A Letter to Life...
Dear Life,
I love you! Your sheer presence is an invaluable bliss. I adore you, just like the light adores the sun. As the light does not have any expectations from the sun, a detached soul does not have any expectation from the life. It views life in black and white beauty, a poem to be recited, a song to be sung and a moment to be cherished.
The happy is not the one, who has sought, or even, gave. The happy is the one, who is still, non-judgmental, has witness orientation (or attitude), and has endured pain, suffering and happiness, without getting into the the meaning of them.
The problem with meaning is that it does not capture the beauty holistically. The beauty must be celebrated in its purest form, without attaching any adjectives, tags and labels to it. A butterfly is simply beautiful. When you compare it with other butterfly, or when you analyse its body's color combination, you fail to see the inherent beauty of life that it carries with itself. The love story of the flower and butterfly has the best version of romance, that even Shakespeare would find it difficult to express, through his writings.
One is alone, because, one has avidya(ignorance). Ignorance is bliss, as long as, it is at the state of "nothingness". When that "nothingness" becomes "somethingness", it leads to all the vices. The virtue lies in either being empty, or being full. Being full does not mean there is no space for something beautiful. It only means, no further addition of material experience or exposure is required. But the smell of the fresh flower, and the poetry of the sunset can always be added into this nothingness or fullness.
The knowledge, then, is knowing, that the states of 'being empty' or 'being full' are the one and the same. They are not synonymous or two sides of a coin. They both represent the same coin. And in the end, the presence and absence of the coin has no relevance. What will matter then, is nothing!
It is about getting lost. Getting lost into the glory of the Universe, or getting lost into the self. You may choose to get lost into the sea, or into that drop of the water, that is the sea in itself. As Rumi rightly points out, it is about realising that you are not a drop in the ocean, you are entire ocean in the drop. To an entity, which may choose to call itself a liberated mind or a liberated soul (or anything else for that matter), it matters not if he is a drop of the water or a sea. In the end, it is just about getting drown! The beauty of the ocean is at the bottom. The depth of the ocean cannot be measured. And that is why it is beautiful. An artist's tears are also beautiful for the same reason.
The truth is always beautiful. The seeker will realize the truth when he forgets that he is a seeker. One has to become the truth, and not merely realize it. Realization is just a part of the process. In the end, of course, it is to be realised, that there is no end.
Who are you? is not the question. The question is, what is beyond that material and spiritual dimension of identity. The idea is simple. It is about knowing yourself. It is about being Brahman for an Advaita (non dualism) follower. It is about being one with the Allah for a Sufi. And it is about being nothing for a follower of Zen. The Sufi, The Zen and The Advaita Vendanta are then, nothing, more than, the river, which changes, its name, as it passes through different regions. But a river is just a river. It keeps flowing. It does not worry if a region benefits for farming from its waters, while, it brings flooding to the other area. It keeps singing its own song of Universe, till it becomes the sea. It is all the sea, in the end, you see!!!
