Ankur Mahajan
The word LIFE seems to be very simple and everyone often uses it in his daily routine but it is not as simple as it seems to be. The human life is granted to us on the basis of our Karmas of the past as supported by various Saints and Purans. The cycle of life has very strong knot with the past, it means there is a link between two births and our present is because of past and our future will be because of the present. Guru Arjan says “As one sows, so shall he reap; such is the field of KARMA”. According to Kabir, “if you plant a cactus, how will you reap mangoes”. Tulsi Das in this context says, “the world is based on law of Karma, whatever actions one performs, one has to taste the fruit thereof.” There are various questions that come to one’s mind in the journey of life. Life seems to be a linear equation but basically it has various trigonometric functions in it and also an iota. The cycle of birth and death is still beyond the knowledge and scope of Science and Technology. It still finds its traces in God – the Supreme Power, Karmas – the Chariot and soul – the Charioteer. The truth of life has been covered by various layers which are needed to be unturned so that it could be understood.
Various Purans and saints tried to define the secret of life but as we try to understand, it becomes more complex. The only way to understand the secret of life is meditation. Meditation is the key which will open the lock of soul and thus merge us into the Supreme. Thus, meditation is the foot prints of God.
In order to realize God, one need not to undertake any external formalities such as fast, pilgrimage nor do that we need to withdraw from Society or run away from worldly responsibilities. According to Namdev, “By going to forest and becoming a hermit, thou escapest not desire, attachment and delusion”. We have to do our duty as a husband, wife, son, brother, friend but we should not be so obsessed by these duties and relationships that we forget the real meaning of our life, our real destination. We have to keep our goal in view and follow that path that will lead us to our real home. But along with spiritual practice, we must also continue to fulfill our duties and worldly responsibilities. In this context, Guru Amardas says,” Within the body, He himself resides, yet he cannot be seen, that invisible one under the sway of mind, fools know not the truth and search for him outside.” Every Saint, every master, has tried to explain to us that this body is the temple of living God, Hari Mandir. Indian sages refer it as Narainidh, meaning the human body, in which the Lord is located and in which our Soul can become the Lord again by merging back into him. Thus, human body is a laboratory in which we have to undertake research for reunion with him, for it is only when we have been given this precious form that we can realize God within ourselves.
It is quite logical that if lord is one and he is within everyone of us and we have to seek him within our body, the path leading to that destination, to our home, cannot be but one. It is impossible to think that for Christians there is one path leading to the Lord’s house, and for Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims there is a different path leading to him. There may be a difference in our interpretation, in our understanding, but there cannot be two paths leading to him. If we seek him within, we will find the same path, the path of sound and light. But if we search for him outside, we find that everybody has his own path, leading perhaps nowhere. The soul is the essence of the lord, a drop of the divine ocean. In the beginning, it separated from its source and descended into this world of misery and sufferings. Forgetting its origin, the soul took the mind as its guide and companion. But the mind itself is under the sway of the senses. Whatever the senses desire, the mind does their bidding and dances to their tune. And whatever deeds the mind commits under their influence, the soul, itself pure and stainless, must reap the fruits and suffers the consequences. One of the most famous saints says “O soul, you are miserable, this I know. You’ve been suffering since the day you separated from the world and made friends with the mind. In the company of the reckless mind, you remain bound by the body and entrapped by sense pleasure.” Our spiritual journey starts from the soles of our feet & goes upto the top of our head. In this body, the spiritual journey has two stages- the first is upto the eye centre, and the second from the eye centre to the top of the head.
In our body, the seat of the soul and the mind knotted together is at the eye centre, in the wakeful state. From here our consciousness is spread into the whole world. Even when we close our eyes we are not here. We are never still, rather we find ourselves thinking about our worldly ambitions and affairs, about our relations or our daily activities. About whomsoever we think, their forms automatically appear before us. Therefore, by thinking, by contemplating on the forms of the world, our consciousness has spread outward into this world of illusion.
Unless we withdraw our attention to the eye centre, we cannot concentrate within and taken even the first step of our spiritual journey homeward. As Christ mystically expressed it, “seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you” we seek the path leading to real home, and once on that path, we ultimately find the Lord. We finally merge into the one for whom we have been so ardently searching. The first step is to withdraw consciousness to the eye centre. The lord is within. It is we who have kept attention focused outside, in this world. We must knock from outside so that door leading to our goal within may be opened. We have to withdraw our consciousness from the world and bring it back to the eye centre. Only then can the door be opened. The eye centre, where we come in contact with the spirit or voice of God, has also been called by Indian Saints the “Tenth door”. Guru Amar Dass says, “Stop the mind from running out through the nine portals and open thou the tenth door, which will lead thee to thy true home. There the Divine Melody ringeth day and night, and it is through the instruction of the Master that thou canst hear it.” That spirit, that shabd and nam, is within every one of us, forever resounding in resplendent glory. Unless, through meditation, we withdraw to the eye centre, we can never be in touch with that divine melody. But having once contacted it, we find that sound current so fascinating, so charming and tempting, so captivating, that immediately we become attached to it, and automatically we become detached from the senses.
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