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In This Article:
- What the Esoteric Field is and why it matters
- How expanding awareness quiets the noisy mind
- The role of childlike innocence in spiritual transformation
- Living with discipline beyond rules and conformity
- The meaning of Satori and glimpses of the non-dual state|
The Movie of Life: Opening the Gates to Awareness
by Gopalakrishnan TC, author of the book: The Journey into Oneself.
There is a river meandering through the countryside, wide and sweeping in its flow. After the recent rains, it is brimming and flowing with some gusto. Schools of fish are having fun. An occasional boat with a rambunctious group streaks past and their laughter reverberates through the forest, gradually fading into the silence amidst the trees. You are aware of all this, and the growing aloneness gives it a touch of purity. Dancing waters of the river keep you company along with the rocks and the sand.
The sun is setting, and darkness is gathering amidst the trees. Suddenly, you are aware that this day and night are only local facts. Out there, in the vast space between the Earth and the Andromeda galaxy, there is neither the day nor the night; nor is there the day of the week.
You return home, to the noisy turbulence of earthly life, and wonder about this great cosmic journey we are on.
*****
While religions do offer some solace and throw some light on the journey, they are limited because their zone soon becomes a playground of the ego. Such an approach is too narrow to appreciate the vastness of the journey of life.
It is not suggested that we drop our religions but that we pay attention to something beyond the narrow-minded sectarian practices, beliefs and disbelief. That something can help us better appreciate the grandiose journey of life. It may be called the Esoteric Field. Herein lies an unlimited treasure. It goes abegging because people allow themselves to function within a very limited cocoon, controlled by the machinations of the ego.
What is the Esoteric Field?
One may ask at this point, “What on earth is this Esoteric Field?” Patience! It becomes progressively clearer as you read along. The Esoteric Field is characterized by expanding awareness. Its essence cannot be captured through a mere verbal definition.
Cosmic silence and the timeless oneness of Divinity are behind all manifestations, like a movie screen that exists before, during and after the show. That is the metaphor often used by Ramana Maharishi. The screen remains untouched by whatever light and shadow move on it.
As the cosmic process breathes in and out, the Divine drama goes on and life’s journey moves on. This deeper awareness brings in a certain mental calmness and makes us treat the journey with deep respect. We no longer talk about “my life.”
Emphasis on ‘I,’ ‘me’ and the ‘mine’ becomes progressively weaker. That does not mean one becomes a pushover! There is a healthy outlook that brings in good-natured protest where necessary, while avoiding ego-manifestations. The resulting confidence moves one towards peaceful harmony. We see each one of us as a psychophysical system through which the venerable life flows on.
Expanding awareness inevitably engenders deepening empathy and compassion. Under those conditions, one would never harm any living being. It leads to a spirited and spiritual life in which there is comprehensive care and, certainly, no room for fanaticism and violence.
In Parallel to the Conventional Rut
The Esoteric Field, sometimes referred to in this book simply as the Field, is not something reserved for the few but is available for all who understand the impropriety of running along the conventional rut. It is like a parallel track to the routine one and it goes unnoticed because of the noise in our minds.
This noise cannot be forcibly suppressed. Once we begin to sense the shallowness of life along the routine rut, we tend to move naturally into the Esoteric Field and the mental noise begins to subside of its own accord.
Wondering about the Field, after some initial contact with it, causes the noise to go down further. The reduced mental noise makes us visit the Field more frequently, leading to further subsidence of the noise. It is this cyclic feedback that leads to our stable residence in the Field.
The Serene Zone of the Esoteric Field
Being in the Esoteric Field does not mean that the person becomes an ascetic in the conventional sense of the word. It does mean an inward asceticism that does not in any way dilute a healthy practical life. In fact, it would help one apply oneself spiritedly to all aspects of life. Such comprehensive attention brings about wholesome living.
One can sense some wonderment as an essential undercurrent in the above process. This wonderment gently encourages us to pay attention to life’s deeper values and understand the journey with an ever-widening perspective. Thus, each one discovers the Field in one’s own way.
There are no standard methods to put us in that serene zone. From the beginning, there is a feeling of vibrancy because the whole thing flowers from within oneself. Life senses the receptivity of such a mind and exposes it to circumstances that take one towards deepening awareness.
Help flows from many directions but no attachment to or dependence on any one source is entertained. There is, so to speak, an opening on all sides. Eagerness to learn increases and there is wholehearted acceptance of whatever life brings.
