This was written sometime in December 2008.
As I sit here on the banks of the Mae-Kong River, a certain sensation fills up my whole body. I am away from everything, in the middle of nowhere and all I can do here is let go. Let go of everything, the material world does not exist anymore, the past and future both have faded away into nothingness. I just hear and observe my breathing, I feel more aware, more peaceful and more joyous. Nature unfolds herself and I observe her magnificent beauty. Beauty which the mind cannot comprehend. Everything seems so perfect, just the way it should be; synchronized, majestic, balanced and immensely profound. The river in front of me flows calmly, peacefully and lazily with no hurry, the birds sing their melodies and soothes my ears, the rays of the sun brightens up all that he shines on, I hear children shouting and playing in a nearby village, I hear the fisherman’s oars splashing against the water and then there is SILENCE. Not a sound to be heard. I see the ripples in the river; they look so eerie and mysterious. Thoughts seem to have faded away and all I can observe is the PRESENT, the present in all its glory. I realize how beautiful and magical this sensation is.
Thoughts enter my mind and I wonder about life. Here I am, all by myself and it is in times like these that I discover the ‘INNER ME’. The ‘me’ that is hidden away. The ‘me’ that makes me realize the true beauty of life. So much peace, so much joy, so much calmness, I wonder where this ‘me’ always was. Why didn’t it reveal itself to me before? Life, I realize has so much more to offer. In the city, this ‘me’ is lost. The constant struggles, competition, stress, worries and anxieties make life a blur. Lost is the word that comes to my mind, lost in a battle where one knows not what he/she wants and where one is going. All our lives we push and devote all our energies into causes which in the long run seem so irrelevant (understand that these thoughts came when I was there in the meditative mode, the moment) Money, power, fame, fortune, security, do they matter at all? I ask myself these questions. I have been programmed all my life to run around for these pursuits but at what costs and for what gains. I sit here now with absolutely NOTHING. I sit here with no future, no past, no possessions and all I have is myself. What I experience now surpasses every other experience I have ever experienced in my 23 years of existence. I am just at the basic level, just looking inwards at the surface level, I cannot imagine what it would be like to go deep. Go to the depths that exists within me, what would I find then, what revelations? I just realize one thing, “Life reveals itself for what it really is when you look within instead of focusing energy on external factors."
As I sit here on the banks of the Mae-Kong River, a certain sensation fills up my whole body. I am away from everything, in the middle of nowhere and all I can do here is let go. Let go of everything, the material world does not exist anymore, the past and future both have faded away into nothingness. I just hear and observe my breathing, I feel more aware, more peaceful and more joyous. Nature unfolds herself and I observe her magnificent beauty. Beauty which the mind cannot comprehend. Everything seems so perfect, just the way it should be; synchronized, majestic, balanced and immensely profound. The river in front of me flows calmly, peacefully and lazily with no hurry, the birds sing their melodies and soothes my ears, the rays of the sun brightens up all that he shines on, I hear children shouting and playing in a nearby village, I hear the fisherman’s oars splashing against the water and then there is SILENCE. Not a sound to be heard. I see the ripples in the river; they look so eerie and mysterious. Thoughts seem to have faded away and all I can observe is the PRESENT, the present in all its glory. I realize how beautiful and magical this sensation is.
Thoughts enter my mind and I wonder about life. Here I am, all by myself and it is in times like these that I discover the ‘INNER ME’. The ‘me’ that is hidden away. The ‘me’ that makes me realize the true beauty of life. So much peace, so much joy, so much calmness, I wonder where this ‘me’ always was. Why didn’t it reveal itself to me before? Life, I realize has so much more to offer. In the city, this ‘me’ is lost. The constant struggles, competition, stress, worries and anxieties make life a blur. Lost is the word that comes to my mind, lost in a battle where one knows not what he/she wants and where one is going. All our lives we push and devote all our energies into causes which in the long run seem so irrelevant (understand that these thoughts came when I was there in the meditative mode, the moment) Money, power, fame, fortune, security, do they matter at all? I ask myself these questions. I have been programmed all my life to run around for these pursuits but at what costs and for what gains. I sit here now with absolutely NOTHING. I sit here with no future, no past, no possessions and all I have is myself. What I experience now surpasses every other experience I have ever experienced in my 23 years of existence. I am just at the basic level, just looking inwards at the surface level, I cannot imagine what it would be like to go deep. Go to the depths that exists within me, what would I find then, what revelations? I just realize one thing, “Life reveals itself for what it really is when you look within instead of focusing energy on external factors."
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Here is what I think. The world now and the way it is now, it’s not possible to focus inwards because all of us are looking to survive. Our reality of life is “survival of the fittest’. So it’s impossible to focus and devote one’s energy to spiritual pursuits. But I predict, it will change. A day will come in the distant future when everybody realizes the value of spirituality. For me, I believe that that’s all that matters. So right now, we are focusing only on the material world but someday in the future, material pursuits will take a backseat and the world as a whole will become spiritual. There will be a spiritual culture that will prevail. Let me give you an example to support what I said:
Take yourself back to the dark ages in Europe and travel through time. What was reality for the people then? What was the culture then? Who was God? It was the Roman Catholic Church that defined their reality and culture. What they preached became what people believed. An all powerful God, Heaven and Hell etc. For them life was all about not sinning and praying to God.
But then came Renaissance. The whole culture shifted and reality changed. People realized there is more to life than what the Church preached. People became independent and started to question. Dogmatic beliefs were done away with. Explorations, discoveries, scientific breakthroughs took place in this time period. Nature was studied, the laws which govern the universe was found and soon humans began to realize that he could manipulate nature and use its resources and make life more and more comfortable and reach new heights. So reality and culture changed. But what they could never find or answer was God and existence and some of the integral questions of life and purpose. These took a back seat. Slowly as time progressed, people became more and more consumed in the materialistic world. Industrial revolution came, I.T revolution came since people everywhere devoted all time and energy in making the world more and more developed. What it has so far led to is depletion of resources, intense and unhealthy competition, pollution and a complete disregard of Mother Nature. Face it, WE ARE DESTROYING OUR PLANET.
But it will change. In the next 1000 years or so, people will realize that they have to go back to the roots. Back to finding the answers and truths of life. Back to finding who and what God is. It is then when our culture will slowly shift and everybody will start devoting energy in spiritual pursuits. It might take a catastrophe like a nuclear war (let’s hope not). After that people will soon realize that there is got to be a better way and that better way is the way of spirituality and people will adopt that.
So all I am saying is, right now the world is totally consumed by materialism and all our energy and time is devoted towards materialistic pursuits. That’s what defines every culture in today’s world. but a time will come when people revert back to spirituality. And that will be the culture that defines our reality then. Just my prediction, I might be horribly wrong but my reality and my beliefs are what I have stated above. You might agree, disagree, I chose my reality and I stand firmly by them. Just expressing my point of view, so please don’t get me wrong.
One last thing, go back to the ancient civilizations such as Sumerians, Mesopotamians, Harappa and Maya. These were very advanced civilizations more than 2000 years back. They had most answers at a time when they had no technology, no equipment, nothing close to what we have today. Yet they were so ahead. What was their culture about? From whatever little knowledge I have, I believe people then focused on spirituality and most of their time and energy were devoted to the spiritual side of life. I cannot comment why they perished but I believe they reached the heights of existence and had most of the answers which we still cannot find today.
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