We believe that you are aligned with your true purpose and living your life the way you deserve! Wow!!!
We have reached half of the way of “Discover Yourself” journey. In first 2 sessions, we have got clarity about…
1) Does God exist?
2) Getting eyes to see the God.
Now we have the basic understanding that yes God exist and to see him we need to have bonafide authority (शब्द प्रमाण) which can lead us to the absolute truth.
In our 3rd session of ‘Discover Yourself’ gonna be very eye-opening and one promise what I can give is after reading this you will be able to understand reality and will able to come out of many illusions.
Our journey to the discovery of self through the science of spiritualism took an awesome turn when we ventured into the beautiful world of vedas. Vedic wisdom is very profound and proficient. It teaches you great things and deeply dwells on the basic nuances of life. The session began with a powerful question:- how a man is different from animals and what makes human species more special as compared to animals?
I was wondering that “what is there to deliberate upon it as it is very simple.” Man is more intelligent than other animals and is better equipped with the tools of logic and reasoning. He is also blessed with better ability to think and comprehend things in a better way.
There is where the irony lies.
We humans always have the misconception that we are superior and we tend to forget that some of the animals are blessed with rare features which we are completely devoid of. There are numerous examples such as dogs are blessed with unique smelling powers, owls can see vividly during night, elephant possesses great physical prowess and likewise so, we can not just boast of our intellect. Rather there are four common activities between both man and animals.
Eating
Sleeping
Mating
Defending
Both carry out these activities purely because of the survival instinct. Then, where does the distinction lies? The answer to this is in one of the slokas mentioned in the shastras:
आहार निद्रा भय मैथुनं च, Nसामान्यमेतत् पशुभिर्नराणाम् ।
धर्मो हि तेषामधिको विशेष: धर्मेण हीनाः पशुभिः समानाः ॥
Food, sleep, fear, and mating. These acts of humans are like animals. Of them (humans), dharma (right conduct) is the only special thing, without dharma humans are also animals. Therefore, what distinguishes a man from other animals is ‘dharma’. Here dharma does not mean religion. What it means is selfless devotional service to the supreme Godhead personality.
According to shastras, the real salvation lies in the uninterrupted, consistent, and unconditional love towards the almighty without any purpose or motive. If dharma is missing then there is no difference between man and animal.
The point from where the human civilization starts is actually because of the inquisitive nature of man where he posses certain relevant inquiries in life, such as:
Who am I?
Who is God?
What is my relationship with him?
Where did i come from?
What will happen after death?
Why am i suffering?
If you observe these questions then you will be able to understand that they do not come on their own. They are the result of the enlightenment that has descended on us not only in the present lifetime but gathered, understood and acquired over the previous lifetimes also. The more the higher consciousness, the more enriched to next lifetime.
Spirituality is self – awareness. This is aptly discussed in one of the slokas of the Bhagavad Gita: 2nd chapter – 13th shloka
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा | तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ||
This explains that just as the embodied soul continuously passes from childhood to youth to old age. Similarly, at the time of death, the soul passes into another body, the wise are not deluded by this, but the pertinent question here is, how much self-awareness am I having about it? If we deeply investigate our lives, despite all the technological advancement, we are still miserable rather we are more anxious, distressed, depressed and even more prone to suicidal tendencies.
What we need to realize is whosoever we are: rich, poor, famous, infamous, professional, non-professional, theist, atheist, good or bad. We all will face these four real problems in our life: birth, death, old age, and diseases. One who can perceive birth, death, old age and disease as real problems are truly knowledgeable.
This is wonderfully explained in the 13th chapter – 12th shloka.
अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम् | एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा ||
which means, humbleness; freedom from hypocrisy; non-violence; forgiveness; simplicity; service of the guru; cleanliness of body and mind; steadfastness; and self-control; dispassion toward the objects of the senses; absence of egotism; keeping in mind the evils of birth, disease, old age, and death; non-attachment; absence of clinging to spouse, children, home, and so on; even-mindedness amidst desired and undesired events in life; constant and exclusive devotion toward me; an inclination for solitary places and an aversion for mundane society; constancy in spiritual knowledge; and philosophical pursuit of the absolute truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to it, I call ignorance.
If we deeply analyze our lives, we are constantly tormented by three types of klecas (क्लेश):
Adhyathmika (internal causes):
It means we suffer from miseries due to our mind and body. e.g : suicidal tendencies, cardiac arrest, depression attacks.
Adhibhautika (external factors):
It means we suffer from miseries due to other living beings. e.g: terrorism, social evils.
Adhidaivika (divine causes):
It means we suffer from miseries pertaining to fate, unseen forces and natural calamities. e.g: weather adversities, thunderbolt, earthquakes.
It’s very strange that we have done wonders in technology and medical sciences, still our prospects of good health and luxury to live a happy and healthier life are thwarted by newer and newer diseases. Though science has been able to provide certain stop-gap solutions to the prevailing miseries of the world, it cannot completely eradicate them.
The concept of life and death is beyond human comprehension and scientific research and analysis. The apt example we can quote here is despite the tremendous revolution in the cosmetic industry,
Can cosmetic industry defy old age? and can scientific advancement stop suffering? The answer is no, because science can provide superficial patch-up solutions but not permanent ones.
Nobody is above nature and its laws, we all are equal in the eyes of the lord. Sometimes a question comes in the mind, “why do even great personalities suffer?” one of the famous examples, we can quote here is, Muhammad Ali who once said, “I am the greatest”. After a few years, he suffered from parkinson’s when he was not having the strength to hold a small pen also, which shows that diseases can occur to anyone irrespective of one’s strength and success.
The great lesson I have learned is if we humans follow the righteous path and the follow the right conduct then every misery of life will fade away one day. We suffer because of our sinful tendency to break God’s laws and if we will feed our mind with right thoughts, perform right action and build a right mindset, we will have prosper and will live a peaceful life. The ultimate salvation lies in living a life adorned with the right values and right principles and not carrying an ostrich mentality.
Life is a journey, live it beautifully…
In the end, I would like to conclude with some awesome realisations that I received during the session:
Believe in the eternity: life is temporary, enjoy and explore every moment of it and move ahead to the next beautiful destination.
Why focus on unimportant things?
We should not waste our life in small and petty things.
Life should be meaningful and should be spent thoughtfully and wisely.
Prioritization of possibilities: we must prioritise things and more the streamlining, more productive and prosperous the life would be.
Proper orientation: life should be given a proper orientation and direction so that it adds value to the dreams and the goals.
In life, direction is more important than speed: there is no point in running for an aimless, fast-paced lifestyle imbued with a rat race.
Life should aim at rekindling wisdom and reviving love…
Let me share one line which has clicked me during the session and it has open my eyes to see reality and remove the illusion from my life.
“Life is a preparation” and “death is an examination.”
We believe that you must have got many answers as I have got during the session. so let’s learn and implement the absolute truth of life.
Hare Krishna!!!
About Dr Gazal Goyal Bansal
Founder and CEO, Life Coach and Speaker, Dr. Gazal Bansal is a
Doctorate in Political Science, UGC (JRF), a Gold Medalist, Certified ISO 22000 Lead Auditor, a Licensed Practitioner of NLP from The Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (TM) & a Pranic Healer.
As a spiritual evangelist and a practical thinker, she is a radical enthusiast and a firm believer in the philosophy of conceptual pragmatism, logical reasoning, and the spiritual energy matrix. She is a staunch believer of the fact that before you speak, your energy speaks.