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Who are we?
Are we the Body, the Mind, the Heart, the Head, the Hand or Cells, Atoms, Neutrons, Protons, Photons, Quarks or the Energy?
Science has discovered that we are trillions of Energy Particles that together appear to be what we seem to be!
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117
Who are we?
Are we the Body, the Mind, the Heart, the Head, the Hand or Cells, Atoms, Neutrons, Protons, Photons, Quarks or the Energy?
Science has discovered that we are trillions of Energy Particles that together appear to be what we seem to be!
While science has discovered that matter becomes energy and energy becomes matter, how can a common man understand this? One may recall a simple experiment as a child. We have seen a cube of ice melt and become water, then when we heated the water, it evaporated and became vapour. As kids, we wondered how did something solid become liquid and then gas. We were explained that these are the three states of matter. It seemed magical because in the laboratory, we were shown how the vapour can condense back into water, and if the water was frozen it could once again become ice. What we learned was that matter could change its state but now science says that matter can become energy, it can disappear altogether and that is truly amazing. Not so amazing to the spiritual seekers who have realized the truth that we are not this body but the energy that is within.
Whatever be the method of realization, the fortunate one who has attained realization goes beyond the belief of being the body, the mind, and the ego and uses the intellect to realize the truth. If one is in command of the intellect and one releases the bondage of the intellect with the mind, then the intellectual realization wins the tug of war against the mental delusion that forces us to believe that we are the ego, the mind, and the body. Any of these methods of realization ultimately leads to the realization of one truth: We are energy! We are not the body, not the mind, nor the ego, and all our misery and sorrow that arise from being the body, mind, and ego would cease on realizing the truth of who we are. This leads to liberation from the prisons of misery and sorrow!
The seeker who wants to scale the third and ultimate peak of happiness has now learned that there is a third peak – a peak that is the ultimate peak of happiness. The seeker wants to decode and discover what this peak is. He realizes that we are prisoners of misery and sorrow. By now, he knows about realization and various methods that will liberate us.
The journey is not as easy as it seems to be. It is a steep climb to the third and ultimate peak. First, we must realize who we truly are. Are we the ego, mind, and body or are we the energy that gives life to this body? The realization of this truth is the key to unlock the way to the third peak. It is not necessary that the knowledge of realization will give realization. In fact, realization will first lead to the knowledge of Liberation. Thereafter, Liberation will free us from these prisons of misery and sorrow. But unless there is a divine grace, a strong willpower, and a lot of effort from our side, we will find ourselves going round in circles. We will be on a see-saw, going up towards the third peak, then being pulled down back on the ground. It needs a lot of commitment to take up this journey – the ultimate and most amazing journey to the Third Peak of Ultimate Happiness!
How Realization leads to Liberation?
What is realization? It is the knowledge and the total understanding of who we are and who we are not, and what we are and what we are not. The whole of humanity seems to be enveloped in deep ignorance of the truth of our life and existence. This ignorance creates bondage, which is a virtual prison, and we continue to live as the ego, mind, and body that we seem to be. We live and die as prisoners of this ignorance.
Through any of the methods of realization, the ignorance is eradicated. The knowledge of the truth shines. We are not the ego, mind, and body. We are energy – a life force that empowers the body. Our knowledge should be powerful enough to overcome the ignorance completely. It is not enough just to know or to believe what we are. We need to realize it beyond doubt or hesitation. This is the realization that leads to liberation from the prison of ignorance.
One can imagine the realization to be an instant dissolution of bondage or a prison of all the ignorance and along with it, the misery, the pain, and the sorrow that arise out of fear, worry, and anger amongst others.
Once a person realizes the truth of what they are not and what they truly are, they are instantly liberated from the misery and sorrow of life because essentially the realization discovers that we are not the body, not the mind, and not the ego, and the pain that is felt by the body–mind–ego is not our pain. A realized one distances himself from such pain and is thus freed from the misery.
The moment we realize we are not the ego, the body, and the mind, we get liberated from the various prisons that normally cage us throughout life. Our beliefs keep creating sorrow because of our own thoughts and habits, but when we realize the truth, we get liberated from our own mental prison.
It seems like we are unable to perceive the truth with the physical eyes. No wonder, a handful amongst humanity are able to see the truth. We used to worry, but now we realize all these are just like a dream. Nothing is real! Suppose you had a dream, in which you went to your brother in the neighbourhood and requested for some financial assistance. After much persuasion, he gave you the money with the condition that you would return it immediately. You thanked him and you left. You wake up the next morning and you're so happy to find loads of money that have just arrived. What would you do? Would you go to your brother to return the money that you borrowed from him in the dream? Of course not! That was just a dream. You don't have to return money that was borrowed in a dream.
Realization has a similar liberating effect. One who has wiped out the ignorance of who we truly are realizes that worrying has the same effect of the dream. What we worry about is not real. It just appears to be an imagined danger that may never happen. Then why would one live with misery and sorrow because of the worry? Just like one is absolutely sure that the money was borrowed in the dream, one is equally sure that the worry is unreal. It is just a mental projection. The realized one stops responding to worry. Just as the man who would not go back to his brother to return money in the dream as it was unreal, worries are unreal to the realized one. But to most of humanity, worry is the biggest thief of happiness.
A realization that worry is unreal is liberating, and one stops worrying as one has realized the truth. Would you worry about a ferocious bull dog that is about to attack you, but it is an image seen on the television? Of course not! The realized one watches life as if it is all happening in a television. Thus, he is liberated and freed from misery and sorrow.
We used to get angry because the ego had some expectations that were not fulfilled and we got upset. Now that as we realize that we are not the ego, we understand the uselessness of getting angry, and the anger is transcended. Realization dissolves anger into a smile and liberates us. A terror that would formally disturb our life disappears into thin air when we realize the following: “Who is getting angry? At whom are we getting angry? Why are we getting angry?” The realized one laughs at angry situations and is liberated.
How Liberation frees us from the Prisons of Misery? What is Liberation? Liberation is being freed from the prisons of misery and sorrow post realization. We have already discussed realization and methods of realization. But what happens post Liberation? We realize that we are pure energy and not the body–mind–ego that experiences misery, pain, and sorrow. On Liberation, the entire gamut of misery, pain, and sorrow as well as all the other joy stealers are once and for all eliminated and destroyed. How does Liberation free us from these prisons of misery and sorrow?
Can Liberation eliminate anger? Normally, human beings get angry, but the liberated one realizes that he is not the body. The body used to get angry, but now he does not fuel the body's anger. He rather laughs at situations as if he was watching a drama. He realizes that anger is trying to provoke him to be the ego, mind, and body that he is not. Since he has realized the truth, he transcends anger and lives in bliss.
The liberated one knows that this world is a theatre, where everything is a projection of energy – nothing is real! Consider two actors in a movie; if one of them slaps the other in the movie, would the angered one return the slap post the production of the movie? Of course not! It would be absurd! There is no need for the actors to be angry in real life as one actor slapping the other in the movie was just another scene of the film. A liberated soul knows that life is a theatre and doesn't get angered by anybody or anything, knowing that all these are nothing more than a drama. At the end, the show will be over and everybody should go home. Why would a liberated one be troubled by the misery and sorrow caused by anger?
Does the liberated one feel fear? A liberated soul doesn't get imprisoned by the misery caused by fear. A liberated one, knowing himself to be energy, is fearless and has no concerns or worries. Of course, the body-mind complex lives with fear, but we inhabit the body-mind complex. We are not the body, and thus we need not fear. Therefore, Liberation conquers and eliminates the joy stealer fear from life.