Probably, there are only two ways of living. First, to live as a Bhogi, and second to live as a Yogi. A Bhogi seeks something from every action he performs. He eats food for taste or to be strong. He works hard in the school to get an entry to a good college. Works hard at the college to get a good placement. Works hard on the job to get increments and promotions. He forms relationships with different people so that these relatives stand with him in the tough times. He takes care of the kids so that kids may take care of him in old age. He gathers information and knowledge so that he may boast of the same and may feel proud. He helps other people so that society considers him to be a good person and he gets heaven post-death. He prays to God so that he gets whatever he wants. Everything is an investment for a return.
In the process, the focus is always on the future. What am I
going to get from this investment or hard work? This question remains at the forefront
always. The memories of the past keep playing in his mind and with his focus set on seeking, he keeps calculating the expected rewards of the work he does. There
is no doubt that he gets what he focuses on but in the process, misses the
entire present. The present is just an investment for some future gain and when
that gain is materialized in the future, the focus shifts to another future.
A Bhogi lives thirsty throughout his life and dies thirsty.
It is because of the simple reason that this thirst can never be quenched. The
universe started with a big bang and the known size of the universe today is
around 94 billion light years in diameter. That means if light (that travels at
the speed of 3,00,000 Km/second starts traveling from one end, it will take 94
billion years to reach the other end. That is very difficult to even imagine. The
Earth would be of the size of one grain of sand on Earth if the Universe is of
the size of the Earth. Even after so much of expansion, if the universe is not
satiated, how can our desires in the external world be satiated. That simply means
that we will live thirsty and die thirsty. The biggest of the film stars,
politicians, and bureaucrats take shelter of Babas after achieving everything
in life because “Ye di mange more”. Also, death is eternal truth and once
everything is achieved, it is very difficult to bear physical suffering and
death. It is equally difficult to bear crisis in relationships.
On the other hand, a Yogi lives in a witness state. He has no seeking. He just witnesses the interplay of different forces of nature without reacting to them. He is one with consciousness and realizes that all the forces of nature emerge from the same consciousness. He understands that life is like a drop of water evaporating from the ocean to form a cloud and death is like it coming back to the ocean in the form of a drop of rain. A Yogi has a unique perspective of the world. What looks like trouble to the world looks like an opportunity to grow to the Yogi. What looks like a loss to the world appears to be a gain to the Yogi. It is because the Yogi can see what a Bhogi can not.
I recently listened to a video by Anita Moorjani who had a near-death experience she miraculously recovered from her deathbed when doctors told her that she would not survive beyond 24 hours. She explains this world with the analogy of a big warehouse where different things are stacked on huge shelves and the warehouse does not have any light. We have only one torch in our hand and look at one of these shelves and feel that this is life. A Yogi is one, who can see this warehouse completely lit and therefore can see so many possibilities which we can not see. That is why his perspective is completely different than others who can see just a small portion of the warehouse. Life is also like that warehouse that has infinite possibilities and since we can see only a few of those, we get fixated on them when there is some challenge or trouble with the known world, and we feel stress and anxiety.
It's quite difficult to be busy with routine life and at the same time explore the warehouse. When we become busy with our routine life, our attention gets limited to a shelf of the warehouse. The range of the torch in our hand also reduces due to its misuse. There is no doubt that is quite difficult to be busy with the routine and at the same time have the capacity to have a larger view of life. At some stage in life, we have to review where is this routine taking us. The moment we take a halt and look around, reality starts revealing itself. Till that time, the limited reality appears to be absolute to us and we keep running after the goals and targets we set for ourselves due to that limited awareness. We are always free to make a choice.
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