Swami Vivekananda’s words “Arise, Awake!” still thunder and inspire millions of people around the world. These two words carry a call for the whole humanity to realize and wake up to their potential. This is not just a teaching from a renowned world teacher but a clarion call for future of humanity. Too many youngsters today face the confusion of trying to find what they really want to do in their life. Technology has brought the whole world together but also, it has brought exposure to too many options and distractions so that one loses their true calling, their uniqueness, their individual self. A child is naturally drawn to what he or she really feels authentic and joy, creativity and spontaneity effortlessly shine through. So how is it that they lose this natural capacity? How is it that the youngsters are so connected with the information about the world out there but so disconnected from their own wisdom?
Knowing one’s life purpose is about discovering one’s innate wisdom. This cannot be achieved through thinking, rationalizing or analyzing. Wisdom is not information! Humanity has seen the shift from hunting and gathering age to agricultural age 5000 years ago to industrial revolution few hundred years ago to information age few decades ago. The next step in this evolution invariably leads to the Age of Wisdom. Wisdom, not philosophy, that one can subscribe to that is preached by a religion, culture or creed but wisdom that is innate in everyone. Just like joy, creativity, and love has no religion, has no cast, similarly wisdom has no ethnocentric or socio-centric values or agenda. But how does one really discover this wisdom?
The answer is in silence or rather answer IS silence!
It is only in a deep silence that wisdom awakens. Only when the clouded sky clears up, the sun can shine through. Only when the mind subsides, wisdom can express itself. Easier said than done, one might say, but there is a good news to all of this. By the very nature of the mind, it stops after every thought – there is a gap between two thoughts. The famous phrase, “god is in the gap” is an apt one because in this gap lies answers to humanity’s confusions. It is this space that is the doorway to finding one’s life purpose. The good news is that this space is available right here, right now. Awareness is the key! One has to be aware of this gap and that is all that is needed to experience this unclutched space.
People spend thousands of dollars in stress relieving workshops, hire coaches and psychologists to try to understand what is it that they want to do in life. So it is understandable that it is hard for many people to believe that the answer can be so simple. But it is that simple! Stress is nothing but the friction with life which happens when one is not performing day to day activities with an alignment with his or her life purpose. Awareness of this space brings about a total psychological revolution, alters brain synapses and opens a new way of experiencing the world and self. So the answer may be simple but it has the potential to totally transform lives and bring about a major shift in one’s modus operandi. A key may look small but it can open big doors!
This is what is needed now, for each individual to find that key! Humanity does not need a new political system or a new economic system or a philosophy, humanity needs humans to embark on a journey of self-discovery. This journey of self-discovery awakens ruthless authenticity. Although upon hearing ruthless authenticity, one might visualize a great deal of force or struggle that goes into being authentic, but that is not the case. Ruthless authenticity is a dimension of wisdom. Every single rose bud has ruthless authenticity – it does not want to flower into anything else other than a rose – it simply cannot! It does not compare itself with a lotus or a lily or a sunflower, and does not think that there are so many other roses, how does it matter that one more rose flower will make any difference? No! It simply flowers! Because that is the whole point of its existence – to flower! That is the whole point of life – for that ruthless authenticity to flower into one’s life’s purpose and when one’s life purpose flowers it paves the way for clarity, actions, behaviors, and relationships that are out of pure ecstasy. Out of this comes an unshakable confidence and a fierce will to live life to its fullest.
When one discovers the purpose of their life, then no longer can they possess that life’s purpose, but rather, that purpose possess them! It is this extraordinary life that is each individual’s birth right. So arise and awake because life begins only after the discovery of life’s purpose. Life begins with this one resolution to embark upon a journey of self-discovery. Life begins right here and right now.
Adapted from Nithyananda’s Daily Talks on the Bhagavad Gita in 2011, Bidadi Ashram, India
