REALIZE THE TRUTH
Since we know that Religion is just a kindergarten to Spirituality, should we not stop now to realize the Truth? Should we not make a sincere effort to overcome the ignorance in which we are deeply sinking? If we truly love God and want to realize God, become one with the Master, then it’s time to realize the Truth.
Human beings are gifted with an intellect
If we enquire, we will find that we human beings are the only creatures on planet earth who are gifted with an intellect. Why is this so? Because we are supposed to use it to discriminate and to realize the Truth. We are supposed to differentiate between the myth and the Truth and come to the final conclusion about God.
Although we are the rare ones who are specially gifted with this instrument called the intellect, we don’t use it to realize the Truth. We become slaves of ME, the Mind and Ego and we live and die in ignorance. Why is this so? It is because the mind which we think is king and is everything is actually our biggest enemy. Along with the ego, it stops us from realizing the Truth. It is the mind that lets us blindly follow the religious doctrines, which is not the right thing to do. If we want to realize the Truth, we must go beyond Religion on a Spiritual journey to realize God.
The mind is a monkey. Kill it!
The mind is a monkey. It thinks up to 50,000 thoughts a day. Because of this constant thinking, we are caught in the myth of life and we are unable to use the intellect to discriminate. The intellect needs the mind to slow down if it must work effectively. But the mind is a monkey, it jumps from thought to thought. It does not let us contemplate in silence. If we really want to realize the Truth, then we must transcend the mind. Before the mind kills us, we should kill it, otherwise, we will just live and die without realizing the Truth.
The mind is provoked by our five senses. The sense organs are deeply rooted in the world or Samsara and are craving material things. In this journey of constant desires, we need God and our Religion promises us that it is “God” who will fulfill all our desires, just as God will solve all our problems. So, we get trapped in this craving, seeking and praying and our mind keeps us imprisoned by the myth and superstitions of Religion, without helping us discriminate and realize the Truth.
Ask questions about God
If we truly want to find God and want to realize God, then we must ask questions about God. Where is the God we are praying to? Is God actually made of skin and bone or is God something else? Is the God of our Religion actually God of this universe or is there something missing? We need a raging curiosity to ask questions if we want to ultimately realize the Truth about God.
Every Religion says its God is the God of the universe. Does this make sense? We should ask which God is the real God, which scripture is the real scripture and we should be able to use the intellect to differentiate between myth and Truth. It’s not so difficult, if only we make up our mind to realize the Truth and use the intellect to help us do so.
Religions tell us that we must do so many things to please God. We must even offer God our money, our wealth. We need to use our intellect to discriminate and to ask, does God need our money or just our love and devotion? Why would God want our money? What would God do with our money? We must be smart to differentiate and to understand the Truth.
Whatever Religion we belong to, there are many theories in each Religion that are supposed to lead us to our God. There are theories related to the origin of God and the power of God, and also how to pray to God. There are many such Religions that we need to investigate. We need to ask questions and probe each thing that does not make sense.
God is birthless, just as God is deathless. If our Religion talks of the birth of God or the death of God, we need to find out, we need to ask who actually dies. God cannot be born or die in the real sense. Yes, God may manifest as somebody who seems to be born and seems to die. But the Truth is very clear that God is never born, nor can God ever die. God is a Power. It is this Power that makes us come alive at birth and it is this very Power that causes death when it leaves. Those who realize the Truth, realize that the Spirit is God. Without God, we are nothing.
When will we realize the Truth? It is only when we ask questions and investigate every religious theory that we will overcome the myth. We should not be embarrassed or ashamed to question the theories of our Religion. After all, we are not trying to condemn it. We are trying to go beyond our Religion to realize God. For such a noble objective, there is no harm in questioning the dogmas of our Religion until we ultimately find God. Some Religions may consider this blasphemy but this should not stop us from our quest.
To realize the Truth, we must stop, ask questions and investigate. We cannot blindly believe. For instance, the law of Karma. What is the guarantee that such a law exists? It is based on universal laws that run the universe. If somebody told you that they planted mangoes, but they got apples, would you believe it? Of course not! Because the universal law states, as you sow so shall you reap. It is a universal law that we get what we give. Such is the law of Karma! Due to this law, not only are our present circumstances decided, but the very birth of a person gets controlled by their past actions. However, it is not easy to understand all this without the help of a Spiritual Master.
Importance of a Spiritual Master
To realize the Truth, we need a Spiritual Master. Just as we need a good teacher to help us graduate and get our Masters, we need a good Master to help us evolve Spiritually. This Master is often referred to as a GURU, one who takes us from ‘GU’ or darkness to ‘RU’ or light. We need a Spiritual coach, a learned wise sage who can help us realize the Truth.
