Confusion reigns supreme among ordinary people and many spiritual aspirants. The power of ideas and concepts is beyond understanding. A stupid but powerful idea could shake the world to its very roots. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of foolish ideas and concepts all the time around. Even spiritual aspirants fall very often prey to ridiculous ideas and concepts because they do not have the right antidote for that sort of poison. Let us analyze some crazy ideas which are taken very seriously though:
Every person has a different goal in life
This is a common concept that looks cool. For example: your goal in life is being a mason. Good! Or your goal in life is being a plumber. Good! Or being a pianist. Good! You can write your own list. Well, this idea seems inoffensive and true, because when you behold the world you see masons, plumbers, pianists, etc. Anyway, there is a problem here. To be a mason, a plumber, a pianist, etc. is not a “goal” but a “role”. People mistake the former for the latter constantly. A goal is something you attain and is never gone. On the contrary, you cannot keep your role of mason or plumber or pianist, etc. forever. At the same time, you cannot be a mason, plumber, pianist, etc. all day long. For example, you have to sleep at some time. So you become “a sleeper”. Well, but this is not a goal either, but another role. This confusion goes on and on, and you see how people play role after role without ever attaining any real goal.
Life goal varies from person to person
This is another erroneous concept. Life goal is always the same. It does not vary at all. Let me explain myself: if you ask someone about his goal in life, they might say “to help people”, or “to create things”, or even “to give birth to children”… or else, a religious person will say that it is “to behold God”, etc. Nonetheless, those things are not the goal of life. What is it then? Freedom! If you are not Free, you cannot truly help anyone, you cannot create anything which is truly valuable, you cannot give birth to a holy person, etc. If you are in bondage, all of your actions will happen in your jail, be it small or big. This being the case, why all that fuss about helping others, creating things, procreating, etc.? It is always while living in a prison.
Some people could say that because they live in a free country, they are free. No, that is not real Freedom. Real Freedom amounts to not being disturbed by all that is occurring to your mind and body. If you can keep your I-consciousness free from changes despite your mind and body are exposed to pleasure and pain, you are genuinely Free. If you cannot, you are in bondage. And I am completely sure of that. And no, this does not mean that a Free person will tell his dentist: “No anesthesia because I am Free”. NO, he is not a moron, reader. And if a tsunami is coming in his direction, he will run away too like the rest of people, because he is not a fool. However, he will keep the same Bliss as always. His inner I-consciousness does not even move a millimeter. He is never in trouble like the rest of people, because the Free one does not associate his “real I” with mind and body. Therefore, all that is happening to the latter two is not happening to himself.
Freedom is very often taken for granted but it is something to gain. It is the real Goal of life. If you constantly fall prey to mother ignorance, you are not Free. If you are not Free, what is the point then? A great deal of people have fought for freedom, but this freedom is only related to their bodies. On the other hand, they are constantly being vanquished by their minds. Some beautiful or horrible thoughts just come up, and those people think those thoughts to be “theirs”. As a result, they get the good and bad fruits of those thoughts. They cannot escape the process of identification with their minds. They can say whatever, but in the end, their minds put them to submission. They are helpless and if these people are spiritual aspirants, they know their jail to a certain point at least. You can see this tragedy happening over the centuries. Get a history book and read. It is always the same human madness, i.e. people fully identified with crazy thoughts. If you read biographies, you mostly read about events that happened to the bodies and minds of those people, not to their “real I”. Have you read a biography dealing with someone’s “real I”?
As most people are completely identified with their bodies and minds, they think that they are only body and mind. Their “real I” remains in them always, but as they do not realize Him, it is as if the “real I” was not in them. They live their lives this way and mother ignorance thrives over and over.
To live means to exist while dying means to stop existing
This concept looks reasonable too. You commonly hear someone saying: “He stopped existing”. Well, it is a way of speaking, of course, and not the truth. The truth is that life and death are only related to the physical body. They are not even related to mind, let alone the Self. People are often confused by these concepts. Why? Because spiritual ignorance is very strong. I could quote scriptures to back up my affirmation that the “real I” never ceases to exist, but I will not do that. I will just resort to your own experience, reader. Tell me, when did you stop from existing in the past? I said in the past, because now you have to exist or you couldn’t be reading this. You can ponder over the question for eons, still you will never perceive a moment when you did not exist. You can say, “Well, before I was born, I did not exist”. Anyway, you feel “somehow” that is not true. I am absolutely sure of it. Why? Because I know for sure that the Self is Existence Itself. As everybody is the Self, everybody exists forever. There is never anybody who ceased to exist.
However, people are puzzled by death because they see other people dying and suppose they will die too. But that is only true as for their physical bodies. If they consider themselves as mere physical bodies, they will be accordingly scared of death. Nevertheless, as they are inherently the Self, they can never stop existing. Because someone must exist in order to experience death. How to experience death without existing? You cannot say: “I don’t exist but at the same time I am dying”. This is absurd. Where is the problem then? The root of the problem is the concept of “life” being equal to “existence”, and “death” being equal to “nonexistence”. NO. That is not true. During life and death, someone has to exist in order to experience both. There is no nonexistence ever. Nobody can behold nonexistence. Why? Because the one beholding always exists. In this manner, nonexistence can never be experienced. There is always “someone”. Who is this? The Self! Ah, the Self. Yes! And who is the Self? You!
If you are foolish enough, you can meditate on the Self for eons without realizing Him. But if you are intelligent enough, you realize Him at once. The Guy is so obvious that the matter of people being deluded by spiritual ignorance is just hilarious. The Self is everybody, but at the same time, only a few can realize Him. How can this crazy thing be happening? Through His Power. He decides to become a moron and spend his entire life speaking nonsense and doing stupid actions. He is so powerful that out of His Free Will, He becomes the king of fools. His Freedom is so absolute that He can be absolutely wise or foolish. There is no end to His Freedom. For example, His Power has been killing Him for zillions of years through meteorites, diseases, arrows, cannon balls, bullets, atomic bombs, etc. He has been killed for eons but He still exists like the newest Reality. His Power has bit, shattered, shot Him, and so on in all possible ways, but the Guy is undefeatable!
His realization in oneself is the most important thing in life, because that bestows Real Freedom. May this Great Lord be praised always then, whether He assumes the form of sages or fools! May this Great Lord share His Freedom with everybody!