When I see people struggling with their mind, I feel sorry for them. I too struggled for 50 years before I could make my monkey mind into a monk. My ego didn't trouble me any less and it created havoc and agonized me for decades. Together, the mind and the ego did not let me realize the Truth. I lived with Mithya, the cosmic illusion overpowering my life, and Satya, the light of Truth never dawned in my life. Like everybody else, I too was a seeker of Happiness. For 25 years, from the time I was 16, till I was 40 years old, I went from success to success, trying to be Happy, as my life was checkered with peaks of achievement and valleys of failure. I shut down my business at the age of 40 and evolved from the journey of achievement to a state of contentment and fulfilment. But still, I suffered. When my Spiritual Master, my Guru, Dada J. P. Vaswani, provoked me to go on a Talaash, a search for the Truth, I started my journey of truly living.
I went into the mountains and for two years, I lived in retreat and silence and ultimately I was blessed to realize certain Truths. I realized that I was not the body, not the mind but the Divine Soul. I also realized that God was not a statue or a saint who lived in faraway heaven and that birth and death were only of the body, not of ME, the Mind and Ego. The ME is reborn again and again till there is Realization that would lead to Liberation and Unification with the Divine. I was enlightened to the truth that one could actually be free from the cycle of death and rebirth by transcending Karma after attaining Liberation at death.
Even after the Realization of the Truth, I suffered because of a war within. The mind and the ego refused to let me live in Consciousness of the Truth. But I did not give up. I used the treasure of my intellect, the guidance of my Guru, and the grace of God to help me overcome the thoughts that bombarded me. I established Chit, the state of Consciousness and started living as the witness, the observer of the Life Drama on earth.
My journey evolved from a journey of pleasure to a journey of Peace. Even then, I was no different from others. I too experienced fear, worry, stress and anxiety. I would lose my temper and burst into anger with disappointments and defeats. But I was committed to reach that state of Enlightenment. If it were not for my Guru, I would have been going around in circles, ignorant about SatChitAnanda.
Then, one day, I realized the Truth. I was blessed with Sat, the Truth as Mithya, the illusion dissolved. I realized that this world itself was a Leela, a humongous drama, and we were all actors doing our part. Nothing was real, it was all a projection, Maya. This was no more knowledge, I realized it as a direct intuitive experience and this transformed my life. In fact, there was a metamorphosis. I changed my name from Ravi Melwani to AiR - Atman in Ravi. Not only did I change my name, I also changed my philosophy of life and started living in Bliss, realizing the Truth, transcending all misery, fear, and worry that used to dominate my life and create sorrow.
For years, I knew of the Truth, but I did not realize it. My Guru would mention the same things to me again and again, but I had no Ananda or Joy, because there was no Chit, no Consciousness, until the day when I was Enlightened with the Truth. Still, there was no Bliss. It took me quite some time to become the witness, the observer, to become conscious of the Truth. The moment I became conscious, I was blessed with SatChitAnanda. I not only knew the Truth, I not only realized the Truth, but I became ever-conscious of it. It was this Consciousness of the Truth that eliminated all fear. There were no more worries. All my stress disappeared. I enjoyed Divine peace, living in a state of Ananda, like I had never experienced before. This Happiness was seamless as it revolved and traversed from one moment of my life to the next.
Today, I live a life of eternal Peace and everlasting Joy. I live a life of SatChitAnanda. I live with Consciousness of the Truth and enjoy a state of Divine Bliss. After I realized the Truth about life, my 'real' eyes were opened. I could see the difference between cause and effect, and I realized that what appears as creation, is actually a manifestation of the Divine. From experiencing God in his creation, I started realizing the Divine in all the beauty around me. Every beat of my heart reminded me of God's presence within. I started living a life of Ananda, pure Bliss as I remained conscious of the Truth. I must admit though, that the mind and the ego, trouble us a lot and they must be transcended to enjoy the state of SatChitAnanda!
Once I attained the state of SatChitAnanda, I transcended the senses of my body that would normally crave and make me a slave. Although I inhabited this body, I was not the body. Nor was I the mind that kept on wandering, causing regret and worry. My realization transcended my ego that used to experience anguish and agony, as it would dominate my life. SatChitAnanda liberated me from the trio - ego, body, and mind after a long battle. Though there was a realization, the ME, Mind and Ego, continued to be