What makes the human experience interesting, rich and fun are our six senses, the sixth being our mind. However, the same senses act as a nearly impossible barrier for us to realise the deepest truth about ourselves.
These senses are our window to the external world. The greatest pleasures in our life seemingly come from experiences derived from these senses. The eyes admire beauty, the taste buds relish gourmet food and a lover’s touch makes the heart sing. However, these senses are fundamentally flawed. This apparatus, while a valuable gift to experience the world, comes with some serious design limitations.
The design flaw
Our mind is severely constrained in what it can perceive through the five senses. We cannot see everything as our sight is limited by the light frequencies our eyes can process. Likewise for our hearing. Snakes and dogs who can see and hear different frequencies must be constructing a different world. We can’t register any visuals that appear faster than 1/8th of a second as distinct. That’s why we perceive a series of rapidly shot still images as a continuous video.
We are able to process only a tiny portion of the energy vibrating out there and consider it as the reality. We believe the sky to be blue; although it’s the scattering of the blue light absorbed by the atmosphere that makes it appear so. The moon doesn’t rise, but is only visible at night. The house you live in is not exactly still; but is constantly rotating and revolving at great speeds along with the earth. You get the idea!
The reality
For the past five millennia, scriptures, sages and mystics have appealed to us to explore and contemplate the absolute reality. The reality of an all-pervading, all-encompassing and all-knowing energy field. That we are made of the same energy and everything and every being is an integral part of this whole. And that there’s no separate self even though we clearly perceive ourselves as distinct from everything else. Trapped in the six senses, we access only the physical world of form, time and space. The reality is formless. It is also timeless – it’s a pulsating is-ness of now, without any past or future.
The higher purpose
Since our senses cannot fathom this reality, our thoughts and actions come from a place of ignorance. That’s how we keep generating new karma. It’s this unresolved karma that causes the experience of birth and death. The only way to exit this perpetual cycle is to experience complete self-realisation; a true and deep realisation of who we are and our ultimate truth. That also means neutralising all our karma. That’s the highest purpose of human life. Everything else is secondary.
Having said that, for almost all of us, the goal of self-realisation is out of reach. At least in one lifetime. All the same, that should not discourage us to at least embark on this journey in a conscious way. Not only is this a highly worthy pursuit in itself, it can also help us lead a better life.
Relating to our wholeness, and by extension everyone else’s, we become more open-hearted and open-minded. With that, we judge, criticise, fear and worry less; and let go of our ego, love, care and live in the present more. We better appreciate beauty in everyday life and prefer the scenic route over the faster one. We experience lightness, connectedness and happiness.
Unless we consciously seek this path, due to our conditioned mind and the powerful draw of our senses, we do settle into the delusional social constructs of what life is. We then choose egotistic growth, instant gratification and more screen time. I believe we can all do better than that!
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Very affirmative,tests our intelligence.
Great post ! Such valuable insights as always!
Inner reframe of thought helps if you want to put your best self into all your roles .I don’t know whether that will help in self realisation but you can expand your awareness for sure.
Can the pursuit of self actualization start at a young age? How do we get our children to learn the “design flaw” and seek self realization?
Hi Sridhar, great point. Yes, it would be wonderful if children got exposed to these ideas. It would help if they are introduced to such concepts as part of the school education. Although, other than a handful of schools like Krishnamurti schools, this is not readily possible. Of course, children could be exposed to these ideas at home through discussion and reading of related materials. Perhaps the most significant way is through osmosis – when children learn from observing their parents pursue and practice these ideas.
Thanks Rajiv ,the pursuit of self realization continues….
I want to learn meditation please share something related to this topic if u can. I tried many times but don’t know,what to feel or where should I fix my mind while meditating.i need guidance.
Read the article
Thought provoking
Jain philosophy divides Karma as Nikachit ( ongoing, while we perform day to day activities) & Sanchit ( cumulative)
One thing is certain we will have to pay back the Karmas which have been reaped by us
No one else is going to do this for us, for that matter your near and dear ones will not help even they may wish so
Great insights. Thanks. What actions could be taken to look beyond the inputs from the senses, and comprehend the absolute reality?
Hi Nikhil, thanks. What I have personally found most helpful are building a regular and structured meditation practice, staying connected with these ideas through relevant reading, vidoes and podcasts and creating time for reflection in our daily life. The momentum of a householder’s normal life is always strong but these activities can help create required pauses to reconnect with the deeper aspects.
Dear Sir,
God is an energy (cannot be created nor destroyed). Then how our good Karmas turn our energy (Jeevatma ) into “That”?
Hello Babu, as I understand it, we as humans are also part of the same universal energy. However, the universal energy’s presence in us (or the individual soul) is accompanied by a conditioned mind which out of ignorance keeps generating karma. When the mind gets purified, the previous karmas are resolved and no new karmas are created, the individual energy (individual soul) simply merges with the universal energy (Supreme soul). No conditioned mind also means no experience of birth and death.
The eternal truth explained so effortlessly. Love reading your articles! Do write more!
Many thanks Palak, glad these ideas are connecting with you!
As always lovely reading your reflections Rajiv. Thank you. : ‘ )
I have struggled with understanding whether we are free to do our karma or is everything preordained. Do I really have a choice in the way I think and the karma I do?
Lot of people say different things and so the confusion.
Hi Pooja, thank you!
Your question about karma deserves a new post (hopefully soon), but here’s the key point. We are prisoners of our karmic imprint, the storehouse of our past karma. That explains our tendencies, preferences and our nature. However, if we can deepen our self-awareness, be present to every moment and choose to take responsibility of our thoughts and actions, we can begin to determine whether to follow the innate tendencies or choose another option.
For example, say normally, a certain trigger generates a predictable anger in us, but with mindfulness, we can choose to be empathetic, patient and calm. This way we can also choose the karma we are creating! Hope this helps!