Liberation is Not a Spectator Sport
मुक्ति देखने का खेल नहीं है"द वे ऑफ़ लिबरेशन" (मुक्ति पथ) आध्यात्मिक मुक्ति पाने का एक सीधा-सादा, उपयोगी मार्गदर्शन है, जिसे हम कभी जागृति कहते हें, कभी निर्वाण, कभी आत्म-ज्ञान, या कभी बस उसे देखने का तरीका जो पूर्णतः सत्य है. जागृति या निर्वाण जैसे शब्दों को समझ पाना तब तक एकदम असंभव है जब तक आप खुद उनका अहसास न कर लें. इसलिए, यह अंदाज़ लगाना बेकार है कि निर्वाण कैसा होता है; असल में, ऐसा करना निर्वाण पाने के रास्ते में बाधा डालता है. एक मार्गदर्शक सिद्धांत यह है कि यह अंदाज़ लगाने से कि क्या पूर्णतः सत्य है, कई गुना बेहतर है कि आप एक-एक करके इस बात का अहसास करें कि क्या पूर्णतः सत्य नहीं है.
बहुत से लोग सोचते हैं कि आध्यात्मिक शिक्षण का काम है जीवन के सबसे बड़े सवालों का जवाब देना, लेकिन असल में सच एकदम विपरीत है. किसी भी अच्छे आध्यात्मिक शिक्षण का मुख्य काम आपके सवालों के जवाब देना नहीं, बल्कि आपके जवाबों पर सवाल करना है. क्योंकि आपकी जानी और अनजानी धारणाएँ और विश्वास ही हैं जो आपके अनुभवों पर असर डालते हैं, और जहाँ असल में सिर्फ एकता और पूर्णता है, वहां आपको अलगाव और विभाजन देखने पर मजबूर करते हैं.
यह शिखण जिस सच्चाई की ओर हमारा ध्यान खींच रहा है, वह कोई छुपी हुई चीज़ नहीं है, न ही कोई रहस्य है, और न हमसे बहुत दूर है. आप उसे कमा नहीं सकते, न आपका उस पर कोई अधिकार है, और न ही आप उसको सुलझा सकते हैं. ठीक इसी पल में, सच्चाई और सम्पूर्णता साफ आपकी आँखों के सामने है. वास्तव में, सिर्फ एक ही चीज़ है जो देखने, सुनने, सूंघने, चखने, या महसूस करने लायक है, और वो है वास्तविकता, या जिसे आप ईश्वर कह सकते हैं. आप जहां भी जाते हैं, परम सम्पूर्णता आपके चारों ओर मौजूद रहती है. इसलिए हमें इस बारे में अपने को परेशान करने की ज़रुरत नहीं है, लेकिन क्योंकि मानव जाति ने बहुत समय पहले अपने आप को भ्रम और उलझन के जंजाल के ऐसे धोखे में फंसा लिया है कि महसूस करना तो दूर, हम अब अपने अंदर और चारों ओर मौजूद ईश्वर को मानते भी नहीं।
"द वे ऑफ़ लिबरेशन" (मुक्ति पथ) हमें कुछ करने के लिए पुकार रही है; यह वो है जो आपको करना है. यह ऐसा काम है जो आपके पहले सब कामों को पूरी तरह उखाड़ फेंकेगा। अगर आप इस सीख को काम में नहीं लाते, अगर आप इसका अध्ययन नहीं करते और बेधड़क इसे अपने पर इस्तेमाल नहीं करते, तो यह आप में कोई बदलाव नहीं ला पाएगा। "द वे ऑफ़ लिबरेशन" (मुक्ति पथ) एक सोचने का तरीका नहीं है, ये वो चीज़ है जिसे आपको इस्तेमाल में लाना होगा। इस हिसाब से यह पूरी तरह से अभ्यास की चीज़ है.
इस किताब को दर्शक की तरह पढना बेकार है. दर्शक बने रहना आसान और सुरक्षित है; लेकिन अपने आप को सच्चाई की ओर जागरूक बनाने में एक सक्रिय भागीदार (एक्टिव पार्टिसिपेंट) बन पाना न आसान है, और न ही सुरक्षित। आगे की राह पूर्वनिर्धारित नहीं है, ये पूर्ण समर्पण मांगती है, और परिणाम की कोई गारंटी नहीं है. क्या आपने वास्तव में सोचा था कि इसका और कोई तरीका हो सकता है?
