Your Center – In Gita Verse 16.18 Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demons become envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in their own bodies and in the bodies of others, and blaspheme against the real religion.
In the light of Krishna’s wisdom, it becomes clear that our true battle lies within. The ego – a mirage that we chase after – is not real but a reflection of our ignorance. Our relentless pursuit of this illusion, mistaking it for our very identity, blinds us to the deeper truths of existence.
Krishna imparts in us a revelation: to awaken to the real religion is to transcend the false self. The layers of ego, false ego, pride, and the various facets of desire are but fleeting shadows on the path of self-revelation.
What is real religion, then? It is not an external set of rituals or moral codes; it is an internal transformation, a shift from the circumference of being to its axis. The pivotal transformation occurs at the centre – our innermost core. When the center is touched and stirred, the ripples change the periphery, the totality of our being.
Consider the periphery as a landscape that becomes fertile and blooms only when nourished from the core, from the waters of awareness that well up from within.
Thus, morality – the way we comport ourselves with others – is just the outer husk; it is the skin, not the fruit. Religion, on the other hand, is the seed inside, containing the kernel of who we truly are.
Religion, derived from ‘religare’ – to bind back, is a return, a reunion not with others, but with oneself. It is not the first joining but a re-membering, a reintegration with our source from which we have never truly been severed.
In aloneness, the ego has no function; it dissolves. The ego is the language of duality and demands an ‘other’ to exist. True spirituality is the silent communion within your own solitude.
Now, regarding the ripeness for spirituality, it is like a fruit maturing on a tree; not all reach that ripeness simultaneously. Just as it would be foolish to force open a bud before its time, so too is the effort to enforce spirituality. It blossoms in its own time.
Religion is the domain of being, not doing – a remembrance that you are part of an organic whole. The transformation is from a passive forgetfulness to an active remembrance, from a state of distraction to one of attuned awareness.
So, dear seeker, when Krishna speaks of religion, he speaks of a journey inward to rediscover the eternal Atman, your true self, which is beyond the petty binaries of good and bad, right and wrong.
Let Krishna’s wisdom be a gentle beacon, not a rigid commandment. Extend an invitation to delve within, fostering exploration over adherence. May the essence of your insights be a natural outpouring of lived experience, not solely the reflection of acquired teachings.
The great mirror of the Bhagavad Gita invites a deep inner contemplation, guiding us beyond our projected illusions, helping us discern our true reflection on the canvas of divinity.
Embrace the divine Leela, the cosmic dance, as each spirit embarks on a transformative journey from the illusion of separation to the realised oneness, from the veils of ignorance to the dawn of enlightenment. It is in the sacred pilgrimage of life that the elusive essence of truth is not a destination at the path’s end, but a luminous presence realised with each mindful step – akin to the unfolding of a lotus, greeting each sunrise with renewed splendour.
Tags: Your Center