How else can we bust the myth of Religion? As kids, we grow up and we are embedded in the belief systems that we are taught. Now to unlearn the myth, we need some learned person who can make us understand what the myth is and what the Truth is. Otherwise, we will just believe in the lie until we die.
However, we must be very careful of the Spiritual Master that we choose, otherwise, it may be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. If we get a Spiritual Master who misleads us, then we are going to reach nowhere. We want a Spiritual Master who can help us realize the Truth. A Master will guide us on how to activate our intellect and use it, how to live with discrimination seeking the Truth, how to discipline our body and mind that imprison us, how to live with detachment and dispassion and ultimately, how to pray and show our love for God.
We are so caught in the doctrine of Religion that we don’t question whether it is right or wrong. Our Guru or Spiritual Master is the one who will mould us, teach us, make us understand what the Truth is. He will help us discriminate and reach the Ultimate Truth. He will show us how to live a life of meaning and purpose. He will show us a way to God and to escape from suffering and be liberated. Thus, it becomes a key challenge in our life to find the right Guru, the appropriate Spiritual Master who can lead us to God.
Read in-between the lines
Most unfortunately, we human beings trust our Religion blindly and the priests and the saints who advocate it. We don’t read in-between the lines. We finally realize the myth only when we search for the Truth. When Religion tells us something, we need to delve deeper and ask how and why. We should not follow it blindly. If there is something illogical, we must question and demand an explanation. Of course, we cannot define God, but we can question every ritual and ceremony that our Religion advocates. This will help us to ultimately reach our goal of God-Realization.
It starts with Self-Realization
How will we realize God? It starts with self-realization. Once we realize the self, we can then realize God. We must go on a quest to discover who we are and why we are here. This is called self-realization. Once we are self-realized and know who we are, then we go on to the next step of God-Realization. We will find out who God is, where God is and what God is. Of course, this is possible if we follow the path – first, starting with our Religion, then going on a quest asking questions, till we ultimately realize the Truth and God
Discover what we are not
Self-realization means knowing the Truth of who we are. To know this, we must first discover who we are not. Are we the body? Of course not! The body is constantly changing, our cells are dying and are being reborn. How can we be something that is constantly changing? We must realize that we are not the body.
Are we the mind? If we try to find the mind, we can’t. We can discover our eyes, nose, ears and even our heart and brain through an X-ray, but we cannot find the mind. It is impossible because the Truth is that the mind doesn’t exist. It’s an illusion. It’s just a bundle of thoughts that is known as the mind. Although it is in illusion, it does not spare us from negative thoughts like fear, worry, anxiety, revenge, and jealousy.
However, if we are not the body and we are not the mind, then who are we? We exist, don’t we? We know that we exist, but in reality, who are we?
When we find out what we are not, when we realize we are not the body and we are not the mind, then we realize the Divine Truth that we are the Soul, the Spirit or the Atman.
We are a manifestation of the Divine
Those who go on a quest, realize the Truth that we are not what we seem to be. We are pure energy. This is not just Spiritual talk but has been scientifically proven. There are many methods to realize this Truth and it is up to us to choose which method we would like to rely on.
Go on a quest or a search
A seeker of the Truth, one who wants to realize God must go on a quest, a search. This means that the seeker must retreat from this alluring world for that short period of time, until they realize the Truth. The seeker may have to give up for the moment, or for some time, active responsibilities because this Spiritual quest is allconsuming. We cannot do it casually. When we go on a quest, we need to cut off from the world for the period of the quest. We need to have nothing else on our mind but God. If our mind is wandering, we will never realize God. We must give up the world for a particular period of time and probe the Truth about God. We can go through all the scriptures and Religions of the world, and they will lead us to the Ultimate Truth if we are genuine in our quest and if the grace of the Divine is upon us.
As we go on a quest, we must probe the various methods of realization to realize the Truth. What are the various methods of Realization?
There are 10 established methods that one can contemplate and introspect on if one is truly passionate about realizing the Truth. Several methods help us discover answers to our questions. Any of these methods can help us in the Realization of the Truth.
