TRANSFORMATION WITH SELF-AWARENESS

Progressing on the spiritual path is no easy task; just as in any other endeavor - in fact, perhaps more so in this come in the obstacles could be so daunting that a seeker faces unique challenges that only he can try to overcome. "That's because no one can really spell out a tried and tested formula and say, "look, this is the way you do it." How you connect to the spiritual realm is something you as an individual seeker need to work out for yourself, through trial and error and with some guidance and soul searching.

Those who offer their services in this respect to guide and show the path that would lead to realization and liberation - are so many that the very exercise of choosing the right teacher or guru becomes in itself a difficult challenge. And there are those who though realized masters themselves, would prefer not to get into the domain of guiding or teaching others……. trying to put into words and thoughts that which might help another see the light.

The best way for awareness of self to happen is slowly, from within, like daybreak when the brightness of the sun is experienced very gently, until it shines forth steadily. Such an experience of self awareness would need to happen out of the complete and expectant emptiness of mind, something that waits in hushed silence to be brought forth with divine intervention and the effort put in by the seeker.

This way, as something that comes from within, self-awareness would help the individual seeker make that cosmic connection with the universal intelligence. You feel it as an effulgent presence, a consciousness that is pristine pure, completely free of any thought. In fact, we cannot grasp the quintessence of spirituality through thinking at all.

Elkhart Tolle says: "It is the spiritual dimension which alone can give transcendent and true meaning to this world….. While we cannot come to grips with the core of spirituality through our mind and brain, we can subliminally sense it from the core of our being if our restless mind doesn't continue its incessant chatter".

The soul already has a subliminal sensing of an abiding awareness; an awareness with no object. So once it picks up the spiritual cue again, there will be an intense and soulful reconnect with an intense consciousness and piercing clarity. When such a spiritual moment happens, you feel intensely alive and aware.

Psychologist David Steindler Rast described it thus: "Our spiritual moments are those moments when we feel most intensely alive."

A sinner once sought a sage's advice on what should he do if he wanted to reform himself. The sage advised him to just lead a normal life and continue to do whatever he felt like doing. He had only to be deeply aware of whatever he was doing or going to do, and then go ahead and do it. The sinner appeared to be going through some intense internal churning when he again ran into the saint. He confessed to him that he was leading an absolutely virtuous life; because with a sense of self awareness he was finding it nearly impossible to do anything wrong.

If we consciously try to enhance our awareness of the here and now, and become as sensitive as an aspen or a weather vane to the totality of existence at the present moment, the subconscious dependence of the soul on material objects will disappear into thin air. And so will our dependence on, and identification with our mind. The fire of suffering then gets transformed into the light of consciousness.