Sometimes I wonder why we waste most of our lives in routine and unfulfilling relationships. We all feel that routine is very unfulfilling and yet we hardly take any steps to come out of the routine. We all see that most of our relationships are based on pretensions, yet we continue to spend time in those relationships. Probably we have very little connection with our soul and that is the reason why the routine keeps driving our lives.
Our condition is like an electron orbiting the nucleus which keeps orbiting for a long time as a routine. We too keep living the routine life with unfulfilling relationships almost the whole of our lives unless we get an escape velocity. Sometimes this escape velocity is just sufficient to settle us to the next orbit of routine. Sometimes, we cross a few orbits to settle into a different orbit of routine.
Can we examine why we settle down in these orbits and what is this orbiting doing to us? I feel that the first and foremost reason for settling in these orbits is the fear of the unknown. Known hell looks far more secure than the unknown heaven. Known slavery feels more secure than unknown freedom. Since we have lost that inner connection with the divine, we feel secure in the orbit. We feel secure with our family, relationships, jobs, business, wealth, and positions. They give us a lot of comfort in this world and that is the reason why we make efforts to get the desired positions, relationships, jobs, etc.
However, we miss a very subtle outcome of this holding and possession. On the surface, they make us secure, while in the background, our dependency on these things makes us insecure inside. That happens since at the back of our minds, we know that all these things are temporary. That is why the more comfort these things provide to us, the more our unconscious mind feels insecure about them. They just function merely as a poor substitute for the divine connection. However, since we have lost connection with the divine, we are caught in a tricky situation. If we leave the known security, despite knowing that it is making us insecure inside, we are at a loss. We don't know where to go and how to face the difficult times.
I feel that is why the most significant step in the process is observation. If we observe dispassionately, without the intervention of the intellect (which is so full of the material world), we will soon realize that every effort to gather material and psychological possessions is making us insecure inside. This very observation does magic. We get interested in something that is beyond the temporary. We make active efforts to know that. We get interested in people who can connect to the divine. We read their books and watch their videos.
Our intellect is the first one to be with the divine. Lakshmana never left Rama even while Rama was going to the forest. Neither he nor Rama thought for a minute to be together. That is how our intellect is the first one to connect to the divine connection. However, as it knows more and more about the divine world, it develops a tendency of intellectual arrogance. In those moments, it starts arguing with Parshurama without realizing that Parshurama also has the same source as Rama. It's the nature of intellect to live with duality. It dissects everything and in the process of dissecting, it often misses that every creation in the material world has the same source. The divine as an elder brother and a true friend always keeps it reminding the divine truth.
As intellect connects to the divine, the Mana (emotional mind) is not behind. It is very powerful. It feels quite insecure and helpless because of its lost connection with the divine. The moment it recalls that divine connection, it becomes very powerful like Hanumana recalling his lost powers after meeting Rama in Kishkinda. Once Mana reconnects to the divine, it works ceaselessly to carry out the work of the divine. Once Hanumana met Rama, he was always ready to carry out the work, howsoever difficult, for Rama without any second thought. He crossed the ocean and found the whereabouts of Sita.
Sometimes the intellect gets into the trap of Maya even after being near to the divine. That is what happened with Lakshmana while he was fighting the battle with Meghnatha. That is what happens with many people who connect to the divine through the intellect. The intellect gets trapped in the Maya of this world. In those moments, it is the Mana that brings the Sanjivani Booti. Similarly, when the intellect gets trapped in the illusion of duality, Mana holds on to the divine and brings the intellect out of the illusion of duality.
Slowly the effect of the connection of the intellect and Mana with the divine also comes to the storehouse of our past Samskaras (Chitta). Vibishana, who was full of doubts, in Lanka becomes sure and certain of meeting Rama when Hanumana meets him. That is how the Chitta gets an assurance of connecting to the divine. When Rama reaches Lanka, naturally, Vibhishana leaves Ravana and meets Rama and helps him in fighting the battle. That is how our Chitta also slowly and gradually connects to the divine.
When the Buddhi, Mana, and Chitta, all three of these, get aligned to the divine, there does not remain any doubt. There is no fear of the unknown. There is in fact nothing unknown. Probably, we have a choice to make at each moment. The choice is about the center of our life. We may choose material and psychological possessions or else we may choose the divine. So long we choose the first, we will keep orbiting around the nucleus like an electron merely having a choice of the orbit. The comparatively "not-so-lucky" and lazy people will have a smaller orbit and the "luckier" and hard-working will get a bigger orbit. If we choose the divine, we slowly become a free electron. This freedom may not be sudden because there may be strong memories of the choices made earlier, lying hidden in the deepest layers of our unconscious being.
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