Today after so many years I got an opportunity ( I decided ) to do trekking. I climbed Sinhagad fort, the most famous fort in Pune!
The purpose was just to enjoy the view and surrounding beauty at every step ( Be with the Moment ). We took close to 100 minutes to climb the fort. Generally professional trekkers climb it in 45 minutes. But we had no target. I think this enabled us to enjoy every step. There was no hurry. There’s no reward that is tied to the future. I experienced that the reward is instantaneous. And the reward is the sheer Joy of looking at the beautiful scenery!
There’re multi-pronged benefits of trekking. For your body ( exercise ) and for your mind ( relaxation ).
Every step ( moment ) gives you a different view ( perspective ). And your mind gets acquainted slowly to the most important aspect of the Truth which is the Impermanence!
Every perspective is about the same Truth ( Fort ). It doesn’t matter which step you are at. At every step you are with the same Truth ( Fort ). In other words, truth is always with you!
There are various pathways ( Yoga, Beliefs, Religions ) to get to the summit ( Enlightenment ). One is short while the other is long. One is hard while the other is easy. That’s all very subjective. However they all lead you to the same summit. No pathway is better or worse. All are equally effective in ponting at the summit!
And what about the summit? Well, you get a Feeling of Achievement and the view ( perspective) is the most enjoyable. You can settle there forever. Everything is seen and everything ( trees, valleys, etc. ) that you see, feels small there. And you wonder how big it was or I felt that way, when I was at “That” step. You get acquainted with the sense of letting go everything, a sense of Being! This too, shall pass sort of.
Although a perspective at the summit is just another perspective about the Reality and not the Reality itself, it is necessary as it has got the true potential to make you stable, balanced and happy at any given time, at any given step and with any given perspective! You observe the things happening before you. In other words, you observe the Reality getting unfolded. You make no judgements. You offer no resistance to your experience. You don’t react either. You just Be!
Enlightenment accepts every view ( Religion, Yoga, Beliefs ) as just another dimension of the same Truth.
Call it Shunya, the Emptiness, the realm of infinite possibilities. Shunya is also called Poorna ( completeness, the principle of Datta ) which also means the same ( no need to get tangled in the literal connotation by equating Shunya with nothingness ).
Call it duality ( dvaita ) as we have a pair of Reality and it’s perspective. Without a perspective, we cannot perceive a Reality. Without consciousness, we cannot talk about the Existence of anything. In that way, it’s dual.
Call it non-dual ( advaita ) as the Reality is One and remains One throughout. Just the perspectives change.
In short, the Reality is all inclusive ( accepts all views ), infinite ( potential to manifest in any form ), continuous ( always changing ) and eternal ( ever present ). When it has infinite perspectives, the Reality becomes indescribable!
वेदांनाही नाही कळला अंत पार याचा |
कानडा राजा पंढरीचा |
Reinvent The Self! 