A common man would wonder what it means when he reads that our Ultimate Goal is the realization of the Truth. To him, he knows the Truth. He knows who he is, he has goals and he is so busy living and achieving his objectives that there is no time for any further realization. In fact, he scoffs at the thought and ridicules religion and spirituality as something meant for those who have lost their mind. “Be practical,” he says, “there is no time for all this.” Unfortunately, when he suffers, and he has nowhere to go, he cries and ultimately dies. He may have achieved millions, just as he might have the rewards, trophies, and accolades. Then why did he not have peace of mind, the basic foundation of happiness, his Ultimate Goal? It is because he did not realize the Truth.
Unfortunately, most people suffer and are miserable because they are ignorant of the Truth. They rush through life without nding out who they truly are, and what is their real purpose and meaning to be alive on planet earth. They don't pause to think about what happens after death. A human being is alive, and then suddenly, the life inside that person disappears in a ash and the person is considered dead. It is not like sleeping and waking up. This person is gone, never to return. But where has he gone? What about all his money, his property and his wealth? What about his son's marriage that was planned in the coming few days? Suddenly all the celebrations have turned to mourning. Who controls all this drama that happens on earth? And why do bad things happen to good people?
There are hundreds of questions that have no answer, not because there are no answers, but because we have not bothered to nd the answers and to realize the Truth. We just believe in the myth that we are taught, and we do not investigate and ask questions. Thus, we live with ignorance. It is this blanket of dark ignorance that covers us with misery and sorrow.
What is the Truth about Life? Of course, our mother and father are the cause of our birth, but when are we actually born: When two cells fuse to become a zygote or when the embryo is nally delivered on earth? What is this life inside us that gives us breath, without which there would be death? The fact is that we human beings are uniquely blessed with a body that has about 37 trillion cells, eyes that each have what equates to a 576 megapixel camera, a brain that has a memory of a mega-computer beyond man's comprehension. And there are 8 billion such people on earth, each with a unique ngerprint. Is this a myth? No, these are facts! But what is the Truth? Did all this happen because of one big bang or did monkeys become apes that grew into human beings by magic? It is really tragic that we don't understand the Truth of life. Instead of realizing the facts of life, and being amazed by creation, we continue to live with ignorance and we suffer.
Have you ever wondered who suffers? Is it your body? If it was only our body that suffered, then we could take pain killers, opioids or even anesthesia to suffer no more. But what about the mind? The greatest suffering is experienced by ME – the mind and ego. The ME is the director of all action and the ME suffers because of ignorance. Although each one of us wants to be happy and that seems to be our Ultimate Goal, we live in misery because we don't realize the Truth.
If suffering is the main problem, then the question is – is there a way to overcome suffering? The good news is that there is a way to end all pain, suffering, and misery. Our suffering is due to the ignorance that we live with. The moment we realize the Truth about life, about who we truly are, and why we are here, we can transcend all misery. Our challenge is to realize the Truth.
How can we realize the Truth? Realization is not something that you can put in your shopping cart through online shopping. It is not a product available in malls and supermarkets. It is not even a secret that is written in books. Realization is a gift from the Divine. All this magic that happens on planet earth, is created and preserved by a power that is beyond human comprehension. Because humanity doesn't know the Truth about this power, we term this power as the Creator or God. Then we confuse the creative power and give our God names, shapes and forms as we once again sink into the myth of ignorance. Unless we overcome the myth, we will never realize the Truth. Unless we realize 'who we are not', we will never realize 'who we truly are' and unless we realize the Truth, we will continue to suffer due to our ignorance.
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 these questions. Any of these methods can help us in the Realizations of the Truth.
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 esh and bones along with the rest of the body, we will nd 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 reect 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 fty 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 rst: the chicken or the egg?
The chicken screams, “I came rst. 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 to - Who are we? We should not give up and believe that some questions have no answers. We must persist to nd answers. The tree came from a seed but the seed came from the tree. What came rst? 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 nd out who we are. This calls for us rst 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 buttery. 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 connected to the mind and it is the mind that observes the eyes seeing the ball. The eyes become the object and the mind the subject. Next, we nd 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 mind. 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 Living 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 nancial 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. Scientic Reasoning: Those who want to nd out who they are through a scientic 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 scientic 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 intrigued. 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 scientic 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 conrm 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 reect 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 quest for the Truth starts with what we are not,
We are the Soul that in a body-mind is caught.
Until we transcend our ego and mind,
This Realization we will never find.