Be yourself
June 2015
By Dhyan Antar
Can we transcend identity with paths, teachers, and nations and give birth to our true unique self? Always be yourself.
Is the radiant sun a Hindu? Is the beautiful moon a Buddhist? Are the beautiful, sparkling stars in the heavens members of any spiritual organization or do they belong to any religion? When a bird sings, does it sing in English or Hindi? Do the heavens shower rainfall more on a business executive and less on a factory worker living in the same city? Isn’t the fragrance of a rose the same for a beautiful lady or a small child or an elderly man or woman?
Was Buddha a Tibetan Buddhist, Jesus a Christian or Krishna a Hindu? Did they have any gurus or were they involved with any monastery or church or spiritual organization in their spiritual journey? Every human being in this universe is an original painting, a unique masterpiece created by the cosmic painter and there is no space for clones or replicas. Life is not an automobile assembly plant where one can mass-produce Buddhas on the assembly line of rituals and ceremonies.
In the entire history of spiritual consciousness of mankind, almost every person has identified himself/herself with a particular religion or a teacher and then spent his entire life in aspiring to become a true copy (if such a thing exists) of that role model or guru. So we have millions of Buddhists trying to become like the Buddha or millions of Christians trying to live a life pure as Christ’s or Hindus trying to live a life like Ram. But amazingly there has never been (and never will be) Buddha II or Jesus II. Buddha reached the pinnacle of human consciousness simply because he was just himself and experienced the ultimate freedom because his spiritual flowering was based on his own understanding of the phenomenon of life.
There is no standard blueprint for Nirvana just as no two human beings on this planet have identical fingerprints. Each one of us has to compose our own poem of life, sing our own song of existence and flower into ultimate truth, beauty and consciousness in our own unique way. The question is: Are we ready to take a quantum leap into the unknown? Leap from the false security of a small cage to the freedom of the vast sky, from living in a small pond to swimming in the depths of a huge ocean and from transcending a small ego self to dissolving one’s identity and merging with cosmic reality?
Is it possible for human beings on this planet to give birth to a space where they are able to transform themselves from being an Indian, American, German, French or Hindu or a Muslim Buddhist, Sikh or Christian to citizens of the entire cosmos? Can we transcend our identification with a small country like India or USA or a tiny planet called Earth? There are over 200 billion galaxies in the universe and each one of us is only a small particle of sand in the cosmic beach. So always be yourself.
Can human beings be sensitive enough to understand that a loving, genuine smile is as important as a spiritual dialog, that a warm friendly embrace is more beautiful than a formal handshake and that in the ultimate analysis – silence is more profound and life-transforming than millions of sacred mantras?
Can we create a space where love and joy share a beautiful friendship with meditation and were bursting into a spontaneous song and dance is as sacred as sitting in deep silence and contemplation?
Can we birth a new vision where science blends effortlessly with spirituality, where computers have a love affair with the beautiful music of a flute and where showering love and compassion on fellow human beings is as beautiful and sacred as listening to an enlightened spiritual teacher explain the mysteries of the universe?
Can we create a new life on Earth where you look at the early morning sun with a bright smile on your face and gently say goodbye to the luminous moon in the dark night? Can we understand that the ultimate truth is a dynamic, living reality, and cannot be found in the dead traditions of the past or in the dreams and visions of an unborn future, but that it is being right here and now, in the beautiful, precious moments of the present?