Understanding the Real Self

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Isn’t it an irony that we are looking for peace, love, and happiness everywhere when the reality is that it is within us? I had heard many times before that these virtues are within us, yet never fully realized it because I had not experienced it. Our end desire is not complicated, it is a simple wish to be content. Then, why is it so difficult to experience it? May be because we feel that doing things in the outside world of work, home, and relations will help us attain it. Is this method helping or is it only making us experience momentary peace, love, and happiness? Since we are unable to feel what we desire in any other way, we spend all our time, energy, and resources in the outside world. The real question is to check if that momentary experience of peace is satisfying us, and is that all we want from life? At Brahma Kumaris, I found out that peace can be experienced consistently for an extended period of time. I decided to investigate, and give the new method a try because I wanted to see if I could experience that kind of peace. My journey towards that goal continues, and it has been a very rewarding so far. Never before had I dreamed that experiencing deep level of peace for an extended period of time on my own was possible. That dream has become a living reality for me now.
 We do not experience peace naturally because we are ignorant or clueless about the method of emerging it from within. Our current programming or method is to use something outside as a stimulus and then experience momentary peace. The reason of our wrong programming is incorrect
identification of the self. Let's ask ourselves this question, who am I? Every person will most likely give a different answer to this question. The answers could be an Indian, a Christian, a Manager, or a Mother. Can one person have so many identities? We play many roles, and have acquired or achieved many titles, but are these our real identities? Can an identity of a person keep changing throughout the day? It is constant switching of identities that causes us to change our purpose, direction, and results in us experiencing inconsistent internal state. I used to identify myself as a super organized and punctual person. When I lived in the awareness of that identify, my goal was to finish everything in an organized manner and within the allotted time. My thoughts would pull me to the next task even though I was not done with the current one.  My identity was inadvertently causing me to feel the task and time pressure. My internal state varied because sometimes I met the goal and other times I did not. A self reflection exercise on the various identities I lived by made it clear that this was the root cause of my distractions and inconsistent inner stage. Our thoughts align with our identities (or internal awareness about the self) and thoughts determine our inner state. If the identity is incorrect, then thoughts are bound to be shaky and this causes our inner state to be shaky also.

 Who are we then? 
The simple answer is we are all souls, and some people also call it spirits or emotional beings. Knowing ourselves means being fully aware of our powers, qualities, properties, and tools. If we aren’t aware or do not know about ourselves, then how can we utilize our qualities, tools, and powers in practical life? Not being aware of our inner resources has made us so dependent on the outside world. Let's understand ourselves first, and then then comprehend how our identity can be utilized to experience inner peace. 
  • A soul has seven innate (natural) qualities - purity, peace, love, happiness, bliss, wisdom, and power.
  • It is a conscient energy that is imperishable and eternal, just like any other energy it cannot be created or destroyed. It has always been around, and will always remain to be so.
  • A soul’s form is a tiny point of light, and it can be visualized as a star shining in the middle of the forehead (soul’s location)
  • It has three tools (resources or faculties):
    • Intellect - It is the conscious or active mind where current information is stored. Its responsibility is to make decisions
    • Mind - Its job is to create thoughts
    • Subconscious (Impressions, Personality Traits, or Sanskaras) - It is the passive mind and is a repository of all our past actions or experiences. A group of our past experiences (our past thoughts, words, and actions) determines our habits or personality traits
  • A soul belongs to the Supreme soul, i.e. the father of the soul is none other than the Supreme being. A child automatically inherits all the qualities, powers, and wisdom from the father. The main difference between the soul and supreme soul is that the human souls come into the cycle of life and death, whereas the Supreme soul is free from that cycle.
Many people think that it is natural to feel anger, worry, or fear because they aren’t aware that soul’s natural qualities are peace, love, and happiness. Can something negative be natural? Anything that is natural (like water falling down from waterfalls) feels soothing and anger is not soothing. We are sustaining negative qualities by saying ‘everyone gets angry, or experiences stress, worry, and fear, stress is natural these days, even kids get stressed these days’. We are fearful of death because either we have not realized or are clueless that soul is eternal and imperishable. It is the body that is mortal and perishes. The innate qualities of a soul can be felt by it whenever it wants because a soul can create those qualities on its own. Even when we live in the incorrect identity of a mother for example, we are still using our tools to create love. We create loving thoughts like, ‘this is my daughter, I am responsible for her, she is my creation, hope she remains happy always’ and feel love for the daughter. The identity of a mother also allows us to create and experience love. Are we able to experience that love when the daughter is disrespectful or is lying? A mother’s love is limited to her daughter and that too it is conditional. Can an identity of a mother consistently experience imperishable love? Our purpose of life is to be content and that purpose cannot be met if the right identity is not used. If we rely on things that are external to us for our well being, then our inner stage becomes dependent on them. All would have been good, if the things we relied upon were imperishable, consistent, and unlimited. Unfortunately, everything outside (food, relations, or money) cannot stay consistent and nor can it give us unlimited happiness. Then why should we make the outside world the basis of our well being? Moreover, nothing in the outside world is within our control. Whatever that is meant to happen will happen, no matter how hard we try. The only thing that is in our control is the inner being (thoughts, feelings, decisions, etc.). We have not learnt the art of controlling our mind, and hence think it is easier to control people, situations, and everything outside. Is it really easy or even possible to control things outside of us?

 How does the identification of a soul help us?
Living in the awareness of the identity soul means that we remember it is natural for us to be peaceful, peace is our birthright, and that we are the creators of peace. When this realization increases in us, we consciously start creating peace rather than wanting someone else to create it for us. The consciousness of a soul also makes us easily remember that purpose of life is to be content, and we automatically start paying more attention to that goal throughout the day. The right identity allows us to correct our programming that the creators of peace cannot be beggars or demanders of it. We start using our tools -> mind, intellect, and subconscious in the right manner to consistently experience unlimited peace. Isn’t it wonderful and empowering to be self reliant? I used to use the quote ‘To err is human’ and unknowingly allow many defects and weaknesses to grow within me. I slowly started realizing  that my heritage is divine, my role model is ever perfect Supreme being, and my DNA matches with the highest on high. This realization led me to forgo all of the excuses I was firmly holding to justify my imperfections. I mercifully accepted that over many births I had developed many defects, but I don’t need to hold on to them anymore. I can now with the light of knowledge, and the might of the Supreme being annihilate every defect from my subconscious. How noble is it to live with an elevated purpose of becoming pure like the ever pure Supreme being?

 Meditation Commentary on Soul:


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