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 break out of it. We all see that most of our relationships are built on pretension, yet we continue to spend time in them. We probably have very little connection with our souls, which is why 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 a routine life with unfulfilling relationships for almost the whole of our lives unless we reach escape velocity. Sometimes this escape velocity is just sufficient to settle us into 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 into these orbits and what this orbiting is 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, which is why we make efforts to attain desired positions, relationships, jobs, etc.
However, we miss a very subtle outcome of this holding and possession. On the surface, they make us feel secure, while in the background, our dependence on them makes us feel insecure. That happens because, in 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 it makes us feel 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 realise 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 a concerted effort 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 to be with the divine. Lakshmana never left Rama, even when Rama went to the forest. Neither he nor Rama thought for a minute about being together. That is how our intellect is the first one to connect to the divine. 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 realising 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, it often overlooks the fact that every creation in the material world has the same source. The divine, as an elder brother and a true friend, always keeps reminding it of the divine truth.
As intellect connects to the divine, the Mana (emotional mind) is not left 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, however difficult, for Rama without any second thought. He crossed the ocean and found Sita's whereabouts.
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 Hanuman meets him. That is how the Chitta gains assurance of connection to the divine. When Rama reaches Lanka, naturally, Vibhishana leaves Ravana, meets Rama, and helps him fight 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 centre of our life. We may choose material and psychological possessions, or else we may choose the divine. So long as we choose the first, we will keep orbiting the nucleus like an electron, merely having a choice of 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, as strong memories of earlier choices may lie hidden in the deepest layers of our unconscious.
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