Yard [007] : The Treasure Hunt

Dear Friends,

Namaste!

We said that our lives are similar to a game of “Treasure Hunt”. ‘Reservoir of Joy’ (or Happiness or Peace or Bliss or Well-being or Whatever-else-you-would-like-to-call-‘It’) is the ‘Treasure’ we are all continuously striving  for.

Let’s now explore how there is a perfect match between this game and Human Evolution not only in terms of the end-goal but also the intermediate steps.

                          

Step 0 – This step consists of the non-starters - people who are non-believers and hence not interested in playing the game. This non-belief can be either about the treasure itself in so far as they would still love to own the treasure but think no-one can ever get there. Or it can be about the steps. They think Life is an accident, a random occurrence of a series of events not necessarily interconnected. They think this game is a wild goose chase! If they have to get the treasure, they would as likely just bump upon it anyway.

Sadly, you can’t spend all your life watching TV munching popcorn and hope you will succeed Barrack Obama as the President of US! Hence it is only a matter of time before they get disillusioned.

This step is therefore known as “Yoga of Disillusionment (Vishaad Yoga)”.

Step 1 – In this step, people are willing to play ball. Either they are believers or skeptics (who want to prove their point by trying and failing) or simply have nothing to lose! So they roll up their sleeves, understand the rules of the game and get all set to give it a go.

They believe that their effort will lead to something. When they have started to play the game, they have accepted (sub)consciously that no progress is possible without some hypothesis – although it may well turn out to be ‘null hypothesis’.

By starting off on the foundation of this faith, these people are actually practising “Yoga of Faith (Bhakti Yoga)”.

Step 2 – This step is full of action. Once you have understood how to play the game, you perform a number of arduous tasks. As a reward for completing activities successfully, you get a “clue”. The clue may not make sense in isolation but you have learned that getting enough clues will enable you to put the jig-saw puzzle together. And what will enable you to get all the clues? Only the Right Action.

There is no short-cut! The rules are unrelenting, the hurdles seemingly insurmountable and the judges tough! You have to hack and plod your way through to get the next clue and the next.Your actions do not always yield intended results but you learn to take results in stride and keep doing what’s right.

In the process, you are following the “Yoga of Action (Karma Yoga)”.

Step 3 – Soon you discover you have enough clues. Just more and more action is not going to lead you any further! You need to now put the jig-saw puzzle together so that a map will emerge clearly indicating the route between the treasure and where you currently stand.

So you take a step back, go over all the pieces of jig-saw puzzle and patiently start constructing the map. Sometimes you need help – you take it and move on. At the end of the exercise, you not only have no doubts about the existence of the treasure but also have charted out an exact way to reach there.

Little do you know that, in executing this step, you have actually followed the “Yoga of Acquiring the Knowledge (Jnana Yoga)”.

Step 4 – All that remains now is for you to actually walk the route charted out in front of you and physically grab the treasure you have worked so hard to reach and so richly deserve. This may look like a deceptively simple step to take but there is always many a slip between the cup and the lip. In reality, this turns out to be the most difficult step in your journey. (Later on we will see why. Actually, all the steps narrated here have increasing level of difficulty.)

This step of ‘physically walking the route’ is also called “Yoga of Internalizing the Knowledge (Raja Yoga)”.

Step 5 – This is a pseudo-step where you have already acquired the treasure and won the game! All that remains now is continuous celebration. There is nothing further to achieve, nowhere else to go, no point to prove. You have become ONE with JOY.

This state is also popularly known as “Enlightenment (Nirvana)” and is also the pinnacle of Human Evolution where you have completed your transformation from a “Homo Sapien” to a “Homo Sapien Sapien (the Perfect Human Being)”!

So – how close are you to grabbing your treasure?? :)

Till next Tuesday…