How does one start the journey of self-realization, the spiritual quest? If Enlightenment were so easy then the whole world would be enlightened. This would liberate all of humanity from the triple suffering of the body, mind, and ego. But is it so simple?
No, it is not. Why? Because we human beings live in gross ignorance. We do not realize that this world is nothing but a cosmic drama. Even though we may know about it, knowledge is not realization. One may understand what the body is made of. Nobody can doubt that we are made of 5 elements - earth, water, air, fire, and space. At death, the elements return to their original form as the Life Energy in us departs. This knowledge seems so simple to understand. However, although we may read the Mahavakyas or the Upanishads many times over, only a genuine seeker who goes in quest of the truth, will realize it. We may read all about the body, mind, ego, and Soul, but we will 'realize' the truth only when we open our 'real eyes'. The truth is within, but we are searching for it outside.
It was Guru Nanak who said, 'Dasamay dvar kholo.' Open the tenth door to realize the truth. What does this
mean? We human beings have 9 openings in the body, but all the openings are like doors looking outside. Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, a mouth, an organ of excretion, and an organ of procreation. But none of these are looking at what is inside. If we want to realize the truth that lies within, we must go on a quest, a search for the truth, a Talaash. We must meditate, contemplate. Meditation is a very important spiritual practice. It will lead us forward and onwards. Meditation is to still the mind, make it silent. When there is no mind, there are no thoughts. We are in the state of consciousness and it is in that state of consciousness that we can be enlightened. We must also learn to live with discipline, dispassion or detachment, discrimination and of course, desire the Divine, desire Liberation.
To begin a quest, we must Ask the right questions; Investigate our findings; then, we will Realize the truth. We must ask basic questions: who am I? Who is God? Why are we born? What is the purpose of life? What is the Soul? What happens after death? How does Karma work? Where are heaven and hell? We cannot evolve in our Talaash if we are caught in this Samsaar. If we want to discover the ocean, we must have the courage to lose sight of the shore. We must learn to let go.
A true seeker therefore must go in search of the truth and be a mumukshu — one who passionately yearns for the Divine. A mumukshu is one who passionately and intensely seeks God. A mumukshu has, what is called, the triple yearning for realization and for God. The triple yearning is the yearning that a miser has for gold, the yearning a lover has for his beloved, the yearning a child has for its mother who it has just lost. A mumukshu only yearns for God and liberation and is willing to leave the Samara, the world, to go in quest of the truth.
To help us in our quest, we will also need a Guru, one who will take the seeker from darkness to light, from Gu to Ru, from Ignorance to Enlightenment. It is said, when a seeker is true and sincere and on the right path, the Guru will appear.
One must live in Yoga — in union with the Divine. We can be in Yoga through Dhyana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Gyana Yoga or even Prema Yoga. Yoga is a very important spiritual practice. Just like a SIM card is connected to the satellite, so must a spiritual seeker be connected to the Divine. One who remains ever connected with God is a Yogi.
How does one realize the truth? The truth cannot be known. It has to be realized and this needs 3 steps. The first step of realization is Sravana. Sravana includes reading and listening. It is the assimilation of knowledge. The second step is Manana. Manana by itself may mislead us to believe that it is to do with the Mann or mind. Manana means to intellectually discriminate the knowledge one collects in Sravana. When a seeker of truth passes Sravana and Manana, he reaches the stage of Nididhyasana, a stage where he is able to realize the Divine truth, that we are not the body that we seem to be, the truth that we are not the mind which we cannot find. We are the Divine Soul.
COMMENT