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by Jayaram V
J.Krishnamurthy said something to the effect that there is no
observation if
there is an observer. He also said that when we look
at things we do not see the thing itself most of the time, but the
thing that we have already seen, compared and contrasted and set
aside as an object of reference somewhere in our memory. He said all
our knowledge is memory based, all our experience is repetitive and
conditioned and what is known cannot know the unknown. He said that
as long as we are in the field of the known and the memory, we are
far from truth. How beautiful!
To a person familiar with the metaphysical aspects of life this
is a profound revelation. If we observe ourselves carefully how we
live and experience the reality around us, we realize that actually
most of the time we lead a repetitive and monotonous life. If you
are familiar with the concepts of object oriented programming, you
will realize that the human mind uses super classes all the time to
interpret and classify newer and recent experiences.
True, the mind is a cognitive miser. It does not actually deal
with reality, but with images and impressions that are already
accumulated in the consciousness through its daily interaction
with the objects of the world outside. When we look at a flower, we
actually do not see the flower, but an image or concept of it that
has already been there in our minds. We tend to associate it with
the super class flowers we know, rather than looking at it as an
object of creation by itself, undefined, uncategorized, independent
and different from all the flowers and concepts of flowers we have
seen, known and experienced. We lose the flower the moment the mind
goes into the past and picks up an image of similar flower to start
processing the incoming information.
So when we look at the objects of the world, what we see actually
is not the objects in front of us, but the objects that we have
already seen and experienced. The human mind has its own clumsy ways
to deal with the problem of information overflow. It knows how to
keep our consciousness free from the problem of repetitive nature of
daily experience. While this helps the mind to resolve in some
sensible way the problem of endless flow of information, it also
keeps us from actually experiencing the reality each moment afresh.
Only a person of the stature of J.Krishnamurthy may be able to
set aside his mind completely and live an ordinary or extraordinary
human life preaching the whole wide world, that any form of
organized knowledge or information is a great impediment to know the
truths of life or experience the profound depths of higher
consciousness. For ordinary mortals this is not possible, at least
immediately. For us our minds are the only means to understand and
experience the bewildering amount of information that keeps coming
to us from all directions. Till we find newer ways, we are dependent
upon the hyperactive channels of our sensory organs for all our
knowledge and experience.
Despite our sincere intentions and noble aspirations, we cannot
for a moment escape from the movements of our brains or the impulses
of our nervous systems. When Krishnamurthy says, "The known
breeds sorrow, and love is freedom from the known," we may
marvel at the thought, if that makes some sense to our minds, but we
know deep inside that we cannot achieve that state of existence
while remaining committed to our mundane lives. We would prefer to
take the risk and accept sorrow in a land of highways and street
lights rather than pursue the pathless land that Krishnamurthy
preferred to walk and talked about.
There is however no harm if we make a sincere attempt to learn to
perceive the world in ways we have never done before. We may not be
able to put an end to the movements of our brains or Time, but we
can make an honest attempt to live in the present and experience the
world each moment as it passes by. We can turn our gaze to things we
have never cared to observe before and feel inside things we have
never felt before.
Becoming sensitive is one way to accomplish this. By slowing
down, by just lifting our heads and looking around we will realize
how much life we are missing each day. We will realize how we have
stopped looking at people and things we do not care about, how we
stopped appreciating the wonderful creation of God that exists all
around us and how we have stopped expressing our gratitude to God
and deactivated our connection with him by not acknowledging the
beautiful things He created for us. If you feel that you are
too much into material things and have limited your vision to your
nose or what is right in front of it, it is time you wake up your
senses and start enriching your life with the simple pleasures of
your daily existence.
People go to faraway places for vacation or a cruise to
experience nature, enjoy a trip or seek relief from daily routine.
As long you can afford such trips, there is no harm in going on a
vacation to relieve yourselves of the monotony of your life. But
should you limit your choices only to such expensive and rare
occasions ? The answer is certainly no.
Joy exists not in the things but in the seeker. For a trained
mind the very process of living is a great source of enjoyment. It
is immaterial whether a person is rich or poor. What is material is
whether he knows how to appreciate life and beauty in his daily life
and how far he can enjoy the simple pleasures of life by becoming
sensitive to the environment in which he lives. A sunset is a
sunset, whether it happens in your town or on the Andes. What is
required is a loving heart and an appreciating nature. Even the
silence of a street, or a secluded place in your house can put you
in touch with the peace that comes through your experience with
nature.
A keen sense of observation will put you in touch with yourself
and help you develop a worldview in which you perceive yourself
increasingly as the source of all sources and a master of all your
happiness and inner harmony. You may not develop the consciousness
of Bodhisattva Maitreya, Lord Krishna or Jesus Christ, but you will
be above ordinary and more at peace with yourself and your life. You
will free yourself from your old habits and experience things you
have never experienced before.
This way you may perhaps never achieve freedom from the shackles
of your conditioned mind, or destroy the illusion that keeps you
ignorant of the higher aspects of truth consciousness. In the
consciousness of J.Krishnamurthy, doing something consciously using
the brain or the body by itself is a part of the conditioning and an
impediment to truth. We cannot break that conditioning so easily.
But we can make a sincere effort to live in the present, become
aware of the present, become sensitive to the reality around us and
live spontaneously and joyously, with a sense of gratitude and love,
experiencing life as truthfully and originally as you can.
By observing the the world around you with loving attention, and
appreciating the positive aspects of the most ordinary things- the
beauty of a flower, the innocence of a child, the serenity of a
sleeping baby, the insecurity of a flying bird, the mysterious
silence of the expansive sky or a starry night - anything that makes
you happy or gives you relief, you can put yourself in touch with
your higher self and achieve freedom from the need to find freedom
in distant places and dreamy situations.
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