The Real Reality

I

The Awakened Souls see the world in its true colours. They see from the level of the spirit, immanent in the world. But what do we do? We see it topsy-turvy. Why? We are not yet awakened to the Reality. The Reality in us is yet confined and cribbed in the body. We have not been able to separate the soul in us from the body. Hence, we look at the world from the physical level only. This is the great hiatus between the two ways of looking at the world. We have taken the physical mould as something real and, as such, the physical world around, too, seems to be real. The scriptures, however, tell us that the world is unreal. By Reality they mean what is eternal, unchangeable, and permanent ? Sat. 

The worldly-wise say: 

If there is any paradise on the face of the earth, it is here. Oh, it is here and nowhere else.

They generally tell us: 

Sweet are the pleasures of this world; who knows what lies in the beyond.

Babar, the first Mughal Emperor of India, would open his drinking bouts with his favourite expression: 

Oh Babar! drink life to the lees. Who knows when we may not be.

This is an Epicurean way of looking at life ? eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow ye may die. This, then, is one way of looking at life. The other is that of the Sages and Seers. They do not speak from the level of intellect. They do not give philosophical dissertations. They are, however, very good observers. They speak from the level of common-sense. They see the world drifting into changing colours. They look at our pitiable condition, and from the anguish of Their heart give a clarion call to stop where we are. 

Man, like a coin, has two sides. He is an embodied soul. The soul is his Real Self, but the body is not though he possesses it. The body is the valuable possession of the human soul that dwells in it. It is the temple of God. It has a Divine Purpose to fulfil. And what is that purpose? It is to solve the riddle of life ? the Life-Principle, responsible for the creation of the universe. One can certainly know this Life-Impulse if he were to search for it within himself. How can one do it? One Who has Himself solved this riddle can help us to do likewise. 

It is a matter of common observation that human life does not run smoothly. We are the play-thing of what we call chance. Everyday we pass through various vicissitudes of life. We are ever revolving in the wheel of life. There is not a single soul who is happy with his lot. 

Kabir tells us: 

Being in the flesh, no one is happy; I have not seen one who may be really happy.

As we have identified our Self with the body, the ever-changing body, we cannot be truly happy. 

Nanak also says likewise: 

Oh Nanak! the whole world is in the throes of sorrows and sufferings.

The Real Happiness then comes from right understanding of the True Values of life. Everyone is in affliction of one kind or another. Some are suffering from physical ailments: some from indigence and poverty, penury and want; some from mental obsession, memories of past regrets and fears for the future. 

When questioned if anyone was happy, the Great Teacher replied: 

Yes, one who is devoted wholly and solely to the service of a Saint.

We must then know what distinguishes a Saint from others. One who has resolved the enigma of life is a Saint, for He looks on the world from the level of soul. He is gifted with correct perception and, as such, is always happy and so also those who remain in His company. 

We know a lot about our physical Self. We are sentient beings. We are the living temples of God. We are nothing but microgods. We are endowed with the same attributes as of God, though these may be on a smaller scale. We are the children of God, but unfortunately we are beset with mind and the senses. We do not know that the Self in us is enlivening the body, and it is in the light of that Self that we live, move about, and have our very being. The body, mind, and intellect all depend for their very working on the Light of the Atman. This is what we have to realise, and the sooner we do it the better it would be for us. If we do not do this, we would ever be in difficulties. Unfortunately, we have reversed the order of things. The sense-enjoyments have taken hold of the senses; and the senses, in their turn, have captivated the mind. Again, the mind has the intellect in its control. Behind them all is the Self, the rider in the body which is being swiftly whirled by the powerful steeds of the senses, out of control of the mind and the intellect. We have, therefore, to apply a reverse gear. For this art, we require the help of a Gurumukh ? a really worshipful disciple of the Master. Those who realise the need for reversion or recession always pray: 

Oh Lord! grant us the company of a Gurumukh, a close contact with a Sadh (Disciplined Soul) and dye us in the fast colour of Naam. Oh my Beloved, take me to such Souls in Whose company we may think of nothing else but Thee.

This, then, is the only way. For right guidance we have to approach the God-Power in us; and this Power, in its turn, would direct the intellect in the right direction. Enlightened by the God-Power, intellect would control the sense-ridden mind. This is how the human machinery is to be set right. We are the living soul in the body. 

Kabir tells us: 

Oh Kabir! the soul is from God.

And again, 

The Self belongs to the house of God.

The soul then has quite a high birth and a proud lineage; but unluckily it has fallen in love with the material mind and has thus debased and disfigured itself beyond recognition, all forgetful of its Real Source. 

When we come across an Awakened Person, we surrender our intellect unto Him. Under His guidance, the intellect grows stronger from day to day and begins to judge things aright. Then we begin to hear the small little Voice in us ? the Voice of Conscience. At every step It gives us a correct lead. If we attend to this little Voice of Conscience, all goes well with us. But when we bypass this imperial wall, its Voice gradually grows dimmer and dimmer until we cease to hear It altogether. This means going ? back to the old way of life which irresistibly takes us into the fields of sense-enjoyments. And, once again, we find ourselves into difficulties. 

A True Devotee of a Saint sets his house in order. He does not put the cart before the horse. This then is the right understanding. All people in the world are dyed in the colour of the world. When the Awakened Souls come, They address not to others but to themselves ? Their own body and mind. The body is our first companion when we come into the world. Then along with it there are the bodily senses; and they, too, are to be addressed and admonished: 

Oh my body, what hath thou earned since thy advent into the world?

We come into the world for self-realisation and God-Realisation. If we do not do this, we are no better than sheep and goats that nourish a blind life in the brain. The body and bodily adjuncts like mind, intellect, and the Pranas cannot help us in this respect. It is only the Atman, the sentient being in us, that can apprehend the Power of God working in the body and keeping the body and Soul together. 

My Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, used to illustrate this point very beautifully by a parable of a monkey and a goat. 

The housewife would milk her cow and go out to attend to her household chores. In her absence, the clever monkey, though tied with a long rope, could yet manage to go near the pail, drink the milk, and then smear the goat?s mouth with milk. When the lady saw the pail empty, she would, mistaking the goat for a culprit, give him a beating. The monkey would sit quietly and enjoy the scene.

This is what happens with us in everyday life. The intellect is being led by the mind and the senses into the wrong direction; and the Jiva-Atman, as enveloped in the intellect, suffers the consequences of the acts committed by the mind. It is thus the embodied soul that bears the ill effects imputed to it through the courtesy of the cunning mind. The world is a play of the mind, and mind alone is responsible for our deeds.