Hope you had a restful year-end break. As I enjoyed a relaxed time with family and friends, a few conversations did go past the usual reminiscing of pre-Covid life and how much the world has changed since. One thing became quite clear from that. While a lot has changed, at a deeper level we remain sorely stuck in old ways.
We have proven our resilience, but we still react only to short-term challenges. We just don’t seem to have the will to examine the fundamental and long-term issues. During the crisis, we discovered our ability to reflect and be purposeful. But we have quickly lost it in the rush to get back to the life as we knew it. Consumerism wins over conservation, convenience over what’s right, and instant gratification over mindful living. Again! Over the past two years, we resolved to be kinder, more empathetic and loving. But that resolve doesn’t seem to last against our strong wiring to be self-centred and egoistic.
All these are symptoms of a deeper illness. It’s our poor and deteriorating relationship with ourselves and by extension with others and our ecosystem. It is in this context, it’s worth asking the two age-old questions at this time. Who am I and What am I doing here.
Who am I?
Our superficial lives are an outcome of our superficial understanding of ourselves. When we relate to ourselves only as physical and emotional beings, we wish to satisfy only our physical and emotional needs. Who are you, really? Beyond the identity of your professional role, nationality, cultural values, religious beliefs, family and personal interests? Going past your age, education, intelligence level and personality traits? Beyond your physical body, unending thoughts and ever-changing emotions?
As we continue seeking and keep unpeeling the layers of our perception, we get to the truth of our existence. We are the everlasting Awareness. This Awareness is what lets us experience different thoughts and emotions. However, we associate ourselves to those thoughts and emotions and the mind which generates them. This Awareness is akin to the movie screen on which different scenes are projected and the spectators get engaged with those scenes as if they are the reality. The only reality is the unchanging screen, the Awareness, the rest are simply projections of our mind.
With this self-knowledge, we feel more relaxed and at peace. It also reduces our constant urge for more – success, recognition, love or happiness. That automatically starts arresting the social ills of consumerism, corruption and self-centredness. Besides, we start to realise that this Awareness is what everyone and everything is. With that realisation, we can begin to discover the oneness and interconnectedness of us all. We are then not only kinder to others but also more caring of our environment.
What am I doing here?
The second key area worth exploring is to question the relevance of our typical daily pursuits. What’s the point of it all? Are we here simply to be born, get the best education possible, land a good job, find a life partner, build a home, procreate, enjoy, struggle, get old and pass away? Besides the roles we have to play in our chosen path, is there a larger purpose of our existence?
I believe we are not physical beings occasionally having a spiritual experience, but are spiritual beings having a physical experience. What if our spiritual being chooses to take the physical form so it can grow and evolve. And chooses the circumstances of our physical life so we can learn the lessons we need to for our eternal journey. Whether the lesson is around self-realisation, dissolving our ego, learning detachment, loving unconditionally, being less judgmental or being more compassionate. However, when we take the physical form, we have what I call ‘spiritual amnesia’. We no longer know what we are here for. And that’s what we need to rediscover.
What do you think you need to learn within yourself for your spirit to grow in this lifetime? Building this clarity can be a real game changer. The answer to this question would not only take you away from futile and superficial goals, but also make your life more meaningful. Besides, it will automatically propel you to go beyond your self-centred self, in service of others.
Love this thought provoking piece
Thanks Hemant!
Thanks for sharing this lovely write up.
I can see signs of (advait) vedanta in your understanding of who we are. Am I right in my assumption that this is something you were inspired by?
The purpose bit, I wonder about too.
And lastly…Love the term spiritual amnesia!
Hi Shiwani, thank you for your kind comments! Yes, among others, Advaita Vedanta is definitely one of the influences I’ve had. Purpose is a lot more an outcome of direct personal experiences in this area.
I am obliged. It is excellent learning.
Thanks Rajiv for sharing such a thought provoking words of wisdom explained in the simplest term. Very well timed as we step into Year 2022. My best wishes to you and your family for a great 2022.
