Waking up - Part 3

This is the third and final part of our three-part article named 'Waking up'. As before, please do not read this article before reading the first article followed by the second article. They put this article into perspective.

Now, we shall briefly explore how we live our lives after waking up to our True Nature. The intention of this article is not to offer any advice on how we should be living our lives, no. We shall merely elaborate a tiny bit on how to apply Self-knowledge to our everyday lives.

Behind the mask

All of us have dreams from time to time. Some of our dreams are not as nice to experience, while some other dreams... well, they seem to be quite pleasant! 

Nevertheless, in a normal dream, we feel that everything we experience is real. The experience seems to be as real as the waking state, and in that moment, it seems to be impossible to distinguish between 'real-life' and an illusion. 

Does this sound familiar?

On the other hand, those of us who had lucid dreams before, know that the experience differs to normal dreaming. When we become lucid in a dream, we 'wake up' in the dream. We realize that we are the dreamer, and not the character in the dream.

This means that even though the dream carries on, we know that it is just a dream and we know that we are completely free from whatever happens in the dream. We know that it is not real, and that it is all just projections of our minds. All of it, existing only inside of the mind. 

Consider this for a few moments...

Now, we can apply this same understanding to the experience of waking up to our True Nature. The dream goes on, the Divine Play still happens, but we know that first and foremost, it is all a dream, an illusion. Secondly, we know that the character we are playing in this dream, is not who we truly are.

With this sense of Self-awareness which remains known to us, we gradually cease to identify with the mask we are wearing. We know who we are behind the mask, and this brings us internal peace and happiness. With this lasting inner peace and happiness, we can participate in this play without getting caught up in the role we are playing. We can play any role, without our inner peace being disturbed. 

When we don't know who we are, the rope appears as a snake.
When we know who we are, we realize the rope for what it is.

Old habits

Some of us may have the idea that as soon as we discover God within ourselves, or as soon as we discover our True Nature, that this is the end of the spiritual path. We may think that as soon as we know who we truly are, there is nothing left to do anymore. We may have this idea that once we have realized the Clear Light of the mind, we can now just relax.

On the contrary...

Waking up to our True Nature does not imply that our old habits are immediately forgotten. These patterns, which have been there for longer than we can remember, they are still present in the mind. The residues of the thoughts related to a separate 'self' are still there, as well as the old habits connected to them.

Now, when we know our True Nature, these thoughts may continue to arise, but they cannot disturb our inner peace, they cannot move us. Thus, we do not reject them when they arise, but we simply see them for what they are. We see them as empty, powerless thoughts. Bubbles of thoughts in the ocean of awareness.

In peace, we observe them coming up to the surface.
In peace, we observe them popping, and dissolving back into the ocean of awareness.
Peace remains.

See, when we know who we are, we know that these thoughts have no control over us anymore. We do not react to them and allow them to control us, because what they were controlling was merely an idea of a separate self, not who we truly are. 

As these thoughts associated with a separate 'self' arises, we pay less and less attention to them. They slowly decline, and eventually, they cease to exist as they simply have no ground to stand on anymore.

Applying wisdom

With the knowledge of Self, we start to align our actions of mind, body, and speech accordingly, and slowly but surely, our lives take on a new course, a new path. A path of internal peace and happiness.  The path in God. A path of undiscriminating virtue.

As we continue our spiritual practices, they become increasingly meaningful. More and more intimate, more and more profound. Our spiritual practice does not end when we step away from the meditation pillow, but it becomes our way of living. It becomes a lifestyle, as we start to sink deeper and deeper into the Heart of Awareness. There is no limit to how deep we can go, as God is infinite.
So, we sink in, deeper, deeper and deeper... 

Aligning our actions of mind, body and speech according to the knowledge of the Self, implies that we live from a space where the idea of a separate self does not exist. We treat everyone the same, we treat everyone as we treat God, because we know that our whole Universe is one.

Sab Ek, as the saying in Hindi goes.
It is all One.
It has always been.

This is not a mere theory, but we actually experience this.

First of all, when we know that God is the foundation for all existence, we know that nothing and nobody can ever be separate from God. God appears in all forms and names, and all names and forms appear in God. 

The Self is in all, and all is in the Self.

Secondly, we feel connected to everyone and everything. We feel the wholeness.
It may start off as a very subtle, intuitive feeling, but as we rest in this feeling, absorbing it moment to moment, it becomes our reality. Always present in the here and now.

How do we feel connected, we may ask?
The answer seems to be quite clear. 
Through love.

Love connects us all. Love is the evidence that we are all One.

In the end, we can conclude that there is actually not much for us to do. In fact, there is nothing to do, as there is no separate doer existing. We can simply rest, abide in the Self, and observe the Universe unfolding.

"Sab Ek, as the saying in Hindi goes. It is all One. It has always been"

Similar articles on this blog:

Waking Up, Part 1 - 30 December, 2020
Waking Up, Part 2 - 11 January, 2021
The Universe experiencing itself - 13 August, 2020