Ramana Maharishi
In the story of the 6 blind men of Hindustan, each one described one of the elephant’s attributes in isolation. They perceived a wall, a snake, a spear, a tree and a rope. Putting it that way, however, they couldn’t figure out that they all examined an elephant. Metaphorically, we were these blind people in search of our true Self. Let’s make very sure that we do a lot better than them. GOD wants us to come Home. This world, life, and all the people we hang out with, are the means of getting there. If you are reading this article you are likely a spiritual traveler like us. You have dreams and aspirations to live in a better world, but how you ask. What exactly should be our mission? Will we make enough money following our heart? Should we stay in the job that support us economically but kills our soul?Are we letting others abuse ourselves in the name of spirituality? Relax, God’s instructions are clear enough. It just takes a little practice and openness to receive the message that life wants to communicate to us.
I am a spiritual coach and I always instruct my clients to find the Way. There is a red thread weaving though the fabric of our life story that is clearly visible for every spiritual traveler. Find it and follow it. Life starts cooperating when we embrace our idiosyncratic mission; we get access to informations that to others would seem like magic. Planet earth—and the people we hang out with—show us the Way to discover our true Self. We should take our mission seriously, but shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously. “God could save the world if He wanted”, the 19th century mystic Sri Ramakrishna used to say. It is in fact the opposite of what we used to think, we need life’s problems to realize that we are trapped in an illusionary world. When we face our mission, we have the opportunity to set our true Self free. Life is designed to have this impact on us. God’s world of maya was created to help us cut through the illusion. With this perspective, everyone we meet every day happily shows us the Way.
The six men from Hindustan lacked the vision to discover the elephant, and we are similarly blind-sighted by our fears, expectations and conditioning. We want to help. We abhor the greed and poverty that we see everywhere. We want to see everyone better off. That’s all quite all right, but everything that we see and experience is illusion. It is a world of make-believe. The people in the richest country in the world—USA—are also not any more happy than in poorer countries, hard as this is to imagine. What makes us happy is the knowledge that we matter; that we are embedded in a network of caring people who look out for each other. Most importantly, what makes us truly happy is to be in touch with God every step of the Way. Finding our life’s mission and embracing it will bring us this meaning and happiness. Do not worry how prestigious one path may appear over the other. Whenever passion, purpose and talent cross for you personally, God will show you the Way.
God has created this world for us to set us free. Life is here to rip off our mask, to show us all the baggage that we still carry around. Life encourages us to let go. So it turns out we can live in the best of all worlds. We can help the world with our talents, just as much as the world helps us to find God on the ‘battlefield of life’ so to speak. I had my Awakening in the stressful and busy world of financial markets. I can assure you that you don’t have to retreat to the remote corners of Nepal, you can find God anywhere. A world of magic opened up to me one day, and I wanted to tell others about my discovery. That was how my first book, ‘The Magnificent Experiment—The Magic of Connecting with your Tao’ was born. Over the years, however, I realized that even this magical Awakening was only an initiation of sorts. With all the magic that I experienced there also came the realization that I was still carrying a big pain body with me. On the days when I was disconnected from the Way, I suddenly felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. Luckily, it turns out that with every spiritual promotion our spiritual remuneration rises proportionally. A friend showed up just in the nick of time from the other side of the planet and helped me confront my inner pain body. Today, a decade into the Awakening process, I feel that I too have the strength and health to carry others on their paths just as I was once helped. In hindsight, it was life’s battle field that provided the injuries, the healing, as well as the transcendence, all in one go.
We never know exactly what our struggles are all about, but God does! Everything is perfect as is. Face your struggles patiently; discover life’s message for you, and embark on the quest you are born to do. Go forth and let your life’s mission set you free. The revolution within is the only hope for the world. Find your Self and change the world with it. A global Awakening has started. We are embedded in a network of light-workers who lift each other up. Gone are the days when individualism and confusion reigned, like the sad story of the six blind men of Hindustan; John Godfrey Saxe concluded his poem:
And so these men of Hindustan,
disputed loud and long.
Each in his opinion,
Exceedingly stiff and strong.
Though each was partly in the right,
and all were in the wrong!
Know that the Way protects you from this nonsense. Sadhguru once said, “Without being in constant exchange with the rest of the cosmos you cannot exist. The idea of individuality is an illusion.” We spiritual travelers have access to information that others simply overlook. Once the Awakening process gets a hold of us, all of life events, and the people we interact with become inter-connected. Life is here to set us free. Follow the Way, create the revolution within, and change the world with it.
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