The Movement of Life and the Illusion of the Self
Parth:
The whole movement of life is not about becoming something else — it is about seeing what you are, without distortion. But most human beings are not even psychologically clear; their minds are a battlefield of contradictions. Before one can speak of spirituality or enlightenment, there must be psychological order. Without order, there is no health. Without health, there is no well-being. And without well-being, dissolution is just a word — an idea, not a reality.
When the mind is agitated, restless, constantly measuring itself against something, it cannot be free. Such a mind is forever escaping, forever improving, forever “helping” itself. But the question is — from what? Can you see the little gap here? You are not escaping from some real danger — you are escaping from understanding itself. Just a little discomfort of seeing things as they are, and immediately the mind seeks to run, to fix, to improve. That is the subtle deceit — the movement away from seeing.
First comes a flash of perception — what you may call intuition. Then comes the mind, which wants to interpret, to define, to choose what is right and what is wrong. And in that very movement of choice, division begins — and with division, conflict.
To be egoistic is simply to be unaware. Ego means nonsense — no sense of understanding. So whenever you see someone carrying a very big ego, understand — he is simply full of no-sense. This nonsense has enough power to shape the world today. Unfortunately, we have made this no-sense a virtue. Without it, one cannot even get “empowered.” Because being egoistic itself feels like power.
Please see — when you are full of yourself, you carry a certain sense of power. You can do all the stupid things in the world and then deny that you ever did them. That makes you not only a thief escaping the scene, but also one dishonest with your own stupidity. To realise this is the first step towards realisation.
If I call you a dog, you bark. If I call you a cat, you meow. Did you see? There is a lack of understanding. Just because I call you a dog, a cow, a goat, or even a hippopotamus, you start imagining yourself to be that — and behave accordingly. You do not know who you are; so, you behave as others address you. That is the root of ignorance — not knowing oneself, but living through the words, opinions, and projections of others.
So, there is enlightenment on one side and fearfulness on the other. When you are enlightened, you are awake — you are understanding. But when you are nonsense, stupid, foolish, thieving around — you are fearful. Can you see what needs to move? You need to move from non-sense to sense. That is what all enlightened beings have been saying for ages — Asato mā sadgamaya — move from untruth to truth, from ignorance to knowing, from darkness to light.
If one simply observes — not to change, not to control, but to see — then something entirely different happens. In that seeing, there is no rejection, no acceptance, only clarity. And in that clarity, the self, as you know it, ceases. That is the beginning of true freedom.
Then there is no self.
If there is no self, there is no self-realisation.
And if there is no self-realisation, where is the question of enlightenment?
Because enlightenment is the ultimate understanding with life — to become knowing. But now, when the self is not there, who will get enlightened? The very idea of someone becoming enlightened is misinterpreted as some lala-land thing.
When there is no “someone,” only light remains — all-knowing, complete. Not enlightenment, not a state to be attained, not a prize for the mind, just light, just knowingness. Or, if it helps you grasp it, you may call it darkness — the existential reality. Or perhaps nothingness, because your personal experience ends here.
From that point, there is no concern for what comes after. When you do not exist, everything simply moves according to law — conscious, pervasive, inevitable. There is no “you” to claim it, no “you” to experience it, no “you” to question it. It simply is.
This is Sada-Shiva — not something to be sought, not something to possess. It is the reality that is here when the self, as you know it, dissolves. To see this, to truly perceive this, is to end the illusion of the “someone” forever.
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