The Silent vs. Noisy Mind
An important issue in human beings’ lives is the thought-ridden noisy mind. This is also one of the chief items under the spotlight in the Esoteric Field.
The phrase ‘Silent Mind’ rings a bell in many people interested in understanding the deeper aspects of life, because we all somehow seem to know that proximity to Divinity is characterized by that inner silence. Mental silence cannot be brought about through any effort on the part of the aspirant but only by sensing the beauty of passive awareness. J. Krishnamurti often refers to this as choiceless awareness. Eckhart Tolle’s book titled Stillness Speaks (Tolle, 2003) has several pointers in that direction.
While deep interest in the matter of mental silence is necessary for the change to take place, trying hard cannot help. The silent mind is one of a supremely relaxed state and, for it to manifest, struggling cannot be a forerunner.
Innocent Childlikeness
Childlikeness has something to do with the transformation of the mind. As the mind evolves through the Field, it has the characteristics of a child’s innocence sans the child’s ignorance. What we all enjoyed as children begins to have value again but with a different philosophic implication of its contents.
Self-importance is on the way out and abundant feelings flow towards everybody and everything. The spirit of adventure returns and one may again enjoy the stories of Tarzan and the Phantom! But each jungle picture now reveals a lot more than before and we may stop anywhere and linger on a particular item without rushing towards the end of the story just to see how Tarzan won!
One may be ridiculed for being absorbed in kid stuff of that kind, but people are hardly aware that there can be as much message from it as from the scriptures! There is, of course, more to childlikeness than just getting a kick out of reading comics.
A Natural Discipline
Dos and Don’ts play a significant role in our lives. However, the Esoteric Field is not characterized by obedience to rules. It differs from conventional systems especially in this way and that is how it renders the mind free to explore. It does not mean that one is wayward in that region.
On the other hand, a natural discipline sets in and so, rules are not needed to keep one on the healthy tracks. The austerity that comes in without compulsion, and without conforming to rules, has great beauty about it.
There is a Japanese word: Satori. This is the state in which one’s consciousness expands beyond the body and absorbs all things into itself. In the ancient Indian heritage, it is called the state of Advaita. It implies a merger with the Ultimate and a non-dual state of consciousness. The state of Enlightenment or Nirvana is characterized by it.
A strange thing is that some ordinary beings, not necessarily sage-like, also fall into that state unexpectedly. They give us a spirited report about it but often find it difficult to describe it with the words of common parlance. Satori does not come through any effort but only through a transformed state of the mind. It has nothing to do with piousness, hallucination or attachment to religious entities and scriptures. It is a ravishing experience, as reported by those who have gone through it; it has a touch of universality and of catharsis.
The writer has not jumped into Satori yet but is acting here only as a microphone to those who know it firsthand. Sensing intuitively the profundity of that experience, even though it is someone else’s, makes one acknowledge the intrinsic value of the experience.
One can pick up the thread from there and proceed on one’s own towards the seemingly unfathomable depths of oneself. The idea is to open the gates for an ever-increasing inward awareness that can help us appreciate our proximity to Divinity.
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Article Source:
BOOK: The Journey into Oneself
The Journey into Oneself: An Exploration of Universal Spirituality
by Gopalakrishnan TC
A wayside companion to help you lead a progressively more peaceful life, The Journey into Oneself explores the spiritual path of self-awareness that lays bare the root causes of our mental disturbances: Chasing happiness isn't as important as having a peaceful mind. Once this is understood, happiness follows of its own accord.
Along the way, the author exposes paranormal phenomena aimed at taking the reader out of the conventional mindset, telling us that messages from those who've undergone such out-of-the-way experiences can transform our lives towards streamlined harmony. One needs only to look in that direction.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Gopalakrishnan TC was born in Chennai, India, in 1941; graduated in 1963 in Civil Engineering from the Engineering College, Madras University. His doctoral degree was in the field of Coastal Engineering from the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA in 1978. Aside from his professional involvements, he was interested in the philosophic aspects of life on this planet. This led him to the messages of the great masters like Lao Tzu, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Ramana Maharishi and J. Krishnamurti. Gopalakrishnan has been a member of the International Association for Near Death Studies, Durham, NC, USA.
His book In Quest of the Deeper Self, self-published in 2007, is the outcome of his reflections on those and his wish to share the outcome with others. The current book The Journey into Oneself is a revised form of that book.
