The Third Dimension

Terms like “Bliss”, “Nirvana” and “Enlightenment” have always fascinated me and going a bit deep into it, we find that they all mean more-or-less the same. Very often I think about the complexity of these terms or rather its relation to divinity, and often they are referred to as ‘a state of perfect harmony achieved by the soul’. There is a general notion that this kind-of-stuff is not meant for the ordinary person, which is simply because we have come across these terms while reading about great saints and sages.
Will a term like “Bliss” hold good in today’s rapidly changing globalised world, where selfishness has taken root in us without our knowledge, and where jealousy and ego have penetrated, a world where siblings fight for the sake of money and power? Now that’s a question which people have been trying to answer for a pretty long time, even before technology had such a big impact on human life.
Today everybody wants to be “great”, and the usual way of taking this word is in the sense of becoming rich or powerful, in some cases being famous because of some philanthropic act. But what I have thought of this is more simple and practical.
Once I heard an important person speak on “Inner Healing”. It was a wonderful session, and what amazed me most was the example of a rocket he used to compare our life. It goes like this. Our life can be compared to a rocket, the outer space being our goal in life to become great. The rocket is filled with whole lot-of solid and liquid propellants which are used to push it into outer space. Now here’s the twist, all the propellants in the rocket can be compared to the worldly traits of a human being, which is a host of satanic qualities like anger, jealousy, revenge, ego, pride, lust, gluttony, and I think the list could go on. If the rocket has to be pushed into outer space, then all the propellants in it must burn and finish-off. Likewise if man has to become great, all the satanic traits must vanish from within his mind and body. It is only then that he becomes light in his soul and reaches the point of greatness. Once the rocket has emptied itself off its fuel, it becomes light and begins to float in outer space. In a similar fashion, man becomes light by the soul and begins to float in an entirely different world or ‘a state of perfect harmony is achieved by the soul’, which is known by names like “Bliss” or “Nirvana”. It is easy for us to say that we need to get rid of all the faults within us, but how do we do it? This calls for a great deal of introspection. We need not retrospect too much, that is because thinking of the past is not of much use and let us focus on the present and on a beautiful future.
Taming the body is a wonderful way to gain an understanding of our soul. So first, we need to make some bodily sacrifices. That is simple, it is just giving up some pleasures of the body like our favourite dish for a brief period of time, not watching television for a few days or refraining from some-sort of bad habits and the choices could vary from person to person. Fasting has been a time-tested method used to gain control over our emotions, and that is scientifically proved. It is just not enough if we do it once, but whenever we feel the desire to change. That seriously helps and I have experienced it too.
Once we gain control over our emotions, we become calm within ourselves or there is harmony in our minds. When we are at peace with ourselves, we are able to establish peace with our surroundings by which we can understand the real hardships of people around us. A stone-hearted person will be very rigid in his thinking and unwilling to change for good. So a person while at peace with himself is also at peace with his environment and all the elements in it. Here man adopts a selfless approach towards life and strives to become a blessing to others.
I would like to give another example of a candle. Our life can be compared to a candle, which burns itself and becomes small for the sake of spreading light. This reminds me of the laws we learned in thermodynamics, heat flows from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature and for that matter any substance on earth tries to descend due to the force of gravity. Likewise when we become small, not in our physical stature but when we become small on the inside by being more helpful, humble and down-to-earth, life’s good things begin to flow in our direction. Talking in scientific terms, there is a flow of positive energy in our direction. When our mind is full with this energy we experience a feeling of gratification. Such an experience can again be referred to as ‘a state of perfect harmony achieved by the soul’. So just like a candle, we need to sacrifice ourselves or our pleasures for the sake of others; here it calls for a great deal of patience, resilience and perseverance. Perseverance is highly called for as it helps us to remain in our path towards goodness.
There are millions of people in this world who can’t afford a single square meal-a-day. In such a situation we could either save money for the poor by reducing our unwanted food expenses or we could even share our food with the underprivileged. Now this brings to my mind a phrase which I noticed on the wrapper of a milk chocolate and it read like this “it is much sweeter when shared”. It is not only our food that can be shared, but lot of things like our time, money, appreciation and so on. Imagine that a friend in class is poor at math and if we are good at it, then it would mean a great help if we take away a little time from our schedule to help him out. Make sure that the things we share are not out of abundance, but out of scarceness. That is when we really feel happy and a feeling of “Bliss” sets in. I think it is appropriate for me to make a mention of what Blessed Mother Theresa once said, “Hands that help are holier than lips that pray”. A prayer is something which every man can effortlessly say, but that is not a meaningful prayer. A meaningful prayer is a combination of real faith and good deeds.
To recapitulate, I would first like to say that we need to inculcate a high degree of moral integrity. We are very much aware of the famous saying
“If Wealth is lost, nothing is lost,
If Health is lost, something is lost,
But if Character is lost, everything is lost.”
So let’s try to develop a strong character by burning all those propellants, those satanic traits within us, and infuse divine virtues into our day-to-day activities, with all our activities centered around selfless motives, combined with high levels of ethics and human values. All of this does not mean that we remain liberated from performing our duties with utmost sincerity and hard work.
A combination of all these traits can certainly help us achieve both our spiritual and temporal objectives. Let’s live life in the way our “Almighty” wants us to live and then wait for His Reward. We always need to keep one thought in our mind during our pursuit for worldly gains and that is “Riches, Honour and Life are from the Lord” as per the Holy Bible. We serve food in a clean plate and not in a filthy one. Let’s start cleaning ourselves, remembering the fact that every person is called to this world for a specific purpose and it is our duty to carry out “that plan” of the Almighty with the highest levels of ‘Humility, Purity and Compassion’. Please remember, there is no religion in this world which teaches man to be pessimistic in his attitude towards life. So let’s start counting our blessings and putting-up a smile to our faces walk in integrity towards a “Blissful” future.