I am the Key

By Mousumi Roy

'I' Am the Key is a one-of a kind, holistic book on manifestation written from a Hindu perspective. It is an easy, comprehensive, step-by-step guidebook into the concept and practice of the art of manifestation. The book is specially designed for the Indian reader, without essentially losing its universal appeal. 'I' Am the Key might shake up so

• Language: English
• Publisher: 24by7 Publishing
• Release date: Oct 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9789390417179

Book preview

CHAPTER-1

The Source of the Knowledge and the Knowledge of the Source

To understand where this knowledge is coming from, we have to look back to the ancient texts called ‘ The Upanishads’ .

While discussing the true nature of us humans, the Upanishads come up with the concepts of the ‘Real’ and the ‘Apparent’ self. For those who have an aversion for Sanskrit texts or to whom the Upanishads, for some reason or the other, are inaccessible, you can reach out to the discussions on the subject by Swami Vivekananda in his various lectures on the Jnana Yoga. In my opinion, Vivekananda is still the best proponent of the Upanishadic concepts in modern language for the modern times. Well, the gist of the concept given in the Upanishads is that what we call our ‘I’ ness—the body-mind complex with which we identify ourselves naturally, is NOT our true self. At its best it can be called a shadow self or only apparent self (that which appears). But the true I, our Real identity, is the self of which the limited ‘I’-ness is like a reflection or a shadow. This real identity is addressed as the Atman or The Self in the Upanishads. The Upanishads also state that this Atman is (qualitatively) identical with Brahman, the Ultimate Source of the whole cosmos.

For those of you who belong to the Hindu religion or to the Sanatana tradition—whichever way you like to call yourselves—this knowledge is so matter-of-fact, so cliché, that we keep repeating this every day without thinking twice about its importance. We talk about Brahman—the Supreme Reality, the creative source of the universe and the identity (in the Advaita Vedanta or monistic tradition), the qualitative identity (in Vishitadvaita Vedanta or qualified monism) or the connection (in Dvaita Vedanta or the tradition of Duality) between Brahman and Atman. Whichever way they try to describe it, in plain words these teachings are saying that our true self is connected to the source of creation in some way or the other. In our true nature we are the source or related to the Source.

Can you imagine the true immensity of this claim? Can you even begin to imagine that if this claim is true what huge, immense, dynamo of power each and every one of us are or have with us? We are the creators or co-creators—Not just of this world with its land and rivers, and trees and air, it’s cities and civilizations, art and culture but also of the stars and galaxies, space and time and what not!

This claim is so fantastic that we usually shut our minds off from its implications for us though we preserve these teachings as sacred knowledge through generations, through time (Hinduism is the most ancient living religion), through countless invasions and challenges of destructions of this society and culture. We must have a subconscious recognition of the importance of these teachings for otherwise we would not preserve them through challenging times. These teachings are hidden gems, they are of immense importance and value for humankind even though we currently are not being able to do justice to the teachings or not being able to find a way to utilize them to our benefit.

Another reason why we do not give enough importance to the teachings is that we do not see any immediate value in them for us. Even though our real nature is divinity and power, what does it matter for us now? Now, when we have to continue in our drudgery to make both ends meet, to tend to our health issues, to look for a good job or to continue in the job which we do not like. When this is our condition and there is no choice for us other than to continue in the same life, what is there to be elated about in this great news? In other words, we simply do not see any practicality in this belief. May be, it makes us feel good sometimes or create some disturbed longings in our minds to ‘see’ for ourselves who we really are, but in our perception, to ‘know’ the real nature is too much of hard work. The ancient ancestors have also taught us that only a few get the glimpse of it, only the worthy get it and the worthy ones are those who have sacrificed all their worldly belongings and desires and went into solitude, found a guru who directly transmitted some mystic power in them. Only with so much preparation and with favorable condition they could attain liberation and subsequently know their true nature.

That is a distant path. Not for us. We do not wish to give up our desires in the first place. We want the fulfillment of our desires. And then we want to have even more desires to be fulfilled. We want to enjoy. We want to enjoy everything. Great partner, great house, great car, great relationships, great money, great power, great destinations to go. We want to enjoy that spa treatment, eat dinner and lunch in those fancy places; we want the love of our lives to pamper us. We want great relationships, we want children and then we want our children to have all the great enjoyments of life and if possible, have even more enjoyments than us. We are not ready for our divine self to unfold. Who cares for that when there is so much to enjoy, so much to look forward to?

What if we say that the path to your divine self is only through the fulfillment of your desires? What if we say, that desires are good, desires are healthy and having desires is not only natural but needed? And, what if we say that, each and every desire can be fulfilled, must be fulfilled and the blessed books of the Upanishads even ask you to fulfill any and every one of your desires? Would you believe this claim?

Let us delve deeper into the Upanishads. Let us look deeper into how we, as the body-mind complex are connected to our Real Self and to the Source of creation. The Kathopanishad compares the human situation to that of a chariot. It says: "know the Self as the owner of the body-chariot, sitting in the back of the chariot seat (the Upanishad uses the term ‘rathi’), know the body as the chariot itself, the mind is in the driver’s seat (sarathi) and the heart or emotions is the reign in its hand. The five senses are like horses pulling the chariot on the road of sensual pleasures." (Katha: 1/2/3-4)

It further says: Those whose mind has the proper training, holds the reign of their emotions in the same firm way as a good driver who knows how to drive, holds the reign of the horses of his chariot. The horses of such a chariot have to obey the driver and take the chariot to the destination selected by the driver. (Katha: 1/2/6)

How can emotions become a good reign able to restrain the unmanageable horses of the five senses? Kathopanishad answers: When the right mind is able to make the heart completely tuned and focused (Svamanaska is the word that has been used in contrast to a heart that is ‘amanaska’ or unfocussed/uncontrolled, Katha: 1/2/7-8) then the heart becomes a firm powerful reign. The moment this tuning is achieved, a magic happens. The charioteer reaches that destination from which they need not return again (Sa tu tat padam apnoti yasmat bhuo na jayate, Katha:1/2/8).

In modern idioms, when the mind becomes a good driver, the heart tunes in to its command and remains completely under control. Such a heart does not wander about in all sorts of sensual pleasures in an undisciplined manner. Rather the heart tunes in and submits to what the mind wants. Thus, the mind drives the car of the human self to its desired destination. In other words, the Kathopanishad talks about a clear mind and a focused heart as the means towards our desired goals.

In our lives this is something we are always doing. We take a car, instruct the driver/chauffer, implicitly believing that they know how to drive a car and then we sit in the backseat and enjoy the view having full faith that the car will reach the instructed destination. But when it comes to driving our own life, our mind has no clue where our destination is. As we still drive our lives as we wish, the out-of-control emotions are out of sync with the mind and do not even listen to the instructions of the intellect. Sensual attractions keep dragging the heart in all directions like disobedient horses. The heart wanders or runs here and there, goes towards whatever it finds attractive. No wonder all of us are having such rough rides. The poor master, sitting in its seat, is only thankful that accidents are not happening, that life is still somehow going on because it can become so much worse any time when