- अद्य्शान्ति, "द वे ऑफ़ लिबरेशन" (मुक्ति पथ) के प्राक्कथन से
विचार के लिए कुछ मूल प्रश्न: आप ऐसा क्या कर सकते हैं जिससे आप इस किताब को एक दर्शक की तरह पढने से बच सकें, और अपने खुद के जागरण में एक सक्रिय भागीदार बन सकें? क्या आप अपना कोई निजी अनुभव सबसे बांटना चाहेंगे जहां आपको एक सक्रिय भागीदार बनना न आसान रहा हो और न ही सुरक्षित, लेकिन खुद को जागरूक करने का वही एक तरीका था? अपने किन जवाबों पर आपने गहराई से कभी संदेह किया है?
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you avoid reading the book as a spectator and be an active participant instead in your own awakening? Can you share a personal story where being an active participant has neither been easy nor safe, but has been the only way for you to awaken? What answers of yours have you questioned deeply?
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7 Past Reflections
On Oct 8, 2013 Thierry wrote :
That question of commitment is a tough nut to crack for someone as reluctant as I am to commit myself and yet haunted by the absolute necessity of a commitment. The tension between these two opposites has been present throughout my entire existence. Reading (or listening) 's merit is to point to the difficulties one will unavoidably encounter, help one identify the enemy. But by itself will not effect a deep change other than intellectual. However it may also help one realize what is really at stake. Commitment to truth is in no way abstract as I once experienced. It does demand that one exposes oneself to one's psychological fears and limitations if one is to grow out of them while having no certainty about the outcome..
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On Oct 8, 2013 Abby wrote :
I have found through hard work on my own mind, in talking with myself, that I have been able to see I am not in control of anything except how I react, feel, and accept the reality. In learning this, I have been able to let go of trying to control the reality nor have it control me. I am able to accept it. What is exciting about this is that I have no idea what is going to happen next and I do not look at that fact in dread. Whatever it is could be extremely positive or negative but I cannot control which, I can only control my acceptance. I continue to work on this daily as I slip back into my attempt to make everything work the way I think it should. By working on this, I have been there when my parents have died and felt that it was very much a part of their and my life. I am at peace with it in a way I never was before. While I continue to have fear and anxiety, I work to let them go when I become aware that they are in my reality and I am able to do so. I did not think I wo... [View Full Comment]
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On Oct 8, 2013 SimplyMe wrote :
I agree with this call to action except I'd like to challenge the statement in the final paragraph."..being an active participant in your own awakening to Truth is neither easy nor safe". I would like to say that it may not be easy but it is safe. In fact, it is the only safe reliable anchor, your inner voice that you can rely on. Even though it may not seem to be easy in the moment, just trust the Truth and step forward to take the leap of faith for you will land safely eventually - in your own Truth and one with the Universal Truth. If you let fear get in the way, you will live a lie and live to regret it someday. It was painful for me to acknowledge that my marriage was dead, but staying in a dead marriage would have been to kill myself as the authentic person. It was very hard but it was the right thing to do to move away from the soul destroying experience. And it took a long time to find my bearings and new friends, but I am there now. I am safe for having walked away from the s... [View Full Comment]
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On Oct 4, 2013 david doane wrote :
Good piece. I like the statement that a good spiritual teaching is not to answer your questions but to question your answers. The way I avoid being a spectator and become an active participant in my awakening is by paying attention to what's happening to and within me as I read the book. That is, what the author is saying stirs and triggers reactions within me as I am reading, and I am an active participant by listening to and valuing the reactions within me which include my thoughts, feelings, associations, fantasies, and insights. My inner experience is at least as important as what the author is saying. What the author writes is his awakening, and what happens in me is my awakening. Being an active participant has not been easy or safe when I was in any so called teaching situation that told me what I should get and should learn from what I was reading, which got in the way of my noticing what was awakening in me. I don't think it is the on... [View Full Comment]
1 reply: Amy | Post Your Reply
On Oct 4, 2013 Conrad P Pritscher wrote :
The answer I have questioned somewhat deeply is: "I am me." I have come to notice that I am what I think; and all that exists arises with my thoughts, and that with my thoughts I make the world. When I have no thoughts I am nothing. When I am nothing I am not me but rather I am everyone and everything. As Gandhi said: "My life is my message. The purity of the means determines the purity of the end. A "no" merely uttered from the deepest conviction is better and greater than YES merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble. You must be the change you want to see in the world." I still have a long way to go to achieve what I have said above I am moving in that direction. I have come to realize that nothing is absolutely true or absolutely false. I have also come to know that I do not know. These are words. Words are often preached. As Gandhi said: an ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. I have come to believe that when I am kind I am libera... [View Full Comment]