Direct Inward
2010
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Direct Inward
The Inward Spiritual Journey
Human beings on this planet are engaged in various mental and physical activities. The vast majority of people, however, are not given to a calm and peaceful mental state. There is a general feeling of something missing in their lives. The mental stress, and sometimes the physical stress too, get the better of them and submerge them in unhappiness. Even those who escape too much stress feel a sort of mediocrity in their lives. Dependence on various excitements seems to be the essential factor of life. In the absence of such excitements, the ghost of boredom looms large. Egoistic identification with a religion, nation, race and the like supplies part of those excitements. Competition and the resulting ruthlessness are not only accepted as normal but as essential for growth. All these aspects of life on this planet have, very unfortunately, sustained a neurotic society that is unaware of its neurosis. Children who grow in this atmosphere imbued with fear and self-centered attitudes grow to be the same as their elders and so the world goes on in this sorrowful way, century after century, with no possibility of a happy and harmonious society in sight.
While religious practices do take us somewhat inside, they too soon become organized into mental patterns that feed the ego. Thus, notwithstanding the true import of religions, externalization of the mind continues under the facade of inner life. Then, there are the meditative systems which do better than the religions, in the sense that ‘Group Fanaticism' is not so strong under them. It is true that the meditative systems put a brake on the incessant swirling of thoughts and thus help produce a calmer mind. Their beneficial effects are seen in the realms of both mental and physical health. However, unfortunately, the meditative systems too feed the ‘I' in the form of expected achievements in the spiritual realm. It means that the ego gains ground while giving the impression that it is getting dissolved. This self-deception seems to escape notice in the vast majority of people.
Such observations as above can be quite unpleasant to those who have invested psychologically in their attachment to religions or meditative systems. Those who are bold enough to acknowledge the above facts are the ones who can appreciate the value of aloneness and how it can guide us in the journey into oneself. They ask a fundamental question, "Can there be a truly inward movement that does not feed the ego overtly or covertly?" It is interesting to note that such people don't ask, "How am I to dissolve the ego?" Those two questions are indeed significantly different.
The difference between the above two questions can be seen in their respective emphases. The first reflects an eagerness to understand oneself while the second emphasizes an achievement by the ‘I'. This is where Ramana Maharishi's query "Who am I?" is relevant. Without understanding who or what the ‘I' is, to let it chase some achievement is obviously an unintelligent thing to do. When one senses this, the attention automatically turns inward to discover the source of the ‘I'. People who have gone that far know that the question "Who am I?" has no answer within the intelligibility of the thought-ridden mind. They know that the answer is experiential and so, non-verbal. The inward dive begins with that understanding.
Dissolution of the habit-ridden, externalized state of mind takes place when there is simple self-awareness. It is a spiritual awakening not based on any man-made system. The inward dive is not one of psychological introspection, nor is it one of intellectual analysis. During the inward journey, deep passivity characterizes the mental state. Its quiet potency is observed in its ability to melt the crystal into which the mind is hardened by repetitive thought in the form of ‘I', ‘me' and the ‘mine'. It is something like the iceberg. When that crystallized entity melts under sunshine and dissolves in the surrounding water, its contents return to the source and the crystal disappears. This may sound enigmatic in the beginning but inquisitiveness keeps us at it and the associated expanding awareness (the sunshine!) gives us the impetus to melt.
The inward journey leads progressively to a silent mind. A mind that is forced to be quiet by some discipline is not a silent mind. But with the non-verbal understanding through the inward attention, the mind falls quiet naturally. That uncompelled passivity is the content of the silent mind. Then one feels the loving presence of Divinity beyond all religious concepts and ideas of personal salvation. The Journey into Oneself cannot proceed through any formula. This is because formulas are routed in the past and the Journey requires absolute spontaneity. The Deeper Self is in the eternal now and anything from the past can only serve to cloud the situation and defile the pure witness attitude in the now. Once we sense this, we move away from all systems that promise a reward at the end of a road. As J. Krishnamurti points out, Enlightenment is not a result, is not a reward. Bhagwan Rajneesh asks what validity can there be in struggling to find a road that will lead us to the house in which we are already sitting! Such attempts can only take us away from the source. Not trying to move away creates a situation in which the natural gravity from the source pulls us in. That says something about what triggers and sustains the Journey into Oneself.
We realize that the inward journey is not in time. It is a matter of the center of consciousness in us expanding in the now so that the center disappears. There is an intuitive sensing that what transpires is intrinsically healthy and does not become meaningful through an expected end-result. The process becomes all important and any value for results recedes into nothingness. There are many issues in our lives that can give us a push in that direction. They serve as guide-posts and keep us focused on the intriguing puzzle of the inward journey. Some of these arise as questions in the following manner:
1. Why is it that, even after practicing a religious system for years, freedom from fear, attachment and hatred does not take place? The practice only puts a lid on them and makes it appear as if they are gone. (Hope is fixed on the future through conceptual expectations. Smug satisfaction may be there in the thought that one's seat in heaven is confirmed!)
2. Why are the antagonists too – the atheists and agnostics – who put themselves against the ‘religionists', do not find that freedom? (Both the protagonists and the antagonists of religion seem to be barking up the wrong tree!)
3. Do the shocks in life point to something that we are unwilling to see or acknowledge?
4. Can the philosophical content of Death serve as an affectionate teacher?
5. What roles do light-heartedness and cheerfulness play in the inward journey?
6. Is the beckoning of sorrow in life an invitation to visit the hidden corners of ourselves?
7. Unknowingly, we build a psychological wall around us through the thought of ‘I', ‘me' and the ‘mine'. Are there pointers in our daily life that can alert us to that fact and, perhaps, open a door in that wall?
A strange self-awareness begins to settle in us as we apply ourselves to these puzzles. A natural tenderness towards everyone and everything becomes a concomitant factor to this journey of discovery. One realizes rather early that arguments and debates have no place in that exalted movement. However, discussion with others, even if it may appear to be only intellectual, is not considered anathema. Metaphors and paradigms seem to aid the unraveling process. In this connection, a book self-published by the writer of this article may be found interesting. It is entitled "IN QUEST OF THE DEEPER SELF - A Joyous Adventure"*. The book is meant to be a wayside companion to those who would find the above puzzles interesting. A new theme, outlined as the Esoteric Field, is presented for the readers to reflect on. The topic of death and the message from near-death experience (NDE) are also looked into. The following lines occur in connection with those esoteric themes:
"Investigation of death and after-life is helpful in understanding who we are beyond the thought projected image of us; that is, moving from the form to the formless. This understanding takes place as a growing intensity of spontaneity when there is no moving away from the ‘Now'. The moving away causes one to hold on to unsubstantial things and so it sustains a ‘disturbable' state of mind. Death reminds us of the ‘unsubstantiality' of mind-projected things and thus can urge us to pay attention to what lies beyond the apparent and outside the transient. Anything ephemeral cannot be intrinsically substantial."
Taking the inward journey does not mean that the person becomes an ascetic in the conventional sense of the word. It means an inward asceticism that does not in any way dilute a healthy practical life. On the contrary, it helps one apply oneself spiritedly to all aspects of life. That is how joviality and mirthfulness too find a place in it. Such comprehensive attention brings about vibrant living.
We are all on a sacred journey of life. Is this a fact? Each one has to discover the truth behind this. The noisy mind and its obstruction to the inner dive will be sensed during this discovery. Movement towards the inner silence is the essential feature in the quest towards the Deeper Self. In the process of this movement, we come up on a pervasive background serenity. A relaxed and jovial mind deals with life in a wholesome and holistic way. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In Quest of the Deeper Self" by TC Gopalakrishnan
contact email: g o p a l . t c @ g m a i l . c o m website: http://spirituality.yolasite.com
About the Author
About the Author: TC Gopalakrishnan received his doctoral degree in Coastal Engineering from the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA in 1978. He served on the research and teaching faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, the North Carolina State University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait. Aside from his professional involvements, he was interested in the philosophic issues of life for the last forty years or so. This led him to the messages of Ramana Maharishi, Lao Tzu, J Krishnamurthy, UG Krishnamurthy, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Marcus Aurelius and similar Masters. In Quest of the Deeper Self is the outcome of his reflections on those and his wish to share the outcome with others. Gopalakrishnan is a member of the International Association for Near Death Studies. He lives in Kodaikanal, a hill town in south India, with his wife Banumathy who also received her doctoral degree from the North Carolina State University, in Organic Chemistry. Their recent involvements were with the Kodaikanal International School as teaching staff in the subjects of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Now they are both retired and currently involved in developing a fruit farm at a village 20 km from their residence. They are associated with CLOAAT, an organic farm and learning center for appropriate technology near Kodaikanal. They have a daughter and son who are both married and settled.
the centrifugal force vector for an object in uniform circular motion is always?
a) directed inward along a radius
b) directed outward along a radius
c)in the same direction as the gravity vector
d)in the opposite direction of the gravity vector
"centrifugal" means outwards along a radius, and "centripetal" means inward along a radius.
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