Page 27 - NAMAH-Oct-2017

Namah Taking charge

human existence. Through this minuscule dawn through a growing awareness. In
power a thousand and one things need to others, the urge may be prompted by a crisis
be controlled. The task is too demanding or misfortune. Indeed, the catalyst for me
and one may find one’s life soon spiralling was illness although the realisation took
out of control. The ego is simply not capable many years to sink in. I guess that everyone
of juggling so many balls in the air. This is a is different. So this article is directed at
godsend because eventually the performance those whose time has come.
has to end and when it does, the individual
looks finally for something deeper in his Becoming conscious
or her being.
The first step in this process is to become
In truth though, with virtually everyone, conscious. “But for this one must work a
the ego is never totally relinquished. For little within oneself. One must withdraw from
many, the necessity is never recognised, the surface (2).” One has to know oneself.
while for some an uneasy arrangement This means reversing the entire orientation
between ego and soul is drawn which has of one’s consciousness. This reversal is
to be continuously readjusted throughout invariably a gradual process because a
every lifetime. There are different levels whole legacy of habit has to be reversed too.
of adjustment varying with each one’s It is a time of herculean effort. Here, in many
progress and evolution. Vanquishing the respects, one might feel oneself even less ’in
ego is a long-term process. If the balance charge’ than ever before as one finds oneself
goes awry and tilts towards ego, there is a oscillating uncertainly between a duality of
sense of greyness and dullness, a feeling of extremes. A foundation needs to be built
depletion and dissatisfaction. The degree and a start must be made. It was only self-
of control is very flimsy when one finds giving that saved me from oblivion when
oneself in this condition. Most people seem I embarked on this stage. Sometimes I felt
to meander through their lives in this sterile that a single gust of wind might have been
state; they never truly address the question. enough to destroy these tiny beginnings
In truth, the necessity will never be faced but thankfully there was a strand of faith
when the soul is not ready. that told me that self-giving was the best
way forward and protection. Nevertheless
“Almost totally, everybody lives on the I found myself rotating frequently between
surface, all the time, all the time on the surface. the different poises of tapasyaa and surrender
And for them it’s even the only thing which from the beginning, although I had fixed
exists — the surface (1).” on surrender as the basis of all my future
practice.
Meanwhile other souls are ripening and so
a jolt might come. It is a wake-up call and The sign that a decisive shift has been
should be interpreted as a sign of being achieved comes when we find ourselves
‘called’. The individual has then to rise up pulled out into the outer consciousness for
to a higher life or forfeit his or her destiny. one reason or another. These interruptions
Sometimes the necessity for change may are very frequent and can extend over long

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