Dear Friends,
Namaste!
Last week we said that majority of our problems will be resolved if we just listened to the ‘Voice Within’. However, this may not solve ALL our problems.
This is because there exist various orders of reality just like there exist multiple layers in an onion. Conflict may arise because people stick to ‘their’ truth rather than the ‘whole’ truth…
In ancient times, there existed a village that had not seen much of the outside world. One day, an elephant entered the village from a nearby jungle. The villagers had never seen an elephant before so it became the talk of the town (or village!). People streamed in to see it, feel it (fortunately it was a very gentle soul and did not mind) and talk excitedly about it.
The village also had a group of six friends. Unfortunately all of them were blind. Not to be left behind, they also decided they would pay this elephant a visit and ‘see’ it for themselves. When they got the opportunity, they went near it and started touching it. One friend caught him by the tail, the other put his arms around one of its legs, yet another started feeling its belly and so on. Excited, they started describing the elephant in animated voices.
The person clutching the elephant’s tail said it resembled a thick rope. “Wait”, cried the person feeling its leg, “It is actually like the trunk of a tree”. “Are you crazy?” shouted the third, “I can bet my life it is exactly like a sack full of rice!” Soon, a commotion started.
Just then, a man with normal eyesight happened to pass by. He immediately figured out what was going on and set the quarrel to rest by describing the true appearance of the elephant. :)
So what do you do? You peel the onion to get to its core and when the last layer is peeled off, all that remains is only the space that contained the onion!
Similarly, there are three orders of reality – subjective, objective and absolute. As we evolve, from being subjective, we learn to become more objective. The evolution completes when from being objective, we start experiencing and operating within the Absolute Reality. That’s when we discover that everyone is right and there are no conflicts. Like the man with normal eyesight found out. Or indeed the wise Mulla Nasiruddin acknowledged…
Mulla Nasiruddin’s mother and wife were very assertive personalities. Moreover, due to the generation gap and the nature of their relationship, they did not quite see eye-to-eye. Both of them would then badger poor Mulla about how the other one was always wrong.
One fine day, when he was discussing some religious matter with a contemporary Scholar in his living room, the two emerged from the kitchen!
Mulla’s mother seized the opportunity first and strongly expressed her views about the matter under discussion. Then she demanded to know from him whether hers was indeed not the correct opinion.
Mulla thought for a while and agreed, “O Mother, I think you are quite right!”
Then his wife jumped on him and conveyed in no uncertain manner what she thought of her mother-in-law’s views. She then put forward her case and demanded to know whether her approach was not more logical.
Mulla again thought for a while and replied, “Ah, I must confess, what you say makes sense!”
The Scholar, so far a silent witness, could not remain quiet anymore. He pounced upon Mulla, stating agitatedly, “Mulla Nasiruddin! This is completely ridiculous! Both the women are in complete disagreement with each other but you are saying both of them are right. They are expressing diametrically opposite views and therefore both of them cannot be right! Either your mother can be right or your wife can be right. NOT both of them!”
To this, the wise Mulla nodded his head and said solemnly, “My dear friend, in this observation of yours, I must say, you also seem to be perfectly right!”
Thus, while our conscience is worth its weight in gold, it is more like the ‘ore’ that has been freshly mined from a goldmine. It needs to be purified for the gold to come to its 24-carat glittering best! Likewise, our conscience also has to be cleansed of the impurity called ‘ego’ or ‘ignorance’ for it to experience and operate within the Absolute Frame of Reference!
That is what will surely put ALL our problems to rest once and for all!
And “correcting the conscience” is what Yoga is all about!
This is indeed the destination of the Yoga path and is guaranteed to deliver to us co-travelers eternal and infinite happiness when we reach there!
Let’s take one more baby step in that direction next Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment