I am hoping that by now you would have gotten over any kind of identity crisis that may have plagued you. By identity crisis, I mean people identify themselves with whatever they think gives them some kind of significance. If you see some Army, Air Force and Navy officers, you will find that they add their rank to their names on their visiting cards. They even attach medals of honour that they may have won. Nobody finds this funny and we think of this as an accepted norm.
It was a journey for Group Capt. Dheer to become Dheer Sahib. He is one of the few people I know, who realised that the identity of his ‘self’ far outweighed the identity of his Air Force rank. I don’t think he attaches his Air Force A.V.S.M.s (citations) to his name anymore. He is now a jivatma, who lives a simple retired life of an Air Force officer in an Air Force colony trying to be as good to people as he can.
There was a very lovable man called Major Sharma at the sthan in Gurgaon. He had been called that for over 30 years. To pull his leg, I decided to call him, Colonel Saab. I gave him a promotion on behalf of the Supreme Consciousness. A few years later, he had stopped getting amused by it, so I decided that henceforth we will all call him General Sahib.
It was a term that belittled a man of great stature, great service, great spiritual attainment. He had far surmounted the qualifications that any General in the world could have achieved.
What labels can you give yourself beyond that of a human being?
Please do realise that there is nobody greater than you except for the ones whom you feel smaller than. You must recognise your aatmic reality, and understand that there is nobody greater or lesser than you. Your favourite movie star, whoever you consider to be the greatest or richest people in your country, the gods you worship, the goddesses whose photographs you have on your wall, are all your partners in aatmic equality.
In case you are a favourite film star, a rich man, a powerful politician or businessman, do not let your power or significance blind you from the fact, that as a human being, you are much greater than any label or the wealth you may have amassed. On the other hand, don’t forget that the people who look up to you or hero worship you, are not lesser than you except in destiny, in timing, in karma.
Adi Shankaracharya states further, “I am all pervasive. I am without any attributes, and without any form. I have neither attachment to the world, nor to liberation (mukti). I have no wishes for anything because I am everything, everywhere, everytime, always in equilibrium.”
I’m quite convinced that the mountain in you, will not see a midget of itself, in the mirror. Not anymore!
But we need to work towards this homecoming. Many of you will see this fructify in months, days or years to come. You may have interesting experiences, change of heart towards the way you see things, maybe a development of intuition and many such evolutionary signs. I do not guarantee them, but I do expect them to happen for you.
You can write with queries, comments and your own viewpoints to hingori54@gmail.com.
I would love to hear your experiences past, present and future. Please do not be lackadaisical in your efforts.
Time is relative, manipulate it.
Regards,
Hingori.