Three Stories and Life

If you have a teacher who knows when and how to impart knowledge to the students then indeed you are truly blessed.

Being spiritual is not being serious or being uninvolved. It is about balance and being consciously & completely involved. Only when you are consciously and truly involved, you would notice the transient nature of life. And with that knowledge, you could ensue satvic Vairagya and can practice Udaseenatha in your worldly affairs.

“Anapeksha shuchir daksha udaseeno gatavyataha sarvarambha parityagi yo mad bhaktah sa me priyaha

Three stories that changed the way I think. All of them were told to me to address the questions at different times.

This is my life, how can I not stress?

The First is the story of King Janaka who calls his counsellors for an impromptu meeting at an unearthly hour because he dreamt being a beggar. His questions were

“Am I a King or “Am I a beggar? which is true ?”
“Is this dream state true, or is the waking state true?

Both the states are pretty convincing, isn’t it? When dreaming that seemed as real as life itself. He was confused as he had everything that he has in the waking state( I mean, in his dream, he had a body, sensory organs, mind, a story line, emotions, vulnerability, drama, feelings, people, ego etc)

We also dream but we never question. If that seemed real then maybe this also holds the same prominence as the other one. Perhaps the dreams are the way of Nature to shake us from the very shackles that we build around us by being so serious about this life here. We live as if we are here forever. I am not asking to be reckless but we don’t have to be dead serious. what if this life is nothing more than a dream?

If this is a more like a dream, then how do I live it?

The second story is that of a monk who refrains from even looking at a woman, carries a beautiful girl and helps her cross the river. Once they are on the other side, he puts her down, she thanks him and leaves. After a long walk, he reaches his hut only to be questioned by the other monks.

To that his answer was “I left her there itself. But it looks like you are still carrying her in your mind.”

If everybody could read the other person then we might stop looking for each other. We carry so much filth in our mind and turning spiritual is to clean that first and then learn to be in the “now.” Everybody has an offbeat drama unfolding before them each moment, nobody can teach us how to live them. There is no code, no norm, no structure but what matters is our “Intention” behind our actions.

Where am I stuck?

The third story is that of a holy river which confronts a huge obstacle in its path which splits that river into two separate streams. One branch flows towards the right was considered “holy” and worshipped by people. The other abstained and was considered not so holy.

Ganges splitting two streams

The river with time got two different names and identified itself to be separate and disremembered that it was One. (Just like the belief of goddess Lakshmi and Alakshmi)

We are just like that river, we identified with the common belief. We forgot what we were before we landed into our mother’s tummy. When we came out we were taught and told that we are this and that and slowly we got identified and attached. Maybe before the crash landing, we were one. All the identities in this journey can be ours but Can it be us?

Don’t you think we should take some time to dwell into these? What if we wake from this too and realize that it was only a dream? So much of sweat, agony, stress, jealousy, wrongdoings and all this for just a DREAM.

What if life is not a dream? We still came with an expiration date. And, trust me, we will not remember a thing of this life even if we come back. So witness the ride while you are here 🙂