1. The Law of Causation: This is made up of three principles:
a) Every effect has a cause
b) The effect is nothing but the cause in another form
c) If you remove the cause, there is no effect
Based on the Law of Causation, one realizes that a gold ring is actually not a ring. Why? Because if you remove the gold from the ring, nothing remains. There is no ring without the gold. It appears to be a ring but actually, it is gold. Gold is the cause – the ring is the effect. Similarly, mud is the cause. The pot, the plate, and the statue may appear to be so, but in reality, they are not. They are only effects of the cause - mud. If you remove the mud, there would be nothing. Without the mud, there would be no pot, no plate, and no statue. We human beings appear to be the body – the gross physical body and the subtle mind. But in reality, we are the Divine Life Energy that gives life to the body-mind complex. At death, when the Life Energy departs, there is no breath. The body immediately disintegrates into dust and becomes nothing. It is only an effect of the cause, the Life Energy that departed. Life Energy is the cause. Without the Life Energy, we return to dust. We become nothing. This Law of Causation makes people realize the truth. The truth that we are not the body or mind. We are the Divine Life Energy, the Soul.
2. The Peeling Method: Another method of realizing who we are is called the virtual peeling method. If we virtually peel a live human body like an onion, layer by layer, and keep every cell with blood in beakers on the table, organs in trays, and flesh and bones along with the rest of the body, we will find everything except the one who was alive. The room in this virtual experiment is completely sealed and airtight. Where did the person who was alive go? Now, if we try to stitch back the body with the help of expert surgeons and medical equipment, we may probably recreate the body but we cannot put back life into it. The one who was alive in the body escapes into Consciousness. This virtual peeling method makes us realize we are not the blood, nor the bone or the skin but the Life Energy within.
3. The Consciousness Method: Another way to realize who we truly are is to reflect upon what is popularly known as the consciousness method. We human beings experience different states of consciousness. When we are awake, the body and mind are conscious. When we sleep, the body is not conscious, but if the mind dreams, it is conscious. When the mind also sleeps, neither body nor the mind is conscious and we experience a feeling of peace, which makes us say, “I slept like a log” when we wake up. If we notice, we experience the waking state, the dream state, and the deep sleep state. We are neither the waker nor the dreamer nor the sleeper, but the one who experiences these three states. Who are we? We are the Consciousness, the Atman, the Spirit or the Soul.
4. Meditation: To realize the truth, some people meditate. What is meditation? It is slowing down the mind. It produces up to fifty thoughts per minute. Meditation is about focusing on one thought. In such a state, one realizes the truth. Normally, the mind jumps like a monkey and does not let us contemplate the truth, that neither are we the body nor the mind. Although we know it, we are not able to realize this truth because of the rascal mind. Meditation helps reveal the truth. It stops the mind from the constant jumping from thought to thought and makes it focus on one thought with concentration. It is at this point that we realize we are not the body, nor the mind, but the Soul.
5. Questioning: Most seekers on their quest progress on the journey by asking questions – existential questions like what came first: the chicken or the egg? The chicken screams, “I came first. If there was no chicken how could the egg ever come?” “Hello, Mr. Chicken,” retorts the egg, “If there was no egg how would you be born?” The questioning method ultimately leads us to the answer - Who are we? We should not give up and believe that some questions have no answers. We must persist to find answers. The tree came from a seed but the seed came from the tree. What came first? We were born from our parents and our parents from their parents. Could our forefathers be apes? Questions like these make us investigate and ultimately help us realize the answer to who we truly are. We are a manifestation of the Divine, a fraction of the pure Divine Energy.
6. The Negation Method: Ancient scriptures suggest that we use the method called 'negation' to find out who we are. This calls for us first to know who we are not. We are not the body, there is no doubt about that. We also know we are not the mind. Then who are we? There is no doubt that we exist. From birth to death, our existence is referred to as our life journey. The only element that may be 'us', is that life that arrives at birth and departs at death. We are That!
7. Understanding what makes us beautiful: We human beings are very proud of our beauty, but stop and think – the most beautiful human being decays and disintegrates at death. Why? What happens? The real beauty is that Life Energy that departs at death. We become still, stone-like, we stink and become incapable of being maintained unless we are embalmed or preserved under special conditions. The Egyptians preserved the 'Mummy', the bodies of their dead but these were not those that were truly alive. This should make us realize that we are actually the beauty that departs at death, not the bodies that decay after we depart. We are the Life Energy that causes the beauty in us just as it causes the beauty in a beautiful bird or an exotic butterfly. The moment this Life Energy leaves, all the beauty starts to disappear.
8. The Seer and Seen Method: Another method of realizing who we are is Spiritually coined as 'The Seer and Seen' method. We see a ball with our eyes. The ball is the object. The eyes are the subject. The eyes seem to see the ball. But if we remove the eyes and keep them on the table, can we see the ball? Of course not! The eyes are wired to the brain and it is the brain that sees the eyes seeing the ball. The eyes become the object and the brain the subject. Next, we find that the mind is wandering and although we are staring at the ball, we don't see somebody grabbing it because our mind is wandering. Who is conscious that the mind is wandering? The mind itself becomes the object and we, the observers, become the subject. We realize that we are not the eyes or the body. We are not even the brain.
