Ishan Shivanand·Friday, August 5, 2016
My father always taught me the importance of saying no.
Learn to say no with confidence, he would say. But how can one say no to the
truth I would wonder? This was the question when I was naive. As I grew, the
question changed where does the truth come from? Who creates these universal
truths? After all they are handed down to us by men with all their
shortcomings, who think they are absolutely right. I have worked with
schizophrenics, they all believe they are right, all tyrants feel their truth
is absolute, all fanatics believe none is superior then their word.
Makes one think what is passed as truth may be nothing
more than an opinion, a general opinion, a mass belief, nothing to do with the
truth as one believes according to one's level of consciousness according to
one's IQ, hence once what was exotic and mythic like Zeus' thunderbolt becomes
simple in the form of electricity created by different charge in particles in a
cloud.
How does one know how able was the one who propagated
these truths that we so universally accept? Or was the purpose of the truth was
one with a more sinister nature like the truth told to me when I was a child in
the form of following lines "better not shout better not cry better not
pout I am telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town" a manipulating
truth told to children to keep them in check so they do not misbehave, a well
developed lie telling the child that Santa sees all and will give reward and
punishment according to the certain behaviour. Good and bad behaviour defined
by the whims of the parents. Only now I realise the trick being played on. But
then, are not so many truths about concept of God similar to the concept of
Santa will one day I wake up to realise that half the concepts real to me today
will turn to be a sham tomorrow. Were these truths created so society may bend
to the will of some tyrant who claimed only he knew will of God just like
parents make truths claiming only they know the will of Santa.
So are these truths or beliefs that I follow but the
question whose belief and why? Who benefits from me following these truths? I
will let you ponder for a while as you understand the world around you, a
virtual reality hidden beneath reality. For, your body may be surrounded by beauty;
one may find his minded clouded a slave of borrowed opinions.
But then the most revolutionary question appears - What
is a truth?
Is truth a solid inanimate static object or is truth an
evolving living entity dynamic? A simple mind may not see the difference
between a truth and a law and may debate that what about natural laws how can
they be dynamic? But is nature itself not evolving? Is climate not evolving?
Organism not evolving? And if so, should our understanding of these laws evolve
with the times or if we talk about truths what about the different layers of
truth, a man pointing to the sun says it’s a star. True. It's a ball of gas.
True. It's fire. True. It's hydrogen. True.
Again, so many layers of truth that if one starts
dissecting, one may find that one’s truth is but limited by one's
understanding. And so one may conclude that the past can be studied but the
future is dynamic, the future is unpredictable. So one may make assumptions
from past opinions.
One may even define the truth to an extent but the future
in it hides limitless possibilities. Treasure, whose key belongs only to the
dreamers, the ponderers, the seeker who want to find truth.
From this arises the final question - why does the seeker
want to find his own truth? Why he is not satisfied with the current beliefs?
Maybe the seeker is evolved. Maybe the seeker is a freak of nature, having
genetic material which makes his brain work harder than the rest or maybe the
seeker is just more industrious and wants something with a passion, blessed
with a drive more powerful than the rest of his counterparts. Survival of the
fittest.
So maybe that's why Buddha chose to find his own truth
even though he was born to a culture
Which In Itself claims to be complete? Something drove
him. Or why just Buddha? Anyone who has done anything, their head was wired
different. All the Kings who were not satisfied with their territory or the
saints who were not satisfied with their spiritual truths were all pioneers.
The only difference - their heart guided their ambition to either be saints or
conquerors. The conquerors with black hearts ready to acquire at any cost - May
it be the decimation of the conquered or the saints ready to assimilate with
and evolve the existing. So in both the cases they changed the timeline and
created a new truth, a new reality parallel to the timeline which would have
persisted if they had not interacted with it. Thus leading us back to the
question where does the truth come from and what was the motivation to sell
that truth to the public in the first place.
Interesting, is it not? So this means you either follow
someone's truth or you create your own truth. And hence I am on a quest to find
my own truth to create my own reality and yes this will make some people
uncomfortable as many like there truths statics and definite I understand their
plight hard work is not for everyone. We know pre-cooked, ready to eat food is
carcinogenic. Still people, who are too lazy to cook, buy that, will heat it,
eat and even feed their innocent kids this poison.
To such a person one must learn to say no. Only when one
learns to reject the negative opinions can one really pursue their dreams.
After all they are all opinions, all created in the image of their master, a
black heart having a black opinion and so on multiplied by infinitum. But then
won't I become vague? What will be the structure to my thoughts? How will I
model my life? What will be the nature of my existence till I find the truth?
Who will be the bridge?
"Guru gobind dou khare kake lagu pae
Balihari guru apne gobind dio milae "
To this query there is but one answer - my dear dear
guru, a guide of my choosing, the facilitator of my birth, the bridge between
my god and myself. For if I will be influenced by opinions, why be blinded by
the hateful opinions of conquerers? Why not choose the nourishing nature of
saintly opinions?
The knowledge that guides me that I have the power to
create my truth, the grace that teaches that truth is not what burdens but what
sets me free. But most of all in a world like concrete the knowledge which
empowers me to be the stubborn plant that breaks even the densest concrete to
embrace the sunlight.
And to resonate with that wisdom one must learn this
skill. The skill to refuse these negative opinions, the skill to shoo away
these haters like one shoos away rats, a skill as important to a spiritual
seeker as swimming is to a sailor.
So mark my words, the golden words of my guru, to all the
bad habits, to all men who resonate at a negative frequency, to all those who
like to bring others down, to those who love to gossip, to all who may deviate
me from my path.
TO ALL OF THEM LEARN TO SAY NO WITH CONFIDENCE!
For, if I must, why must I follow their truth when with
the help of the divine I can create my own truth - a heavenly mansion made with
bricks of love and light.
Learn to say no!
Be the flower that breaks out of the concrete.
Bless you my brother/sister
Namah shivay,
