How do we make decisions? There are two broad types of decisions. We make some decisions consciously while we make many decisions unconsciously. Some examples of conscious decisions are decisions with respect to career, marriage, buying a home, selecting a vehicle, destination for a tourist place, and so on. Some examples of unconscious decisions are our choice of food at a party, the way we click with some individuals and not with others, our interest in a particular book when we visit a bookstore and the way we pick our hobbies. In fact, the dividing line between the conscious and the unconscious world is also quite blurred. Some of our decisions seem to be made by our conscious mind, but the unconscious mind plays a great role in the background.
In Mahabharata, whether it was Duryodhana who made the decision to fight against Pandavas, or it was the ambition and insecurity of Dhritrastra that shaped the psyche of Duryodhana and that is why Duryodhana apparently made the decisions that Dhritrastra wanted him to take. The content of the conscious mind appears to be an offspring of the unconscious mind. Similarly, the contents of the unconscious mind appear to be the mirror image of the society we live in and the people we spend time with. If that is the case, why children born in a family are so different. In that case, ideally, they should behave the same way. While in reality, we see many siblings having quite opposite behavior.
I feel that there are always two different movements that keep going within all of us. One is the movement of the soul and the other is the movement of the matter. The sum total of the two decides what we are and how we behave. An FM radio in Delhi may catch any of the frequencies that are being transmitted in Delhi. Suppose there are 10 different FM channels, the songs we listen to on a particular radio set will depend upon what frequency is set on the radio set. However, the same FM radio, when placed in Mumbai will play different songs even when the frequency is the same. The inner setting of the radio set is the movement of the soul and the outer transmission is the movement of the matter.
That is the reason why the siblings may have different inner settings (movement of the soul) and that is the reason why even when they are born and brought up in the same ecosystem, they may have very different ways of living lives. On the other hand, two persons born in very different families may have the same inner setting and they may tune into the same FM channel. That is also the reason why some people may have the same movement of the soul and yet think so differently because they have been born and brought up in quite different cultures.
Generally, we are quite unaware of these two movements. We are aware of a very limited portion of the whole of the spectrum. We call this band the conscious mind. However, we remain unaware of the majority of the spectrum for almost the whole of our lives and call that the world of the unconscious or divine. It broadly comprises the following three elements:
1. Our mind is capable of tuning in to any of the frequencies being transmitted by different FM channels which we have not tuned into so far.
2. Each FM channel is also capable of broadcasting so many new things that it has not broadcasted so far.
3. We tuned in to many such channels earlier, listened to them, and have forgotten them now.
Generally, we get fixated on a particular FM channel and the channels also get fixated on a particular type of song. However, possibilities are infinite for both the radio set and the FM channels. There may be some radio sets that may connect to all the FM channels of the world through the internet. Similarly, there may be some channels that may spread their transmission throughout the world. Somebody may carry very strong karmic impressions from past lives or make very strong karma during their present life and may tune into a particular channel and get stuck there. The growth of such a soul would be confined and narrow. On the other hand, some other souls may not be fixated on a channel and may like to explore not only the local channels but also the channels throughout the globe. Ultimately, we are all here in this world to explore a wide variety of experiences. The less evolved souls get fixated on particular experiences and keep seeking their repetition and when they don't get it, they become unhappy, anxious, and depressed. While on the other hand, the more evolved souls like to explore a wide variety of channels and do not get stuck on any.
In the domain of the known, the conscious, decisions appear to be quite easy to make. We are sure of what we want. We just want to listen to the same song again and again. If an FM channel is playing the same, we tune in to that channel. Otherwise, we become sad and restless, and if we are unable to listen to the same song for some time, we become stressed and depressed. We try to upgrade our radio sets so that we can tune into more and more channels and listen to the songs of our choice. However, when we are done with our choices of the songs, and come in an exploration mode, choices are quite blurred. We are not sure. We see some force of nature taking us somewhere but we are not sure where we are going. Because the song it wants us to hear has never been heard by us. Whenever we trust that force of nature and allow it to tune in to a new channel, it takes our life to an altogether new trajectory. We grow beyond what we can imagine. However, we will have to learn to discriminate between the call of the divine and the unconscious grip of the desires. The more we examine ourselves the more such discrimination develops.
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