Page 50 - NAMAH-Apr-2019

Namah Vol. 27, Issue 1, 24th April 2019

honed, cannot even begin to comprehend the the peace and joy we seek. It doesn’t take
great mysteries of life and death. long to find examples of great beauties and
materially commanding humans who, driven
What is the way-out of this endless maze? by relentless angst, took their own lives in
Well, that depends on who we are, in terms despair. Why? Simply because they took
of our karmic predilections and ability to the unreal for the real and failed to see that
understand subtle truths. For those who beneath their suffering was pure gold.
cannot grasp the simple but sophisticated
teachings of jnana (Eastern wisdom), there Which leads me to the critical Advaitic
are a multitude of paths we can take, all of definition of the words ‘real’ and ‘unreal’ —
which, if sincerely followed, will, according to real is that which is permanent and lasting,
the great sage, Ramana Maharshi, eventually the unreal is that which comes and goes and
lead us to investigate the nature of our own is ephemeral in nature. But once we begin
Self, which is blissful, immortal and aware. to truly discriminate between that which
gives us genuine and lasting pleasure, and
Some of us are gripped so hard by the that which provides momentary flashes of
sharp claws of ego that we cannot see or happiness, but ends up by only giving us
think clearly. Think sociopath, psychopath, pain, willy-nilly we are led to the treasure
genocidal dictator, voracious entrepreneur, that is our inner being. In truth, and I swear
egomaniacal political leader, etcetera, ad by this for I have had personal experiences
nauseam. (As the Scottish poet Robert Burns that have convinced me, higher beings are
said, “God give us the gift to see ourselves always hovering around, waiting for us
as others see us”). Yes, clear seeing is the to become ready for the greatest task of
beginning of the inner path. At some point all — which is to merge the finite egoistic
we must admit, if only to ourselves, that self that we believe we are, with the grand
nothing external has managed to give us and immortal Self.

Mira Prabhu was an inspiring spiritual writer, novelist and blogger living in Tirruvannamalai who died
from cancer in January, 2019.

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