know who you are.” The young man asked Ramana, “Who am I?” Ramana said, “This question you are asking me. Go ask this question from yourself.”
Just look at who is there inside you. Use a small technique. Experience that-which-is inside you right now. Ask yourself a simple question: “Who am I?” Keep repeating this question. Let the reply come from inside: That ‘I am’. Make ‘I am’ part of your breath. Keep repeating ‘I am’ verbally for half an hour. Then keep repeating ‘I am’ without speaking it verbally for half an hour. A state will appear where there will be no mind, no thoughts. Remain with this state for some time. That’s the first glimpse of Sat-Chitt-Ananda (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss). The Joy of Being. The ultimate freedom.
The author is a spiritual coach and independent advisor on policy, governance, and leadership. He can be reached at arunavlokitta@gmail.com.