We are the observers, the ones who are conscious, and the ones who actually see. This 'Seer and Seen' method takes us further into realizing the truth of who we are. We are the Consciousness that is alive within.
9. Our 'given' names: Our names are just our names - our identity. Our names are not us. “Who are you?” the Saint asked the American who came to be blessed. He said, “I am John.” “That's your name,” said the Saint. “I asked who you are.” “Oh! I am an American.” “I didn't ask for your nationality. Tell me who you are.” “Oh! I am a lawyer.” “That's your profession, Mr. John. Who are you?” “I am the son of Tom and Mary and the father of Sarah and Rachel.” “Did I ask you for your relationships? Please tell me, who are you?” “I am a millionaire from New York.” “That is your financial status - I am not asking that. Tell me, who are you?” The American was embarrassed. After a lot of introspection, he realized the truth. He thought he was his name but that was only his name, he had no idea of who he truly was. Now he was inspired to search for the truth that he was not what he appeared to be on the outside but rather the one who was alive inside.
10. Scientific Reasoning: Those who want to find out who they are through a scientific method may also do so. Science, too, endorses that we are not matter, but rather trillions of energy particles that appear to be the body. For so many centuries, science and Spirituality were at loggerheads. But recent experiments in science have tabled several theories that are in sync with Spirituality. One such theory is the belief that energy can transform to matter and matter to energy. This formula is popularly known as E=MC2. Is the scientific belief enough to make us realize who we are? Scientists who study quantum physics and quantum mechanics go deep into studying the smallest particle of matter at subatomic levels. Recently in one such experiment, the smallest particle known as Quark, suddenly disappeared. The scientists were flabbergasted. As they were wondering whether matter had transformed into energy, the particle reappeared. They coined a new theory called 'Wave-Particle Duality'. No more were matter and energy to be considered separate from each other as one could transform to the other. This scientific truth should lay to rest our doubt of who we are. There is no doubt we are not the matter that we seem to be but the energy that creates life in us.
Those who are sincere and want to realize the truth of who they are can use any of these methods to realize the truth. It is so obvious that we are not the body. Science declares it, death endorses it, beauty proclaims it, and virtually peeling the body will confirm it. Several methods endorse that we are not the mind. We observe the mind watching the world. We meditate to calm the mind. And we reflect that we are not the dreamer.
Whatever be the method of realization, where does the realization of the Truth lead us to? It makes us realize beyond doubt that we are not the body that we seem to be. It also makes us realize that we are not the mind. It leads us to the Ultimate Realization that we are the Life Energy within, often referred to as the Soul, the Spirit, the Atman, Chi or Prana. Seekers of the Ultimate Goal of life, the realization of the Truth, are sometimes shocked to know that the realization of the Truth is not achieving the Ultimate Goal. It is just the beginning of the journey. Once we realize the Truth of who we are and why we are here, then we start our journey of Liberation, the Ultimate Goal of life.
The moment we finish our quest, the moment we realize the Divine Truth that we are not the ego, mind or body, we are the Divine Soul or Spirit or Atman, we are then liberated to start a new journey, a journey of unification. But however, this is later, first, we must be clear about our realization. When there is realization, there is no doubt whatsoever. We don’t question our realization. We realize it is the Truth.
What happens once we realize the Truth that we are the Divine Soul? We realize that we are no different from each other. If I am pure energy and you are pure energy, then we are both from the same source of energy. We come from the same source and we go back to the same source. Not only do we realize this, we realize that our Spirit is nothing but a manifestation of the Divine. It is GodEnergy. It appears at birth and leaves at death. Thus, at death, we have no breath because the soul departs, but we realize this only after we go on a quest.
Once we realize the Truth, then we see everything beautiful as a manifestation of the Divine. We don’t see the beauty separate from Divinity. We realize that all the beauty in this world comes from God and goes back to God.
We may use any of the methods of realization to realize the Truth. If we use our intellect to transcend our mind, we can easily realize the Truth. But if we let our mind be the charioteer of our life chariot, then we will never realize the Truth. We shall just go around in circles till we ultimately die. The moment we realize the Truth, we realize that we are not the ones we thought ourselves to be. That was a case of mistaken identity. It’s high time we realize the Truth and are ultimately liberated from the prison of misery and sorrow.
When will we ask questions about what we are not,
When will we find out the truth that we forgot?
We have an intellect that discriminates wrong from right,
But for this we must confront our mind with a fight.