Vivekananda famously said, ‘Dare seek truth, even through hell ‘. Yet it is certainly an extraordinary challenge for anyone to grapple with the subject of truth, and so it will come as no surprise that this has been a popular exploration among philosophers and prophets.
For the purpose of this discussion, we can apply a simple principle of nature to start the process. The principle is, ‘when one is in a wrong posture, the individual experiences pain. When the posture is corrected, the pain subsides’. When we live a life in falsehood, pain will follow, but when we live a life in truth, there would be no pain and no sorrow of any kind. This can be a simple guiding principle that we can use for our exploration.
Truth is essential for peace and happiness. The central message of truth is that we are souls. We are indestructible, incorporeal beings – nothing at all can ever harm us. In this awareness, we can see the entire physical existence as a movie; the soul is watching the movie. The story of the movie cannot harm the soul, not even slightly. This awareness creates the experience of silent bliss and connects the soul to the richness of the heart – the experience of silent contentment and fullness.
In our ordinary awareness, the soul is not conscious, and, in that inner darkness, ego rules our lives. Unfortunately, the ego has an inherent mentality of a ‘victim’ and a ‘beggar’. When the ego looks at life, the ‘victim’ will be looking for dangers, and the beggar will be looking for ‘coins’. All human misery has its roots in this ego perspective. This shows us clearly that the right posture, or truth, is soul consciousness and the wrong posture is ego consciousness.
We, of course, expect spirituality to be based on truth. Yet, even after knowing the truth, we inadvertently get tripped up in our efforts to change our lives and follow that path of truth. The truth remains as if in a locker of the intellect. It remains ‘known’ but it is not used. Why would someone keep something so precious locked away and not use it to its full advantage?
When we begin our spiritual efforts, the soul is not conscious. Therefore, it can only be the ego that makes spiritual effort. If the soul was conscious, no effort would be required. It is this effort-making ego that prevents us from living the truth. The ego knows that if we live our lives in truth, and become soul conscious, it will die. In this world, no one wants to die, so also ego. The ego has no problem making great plans for spiritual efforts. It will discuss, read, write books, go on pilgrimages, but has no intention of living the truth. The ego will not take that final step. The ego, in essence, is determined to sabotage our sincere efforts because, for the ego, it is a question of life or death.
We only get results when we take that final step and actually come into soul consciousness. If we go by the process of ego-driven analysis, it will probably never happen. So, the clever step for us is to ‘just do it’; just move into the truth and see from the perspective of the invisible traveller, now! This spiritual journey is a journey of one second.
In soul consciousness our attitude and vision have a great deal of power. The silent language of the conscious soul reaches other souls. This is the power of truth and it is the answer, to freedom from all pain and sorrow, for the self and for the world.
Dr Prashant Kakoday coordinates the Centre for Integral Health and the activities of the Brahma Kumaris Inner Space, in Cambridge, UK.
