Awakening is becoming aware of the world within. Every man is a carrier of tremendous energies. As long as he regards the external world as real, all these energies are being drained away into the external world. Once he awakens to his inner reality, once he shuts his eyes on the external and turns within, all these energies will lift him up to a state where he may experience the soundless bliss of the Eternal.
This is true awakening!
I once read the story of a beggar who lived under a tree. He sat there through rain and sunshine, day and night, summer and winter. He was homeless and lived in abject poverty. He ate whatever people threw into his begging bowl. One day he fell ill; his body was racked by pain and fever. He had no money to buy medicine or go to a doctor for treatment. He lay under the tree, ill and delirious until death released his soul from his wasted, emaciated body. A life of utter misery had come to an end. The municipal workers accorded him the last dignity of a destitute funeral. He had left the world, unwept, unhonoured, unlamented.
A few days passed. The plot of land which he had made his home was acquired by a construction company in order to build a commercial complex. Heavy equipment was brought to dig the ground and lay the foundation for a huge building. When they had dug deep under the tree, the construction workers found a pot filled with silver and gold coins. This poor beggar had been literally sitting on a pot of gold; yet he had lived a life of sheer deprivation. He was unaware of the treasure he was sitting on!
Are we not like this poor beggar? An enormous treasure of shakti lies locked and hidden within us. But we go through life without ever unfolding this shakti, without using it for our own betterment. Little do we realise that we have the hidden potential that can transform our lives. There is a powerhouse within us, yet we live in a state of permanent power failure! Becoming aware of this power is awakening to the reality of the Self!
Dada J P Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader
