Welcome to Day 40 of our 40-Day Retreat..
Yesterday we spoke about the marvel of co-creation; that we can co-create -meaning working together to achieve our objectives. Today I am going to end the series of talks with the idea that life is an adventure, and the need to be a good adventurer. Or life is a game and we need to know how to play it. How can we be the master player? How can we really enjoy this adventure, this game that is called life?
A liberating viewpoint of life
I want to begin with a verse from the Shiva Sutras, that says Nartak Atma. That the Self or Atma is an actor as though on a stage. It is a wonderful and liberating viewpoint. The Hindus sometimes describe the whole thing as a play, a leela. It gives us a new way of seeing the whole drama of life. Even Shakespeare says that life is a stage, and we are actors on that stage. So this thinking gives us a liberating viewpoint.
The Shiva Sutras says that the Atma or the soul or the spark of life is eternal - as eternal as the source of life itself. It is the spark of the great fire. As life is eternal, or as consciousness is eternal, or as the source is eternal, so is the spark. It may lose its separateness in the merging but is does not lose its essential existence.
The Soul is ever pure, ever free
What makes this a play? What makes the soul or the individual consciousness an actor? The fact that no matter what happens in the drama, its essential nature is untouched. And that’s an important point. No matter what happens in the drama of life, no matter how contaminated the mind is, or if the body is handicapped, the soul is untouched; uncontaminated by the whole thing. But when we are not aware of the nature of the Atma or the soul, we identify with the contamination of the mind, the duality that we spoke about.
This is a very powerful thought: that a part of us can be uncontaminated by the whole drama of life. That’s why some of the wise ones say, “Just forget the past. It does not matter what you have done before.” Once you have a powerful resolve for the future, or the powerful intention of change, you are different. Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” What was he saying? People will think that suddenly he became God himself. Of course Jesus was always humble when it comes to God, always showing that there was a greater power in the Universe. But he was expressing a truth that the soul is uncontaminated. Jesus even said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It is like the spark and the fire. He also said, “Go and sin no more.”
In the Bhagavad Gita of the Hindus, there is a verse that says, “Even the vilest sinner can be considered a saint if the person is rightly resolved.” In the Bhagavad Gita also, Krishna says, “Speedily I rescue that devotee, for no devotee of mine ever perishes.” And he shows that someone who is absorbed in the truth can never perish. Someone who knows himself or herself cannot perish.
Witnessing brings greater awareness
To really understand the adventure or game of life, we need to go more into the Atma or soul consciousness. Then we will understand the words “Nartak Atma”, that it is all a play. If you really look carefully you will see that all of life is constantly changing. The only thing that remains unchanging is the eternal witness inside – that which observes change. Everything around you is changing, so how can you hold on to what is around you as absolute truth?
The body ages and eventually disappears; houses get old, cars get old, buildings get old, even organizations get old and they all change; they all disappear. So what is the truth? The only thing that stays unchanging is the witness, the consciousness inside that witnesses the whole thing. The need is to understand who is the witness, and what kind of qualities does the witness possess.
Established in consciousness
In searching for who is the witness, we begin to see that there is a part of us that is not changed by anything, though change is around us. For example, if the body is sick (and I say “the body” not you), and you can feel the distinction between you and the body, if you can go more into your soul consciousness, you will actually begin to feel, “I am not sick, the body is sick.” In that awareness you can love your body in a better way.
Then it becomes a play, an adventure in healing: “My body is sick, let me treat my body in a special way because it is under pressure, it is challenged. Let me love it a little more. Let me do all the things that will make it a little better. And if perchance it does not want to get better, let me learn how to say “Goodbye” to my beautiful body without fear.” There is never fear in one who is established in the consciousness.
The master player navigates the field
One needs to experience the joys of the inner being. When you begin to experience the joy of your inner being, the outside joys pale in insignificance. They cannot match; they really cannot match. When you understand the laws of the field, then you can become a wonderful adventurer in this game because the field has certain laws.
I have said in one of my talks that if you go and sit in a car then you are tied to all the laws of traffic. But if you understand the traffic laws you know when to stop, you know how to navigate. You are sure that you will not get a ticket; that you will not be kept back. You are going to reach your destination if you understand the speed limits and how to use them.
It’s a game, and you can navigate because you understand all the laws. For example, if you understand the mechanics of a car, because you are sitting in a machine and you understand the laws of the machine, you can ensure that the machine does not break down. You have it checked beforehand, ensuring that everything is right: there are good tyres and good oil. Everything is checked and you are sure. You have followed the laws. So that’s what life is about.
Choices you make influence the outcomes
You must understand the laws of the field: action and reaction. “If I keep these thoughts, this is what is going to happen to me. If I keep this company, this is what is going to happen to me. If I treat my body in a certain way, this is the outcome. If I choose a certain friend, this is what is going to happen. If I embrace a certain belief, this is what is going to happen.” And so you learn how to select carefully so that you can determine the outcomes based on the choices you make. And then, life becomes an adventure. No matter how many times you stumble in an adventure, you don’t give up. The goal is ever before you and the goal continues to inspire you.
One of the important things to understand in the game of life is that we are all going to reach the goal, no matter how we do it. No matter how painful, or how long, we are all going to reach the goal. So wouldn’t it be nice if we take the highway? Wouldn’t it be nice if we sit in an air-conditioned vehicle, so to speak? Wouldn’t it be nice if we maintain a healthy body for the journey? Wouldn’t it be nice that we can say “Goodbye” to this body in a nice way when the time comes to leave it? Because it stops out of wear and tear, not degeneration, not shutting down on us. We know exactly when the body is going to stop, and it goes right to the last bit of energy. Wouldn’t it be nice to maintain the vehicle like that?
Wouldn’t it be nice to understand the field? You get all the maps, learn all the rules and go fearlessly into the adventure. That’s what life is. If you look at all the choices you have made, you would have seen that the choices you made influenced the outcomes whether you knew it or not.
Looking at life from the inside out
Only the one who is more aware can actually see the adventure of life. The one who is hopelessly ignorant can never enjoy the game. Can you imagine someone getting into a sporting activity not knowing the rules? Then that person will do everything in the wrong way and will easily be eliminated out of the game.
This is a wonderful, wonderful way of looking at life that “no matter what I do in this Universe, no matter how difficult things are, there is a part of me that is untouched. And if I go there, I can find my greatest strength. If I go there, I can see the whole of life in a different way.”
The master player shows us how
I wish that you can really understand this, because this is how I live every moment of my every day. Life, for me, is an adventure. Whenever I enter any part of the play, I seek to understand the rules. A simple case is that if I meet someone and nobody likes that person, I simply have to understand this person. Once I begin to understand I will make this person my best friend, whether they want me to be their friend or not. I just have to adjust myself. I just have to learn about the person.
We can do anything we really want to. We can achieve anything we really want to in the drama or adventure that we call life. And the master player is the one who can really navigate, understanding the nature of the field and the rules of the game. We have the master player. May you be a master player.
This is only a message of a few minutes, but I hope that it can be such a powerful message that you can never forget it.
Post –meditation words:
My wish is that the essence of this message will stay with you. When I came out of the 40 Days in 1978 that’s how I felt: that I was no longer a victim on the journey, but a powerful adventurer in the rest of my life’s journey. That’s how I am today. Since 1978 that feeling has never left me, and I know it never will. I wish that the essence of today’s message can stay with you. No matter what happens in the play, your soul is untouched. It is only in identifying with the duality of the field that you become caught. If you identify with the infinite power of the Self or the soul inside, you will experience freedom.
Have a divine day everyone.
