What is Real?

What changes is unreal

So, what is real? This world, our thoughts, our relationships, or our possessions. One thing is for sure – what changes through time is not real. Look around you. All the things are slowly moving toward their destruction. (Second law of Thermodynamics – Entropy or Chaos increases with the arrow of time) This house that you have; the bank balance and your family and friends; everything changes with time. The body that you claim to be yours is also changing- every moment. You were in a child’s body and now you adorn the body of an adult. Your hair has turned grey. So, everything around you is changing. Is this real, I ask you? When you die, you will not take anything with you. Yet you pride yourself on your position and other materialistic accumulations. We are all on a journey toward our graves – I don’t say this to sound somber. That is the ultimate truth. And nobody knows what awaits us after death. Is there an afterlife? Is there a heaven or hell? What happens to us? All these questions remain shrouded in mystery.

What are we really – our body, mind, and energy?

In this short life, we have to make so many choices. Whatever we are, is a sum of all the decisions that we have made in life so far. No need to blame that person or circumstances. We must take responsibility for this life that has been given to us. So, who are we? Were we created by a sperm meeting an ovum? Is that all there is to it, even though from a million sperms we have been singled out to create life? Can this be a chance? The odds are naught. Every one of us is unique. There are no two individuals made the same in this whole Universe. There may be a doppelganger of us. But still, they are not the same as we are. People may look like you. But who you are is what you are deep within. So are we our:

• Body
• Thoughts
• Emotions
• Beliefs

None of these.

We are spiritual beings – the divine spark of God

We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience. We are our awareness. Some people call it consciousness. Or the soul. That is the only thing in this Universe that is unchanging. There is nothing like we become more aware or conscious. Awareness is. When we pay attention to things around us (and by that, I mean 100%) we experience a jingle within us. Now, this experience is what God is seeking. He/She is using our body/thoughts/emotions to feel what He/She has created. There is a story about Lord Brahma who created the Universe. (the materialistic universe). After he created all things, he felt very lonely. Then Purusha entered all beings as the Soul to experience the creation. That is what is mentioned in the scriptures also. Purusha (Pure Consciousness) entered each element of Prakriti (Nature) to experience Himself. Purusha is often referred to as male and Prakriti as female. Like the Yin (female) and Yang (male). If you think that you are in control of your life, think twice. It’s God who is running your life, and you are on autopilot.

The only purpose of life is to live – to experience the world as deeply as we can …

What then you may ask is the purpose of Life? Just one – to live – to experience – to realize God. And to be one with Him/Her. We seek liberation. From what? This constant cycle of births and deaths. What is born will die and what dies will be born again. Till such time that we attain moksha (liberation) there are three ways we can do that.

• Action
• Knowledge
• Devotion

These are the three paths if followed with 100% dedication lead to the doorway of the Supreme. And once we attain that – we become one with God. Like a drop of water that flows into the ocean and becomes one with it. We are all God’s children and we all possess all the characteristics of the mighty one. So, coming back to the question of what is real – the only unchanging Atman or the Soul.

Be blessed …