Struggle
When the sensation of struggle emanates from internal conflict, the road to serenity requires shifting the internal balance by digging deep to figure out the ‘how and what’. When the struggle is due to external circumstances, if the road ahead seems challenging, the first step to serenity requires a choice: to change the course or meet the challenge. Your internal meter will tell you if you’ve made the right choice.
Behind the veil of Maya
Ancient Hindu scriptures refer to the veil of illusion as ‘Maya’. This veil, they say, is like a screen that creates a separation between our higher Self or consciousness and our physical being. It is Maya that keeps us attached to the belief that we are the persona that walks in life defined by a name, an occupation, a family etc. when truly, our higher Self is just as much a part of our ‘whole’ being.
How does one ‘truly’ believe in a ‘Power’ that we have not been able to define logically, describe with consistency or collectively understand for thousands of years. To believe that this thing which is beyond definition, beyond time and space is just as much a part of us as our physical body is a far stretch of mental logic.
The problem is that we have put our ‘minds’ on a pedestal! It is the primary means by which we are taught to make sense of the world! Our five senses allow us to perceive the world and the information is put into context in our brain. And ‘somewhere’ we have a mental make-up or construct, which we call our ‘mind’. We hold it so dear to us. We define ourselves by it. We protect it. We think that if our mind-set is secure we will feel safe. So many have the intense need to control our circumstances in order to keep proving our mind-set right.
Attachment to the mind
Ever since I was young, I always had a great curiosity to read, learn and understand about existence and God. I wanted to understand. I wanted to understand. I wanted to understand. I wanted to understand. No, this is not a typo, such was my yearning: repetitive, it never let off. “Help me understand”, was my only prayer or plea, since I was five or six years old.
It took another 20 years for something to click. I had been asking for the wrong thing! “Help me experience” – now, that would have been a more satisfying plea!
Herein lies the greatest challenge that many face. We believe that ‘knowing’ is related to the mind and understanding. That reading, analyzing, being verbose or being eloquent in discussing spiritual topics translates to being a spiritual person. ‘Knowing’ is not related to the mind, ‘knowing’ in this context is related to experience, to ‘being’, to ‘embodying’ and living the precepts or concepts that fill our minds.
Understanding can be important, it can serve some people by laying the foundation in preparation for ‘experiencing’. The hard part there is in letting go of this foundation that took so much time and effort to build. That foundation makes us feel so clever, gives us an ego boost, makes us feel accomplished, so why let it go? But if the goal is to ‘know’/ experience and not just ‘understand’, one must! Good thing we can do it a little bit at a time, but it requires consistency! Mindfulness, awareness, meditative practices are different tools and steps to take along the journey of detachment from the mind.
The veil of Maya is just that: attachment to the mind. Attachment to all that it displays and represents to us, the belief that the mind is all that we have and all we are defined by. We don’t have to live without meaning, without opinions, without goals, without relationships. Becoming a monk or an ascetic is not a requirement for living in connection with Spirit. We just have to be able to tap into Source and stay connected to the idea that we are more than an ego persona. We are far greater than that.
This image shows a lady sitting in stillness, turning inward. The veil of Maya is behind her. She is observing it but is not attached to it. She has a faint smile.
Observing the veil diligently will lead to the moment when one can just drop it, without resistance. And it will unveil something beautiful that can transform your life!
There lies your connection to ‘Source’ which is so powerful and so full of love. ‘Source’ shows us love so that we do not have to fear. It offers us support so we may let go of our ‘burdens’. It gives us strength that we can always rely on. It shows us non-judgment so that we can stop judging ourselves. It shows us that we are worthy of love so that we can love ourselves, right now just the way we are. Its light has the power to heal us; mind, body and soul.
All of this happens to us, so that we can share these gifts. When we no longer fear or perceive life as a ‘burden’, we can offer others strength. When we no longer judge ourselves, we let go of definitions and have no need to impose them on others. When we can fully love ourselves, we understand that our petty differences are too small to stand in the way of our love for each other. When we experience healing at the deepest fibers of our being, we shatter the barriers of our mind. We experience the power and just ‘know’ it to be true, beyond the confines of logic.
