Truth...part 3

Man, absorbed from morning till evening in his occupations which engage his every attention to the things of the earth and of self interest, remains intoxicated. Seldom there are moments in his life, brought about by pain or suffering, when he experiences a state of mind which can be called soberness. Hindus call this state of mind sat, which is a state of tranquillity. Man then begins to become conscious of some part of his being which he finds to have almost been covered from his eyes. When we look at life from this point of view we find that an individual who claims to be a living being is not necessarily living a full life. It is only a realization of inner life which at every moment unveils the soul, and brings before man another aspect of life in which he finds fullness, a greater satisfaction, and a rest which gives true peace.

Can he speak about this to his fellowmen? And if he does, what can he say? Can he say, "I am purer", or "more exalted than you", or "I understand life better than you"? As life unfolds itself to man the first lesson it teaches is humility; the first thing that comes to man's vision is his own limitedness. The vaster God appears to him, the smaller he finds himself. This goes on and on until the moment comes when he loses himself in the vision of God.

In the terms of the Sufis this is called fana, and it is this process that was taught by Christ under the name of self-denial. Often man interprets this teaching wrongly and considers renunciation as self-denial. He thinks that the teaching is to renounce all that is in the world. But although that is a way and an important step which leads to the true self-denial, the self-denial meant is the losing of oneself in God.


Then the question arises: How can one lose oneself in God? The body is a person, the mind is active, there are feelings of joy, pleasure, love and hatred, and there is the existence with which we identify ourselves and which we call by a certain name and where we feel pain and pleasure. How can one deny oneself and lose oneself in God?

There also is another question which arises from the heart of the intellectual: "How can I even accept the idea that there exists a Deity? How can I lose myself in someone whom I do not know and cannot point out?" By reasoning with oneself and by trying to study oneself analytically it is possible to get nearer to the true knowledge of one's being. If we consider that every part that constitutes our being has its own name - the hand, the foot, every part of our being has a different name, quality and purpose, and even a separate form - what is it then in man which says "I", and identifies itself with what it sees? It is not our head, hand or foot which says "I", nor is it the brain. It is something that we cannot point out which identifies itself with all these different parts and says "I" and "mine" and knows itself to be the person who sees. This in itself is ignorance, and it is this which the Hindus have called avidya.