For most of us, the physical world that we perceive with the five senses is all there is. If you think about it, you would realise there is little to do here—food, sex, money, power, relationships and creativity. But even on achieving these, one is left asking for more.
Take the example of sweets, the same combination of flour, sugar and oil (and chemicals) one eats in hundreds of forms, and still there are newer varieties for one to taste.
Similar is the case with sexual pleasure; these days one finds sex toyshops with things that are not even remotely connected with the act—that is, taste is deteriorating. Innovation is unending, life passes but the taste buds want more, something different. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Hence all pleasures have an inherent built-in mechanism towards an automatic process called destruction.
Senses dull away with age, tastes don’t. Body fades away, tastes don’t.
Any aspect of physical—be it relationship, business, wealth or power—is temporary in nature. The more you indulge in it, the more insecure you become of losing it, and more tightly to hold on to it. Interestingly, the stronger you try to hold on to something, the faster it will want to leave and it will leave.
This is the journey into the physical creation, the entry route, or devolution. Because if you look around at the state of people, animals and environment, and if you compare it with what it was 100 years back, you will find that we have devolved. And then, if you project what creation would have been a thousand years back and what would become of it 50 years from now, you would know that we are stifling creation, the karmic repercussions are bound to
come back.
So you may choose the entry route chasing that which is bound to leave you one day, or look for the exit route, the journey beyond. The beginning of the spiritual journey starts with ‘bali’ or sacrifice. Sacrifice here is not sacrificing other innocent lives, but sacrificing that which is dear to you. Unless you are prepared to leave what you have, you cannot reach anywhere.
And the closer the object of sacrifice to you, the deeper you go into the reality of life. Ironically, if you are prepared to leave something, that thing will never leave you. Puranas are replete with examples of tapasvis, whatever they sacrificed, it came back. Even Quran says when Ibrahim sacrificed his son, he was returned to him.
The concept of bali is simple, it is the release from shackles of maya. As soon as you make a bali, the desire for something more permanent awakens. That is when you meet a guru, for the exit route. Exit is not leaving anything, no pleasure or relation has to be left. That’s not meant for normal people, it’s meant only for a sanyasi.
Normal people, who desire to become supernormal and gain siddhis, need to gently and slowly begin the process of purification, make a guru who will individually assess you and give you the path. Slowly avidya will leave and reality will dawn, a normal person will become supernormal. But the guru to show the path has to be chosen—he/she has to be away from the clutches of maya. He/she should not be putting a fee on the teachings and should have no commercial relation with yoga.
The writer is the spiritual head of Dhyan Foundation, which will conduct a workshop on Bhuta Shudhi Kriya and science of yagyas at 5pm on April 30 at Mogappair, Chennai. Yogi Ashwini would be present. Register at 8807843660, 9841430369.
info@dhyanfoundation.com