“ To know the unity of all life leads to deathlessness;
to know not leads to death.
Both are hidden in the infinity of Brahman, who is
beyond both”
Shvetashvatara Upanishad.
“ All that is required to realise the Self is to be
still. What could be easier than that ? “
Sri Ramana Maharishi
The human condition is both
poignant and mysterious, filled with pleasure and pain, with great promise and
deep anguish, with peaks of triumph and valleys of failure, with despair and
delight.
It is the dance of the opposites amidst the
inevitability of endings.
Buddha called it dukkha or
suffering, meaning the ultimately unsatisfactory nature of all temporary states
and things. All things are perishable. This, too, shall pass.
Thus, every human being
yearns for true, abiding happiness and peace.
In the Upanishads, the
ultimate reality is referred to as Akshara, the Imperishable. This is the Self,
the formless, indescribable perfection that is infinite, eternal,
being-consciousness-bliss. This is Brahman, the source and the substance of all
that exists. The seers tell us that it simultaneously exists as the tiny
invisible core of every living being, while yet remaining the absolute whole,
containing all that exists.
The truly miraculous gift of
being human is that, in this very form and lifetime, it is possible to discover
and become one with the Imperishable. This is the moksha or enlightenment of
Hinduism , the nirvana of Buddhism, or ,as the Buddha very simply put it ,”the end
of suffering.” This is the secret of secrets, the answer to all questions, the
end of all doubts and fears: this is the aware, blissful and true Life.
It is freely available to every human being.
The one who sincerely pursues it and finally merges into it becomes the Jeevan-muktha …the enlightened one. This is the best
possible state of human evolution, the ultimate perfection, the state of unshakable
, eternal peace and joy. It is the birth-right of every human being: all that
is asked is total dedication of effort towards knowing one’s true Self. It is
beyond the intellect and can only be known by being it.
All other discussions,
intellectual exercises or debates -
about creation and reality, about rebirth and karma, about levels and
degrees of realisation, about ignorance and enlightenment, about seekers and
the sought - are mere mind- froth on the
surface of the ocean of silent being that is Brahman.
Drop the intellect. Just be:
thoughtless, desireless, still.
Dive deep into the silence
in your Heart.
Inner energies awaken and
take over: let yourself go, surrender and dissolve in the Self.
Blissful, perfect peace!
