Winning the War Within
“Realized Souls are not free from the War within,
But most often they win it.”
On the journey to heaven, as we climb the Ladder step by step, we realize the Truth. This only happens for those who go on a quest, who love God so intensely that they find a Guru who helps them overcome ignorance as they transcend Karma, realizing that we are not the body, not the ME – the Mind and Ego. We are the Divine Soul.
First of all, just knowing this is not enough. Anybody can read about this and pretend to know it. But this is not realization. Realization of the truth means that our life gets transformed, with the realization. We live with dispassion and detachment, with discrimination and discipline as we desire liberation and the Divine, nothing else! Once we arrive at this step on the Ladder, we are still 3 steps away – 3 big steps away from our Ultimate Goal.
The first step after realization is to Win the War Within. Although we experience realization of the Truth, we are still alive in a body-mind complex. We still live with the mind that is a monkey and the 5 senses that are like 5 wild horses that lead our body astray. We have to be the charioteer that controls the mind, the reigns that control the 5 horses, the 5 senses. We have to be the Divine Soul that we truly are, and we must use our intellect to direct our life, post realization!
What happens in this war? The mind will desire, and the senses will crave. However, if our realization is real, our intellect will rule and will prevent the body-mind from defeating us. We must live like a lotus in a dirty pond. The world around us will be full of worldly attractions, but the realized Soul will not sink into this world or Samsara. One who has realized needs the waters of this world to live but will use the water like an active motorboat does, moving forward and onward without sinking in the waters of this world.
How does a realized one feel? He feels he is imprisoned in the prison of the body-mind. He wants to escape and climb the penultimate step of liberation. He wants to be free from the prison! But there are several prison bars that hold him back. Some of the prison bars are Duty, Lust, and Shame.
Realization makes one aware that nothing is real, everything is an illusion, it's only a cosmic drama! However, duty tries to defeat a Realized Soul. It tries to bind him to doing his duty, things that he must do, being the one who is in the body-mind.
Ramakant had realized the Truth. But he wasn't able to be liberated because of so many reasons. He had a family and they kept demanding that he fulfills their needs. He had to go to work to earn for them and wasn't able to spend time on his Spiritual pursuits. If he neglected his familial duties in order to meditate, his mind would create an agitation and demand that he fulfills his duty. Although he fulfilled his familial duties, there were luxuries that his family wanted. And so, he was pushed away not only from spirituality , but also dragged into the material world of pleasures. Ramakant had to make a choice: either to climb the next step on the Ladder and move on despite the demands of his family, or give in and sink! He had to make a choice and this would decide whether he would win the war within or not.
Every human being who realizes the Truth continues to live in this world. The world distracts us with offerings that create lust. We human beings grow up with passionate desires but climbing the Ladder to Heaven calls for us to live dispassionately and with detachment. When there is a war within, and we are attracted to sensual pleasures, it becomes a test for the realized one. If he falls prey to the sense pleasures, then he loses the war to lust. He cannot reach heaven's gate. However, a true seeker who realizes the Truth goes beyond lust as he moves forward and Godward.
What does this mean? Does this mean that the one who is climbing the Ladder to Heaven must give up all pleasures and happiness in this world? This is the way a non-realized one would see the life of a Realized Soul. However, a truly Realized Soul transcends lust. It is not that fulfilling of lust actually gives true happiness. The one who has climbed the ladder upto this step of winning the war, realizes that lust is only momentary pleasure and not eternal peace and bliss.Thus, he escapes from these cravings and desires, these feelings of lust which, ultimately, make a human being sink in misery and sorrow.
During my journey and after I realized certain truths, I was attacked by shame. There were several resolutions that I had made that altered my lifestyle, be it to do with my food, my clothing or my social engagements. None of these could give me pleasure anymore as I lived in a state of bliss, Ananda, eternal joy, and peace. But the world had so many things to say about me and my life. My reaction to this was inspired by my Guru's teachings. He said, “They will say, let them say! You move on. Do not look back.”
Any good sportsman who plays hockey or football knows that their eyes must be on the ball that is with them. The moment they look at others, they will lose the ball. If we are serious about climbing the Ladder to realize God, then we must not stop. Only the unstoppable believer, who seeks liberation and the Divine and nothing else, wins the war within and reaches the next step on the Ladder and is liberated.
Winning the War Within
TAKEAWAYS