Cheers
Lokesh
Thanks Lokesh!
What do you think you need to learn within yourself for your spirit to grow in this lifetime?
Thanks for the article and The question. It adds fuel to the pertinent thinking.
Enjoyed reading your blog Rajiv.
Recently I read ‘The Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita’ by Swami Rama. It’s the most powerful book I have ever read. It’s his interpretation of the Gita.
I can relate to a lot of what you said given this background.
Would be happy to meet if possible. I was pointed to your blog by Ajay Kashyap.
Om Tat Sat. May your journey take you to the Absolute Reality.
Warm regards
Sachit
Thank you for your kind comments and the sharing Sachit!
Hi Rajiv,
It is always a pleasure reading your simulating blog.
Yes, a good holiday break mix of restful year-end, relaxed time with family, no go with friends as have elders living with us at home, caring for lonely and injured parents of NRI relatives at the hospital, kicked off a sustainability start-up and enrolled on a peace keeping effort. Hope you had a good break too.
During these holidays, I had been listening to podcasts of Gauranga Das as also reading Mr. Harari a fascinating historian. I am now in skepticism over the impetuously accepted concepts of ‘Soul with a purpose and the before & afterlife that come along’. I must going through effects of doing allopathy along with homeopathy for the same health reasons. 😉
Am I not just another amongst the few billion surviving sapiens? Doing the best our ancestors did, thriving with the deep ingrained instincts? Is spirituality a fairly recent traditionally cooked potion to stabilize a 6 billion year old savage to a social human kind? Is science the happy to serve crew on a barely busy flight, giving almost everyone an upgrade from Human Class to God Class?
Are we a few decades from modern day Copernican principle to realize there is no soul or the before & after life. Our purpose is merely to exterminate anything that comes in way of our flourishment? Are we speaking Circular Economy, Net Zero CO2, caring for oceans only cos the crisis is looking right into the face of humanity and has the serious potential to disturb existence.
Reading your thoughts, the question arises is that if we are spiritual being first and having physical experience next, we are naturally at the core kind, just, caring and all that we are supposed to be. It’s the bottle in coke and not the coke in bottle scenario. The sweet coke needs no more sugar. Taking physical form (being born) with spiritual amnesia would imply that every re-birth we are studying the learning the same books every progressive class.
Hope the clutter of my thought makes some sense to you. Looking forward to your wise thoughts for my clarity.
Hi Dinesh, interesting observations!
You are right that at the core we are kind, just and caring – that is our true nature. It’s just that it sometimes gets buried under the egoistic and self-centred desires of the mind (a manifestation of the physical form). And by going within, we can discover and connect with that true nature.
Your observation about multiple births with limited progress is also accurate. Unless we achieve complete self-realisation, we continue to take the physical form time and again. Which is another way of saying unless we fully realise oneness, we will continue to experience the duality in everything!
Best wishes!
Dear Rajiv, A very thought provoking piece as usual. I can relate to most of what you say. When you say “when we take the physical form, we have what I call ‘spiritual amnesia’” — who is the WE that you refer to? It cannot be the body as WE is different from the physical form. Is it the mind then? What about our samskaras which we carry from one birth to another?
Regards
Hi Sai, as always, thank you for your insightful observations and comments!
I now realise how ‘we’ has been inadvertently used to refer to both the spiritual being and the physical being. I simply wanted to say that our physical being is often ignorant of the broader spiritual goals. You are right, technically speaking, ‘we’ should refer to the part of our being that supposedly transmigrates from one physical form to another (including the soul, the karmic imprint and the subtler aspects of the mind).
On a related not, the idea of this knowledge is not to in any way to disregard our physical reality. It’s essentially to highlight that physical part is just one of the dimensions of our being (and not the core one) even though we give all the importance to only this dimension in our everyday life. We do need the physical form to pursue our spiritual goals.