By Zile Singh

             “A Fountain at my fond Heart's door,

              Whose only business was to flow.

              And flow it did; not taking heed.

             Of its own bounty or my need.”

                                                      --- William Wordsworth

Ever since life started in the Universe, perhaps a billion years before, life has, of course, come to a point of pinnacle glory, yet it has not come to its ultimate stage. It is impossible to put a full stop in this process. Life has been a continuous process of evolution. That is why we all are called human-beings and also the natural-beings. We are in the process of Becoming as well Unbecoming moment by moment and step by step. As per the Law of Nature, we are becoming and unbecoming in fractions of a second. In our body, every second, millions of cells take birth and in a large number they die also. Mentally too, we do not know how many thoughts occur to us in one minute and in one hour? There is a ceaseless chain of thoughts.

From the very beginning in this process of becoming, human beings are in an earnest search of happiness, peace and prosperity. In pursuit of these cherished goals, individuals have been working tirelessly in different directions. The great scientists, saints, sages and philosophers through their in-depth search and analysis have reached a conclusion that to achieve or feel an ideal situation in life there are two dimensions.   One is the Inward direction and the other is the Outward direction.  As the race started to achieve these cardinal aims, human-beings paid more attention to the Outwards than Inwards. Because, as a result of the Outward pursuits today we find ourselves in a position when it can be said with certainty that human beings are leading a life of an unbelievable comforts. Today's comfort level was never before in human history.   Science and Technology have made comfort levels mesmerizing.  

So, without making much ado about anything, let us take advantage of this phenomenal material development. To reach such a height of comfort level, humanity has taken refuge more in Temporal (Materialism) than in the Spiritual dimensions of life. However, it is not fair to say that this second dimension of life has been ignored totally. In different parts of the world, spiritual leaders have dug deep in consciousness to suggest various methods and techniques to accomplish the pursuit of inner peace and happiness. Whereas, to sustain a meaningful life and a better flight, a balance is a must between these two wings.  However, as the change is the law of nature, the balance between these two indispensable wings has been missing at intervals in the annals of history. The best of the brains on the earth have tried to keep this balance by propagating the cardinal principles of choosing compassion over anger, loving- kindness over hatred and awareness over ignorance. 

Science has proved that the ‘Outward’ realm is ‘Infinite.’ There are many moons, earths, planets, suns and galaxies in the universe.  Similarly the Spiritual Science also has proved that there are ‘Infinite’ layers of our consciousness.  Some religions, especially the Hindu religion, accept that this ‘consciousness’ is the Supreme Godhead. And the Godhead is nothing but our consciousness. Both are the same.  While on the ‘Inward Journey’, the true meaning of the Supreme Godhead has been confused by the followers of religions. The consciousness gets stuck at a point up to where our pre-conceived illusion guides us because all religions have their own customs and rituals restricted to their godhead(s).    We need to travel beyond the pre-conceived notions.  We usually listen to the basic bodily needs.  That is why materialism is more lucrative than the spiritual aspect of life.  To start with, the Inwards journey seems dry and arduous, but in the long run it proves blissful. In the spiritual field, humanity has stuck but in the material field the becoming is there day in and day out. If we have to catch up with the changing time, there is need to explore more in the spiritual field than what has been described in the scriptures thousands of years before because then the Sun was moving round the Earth, but now it is the other way around.  The Moon and the Stars were a proverbial imagination of ‘to catch the Moon and to pluck the Stars’.  Today, Science has changed the Outward dimension.  To keep a proper balance between these two wings – the Outward and the Inward it is necessary to think of changing the inner journey and accept that as the outside world is ‘infinite’,  there is an ‘infinite’ inner domain also which is beyond the conceived ideologies of different religions. There is much more beyond. It is the flow of a fountain. 

Today, there is a need to explore newness because the past is never where we think we left it thousands of years before.  The Land of Bharat, that is India, has been a mix of materialism and spiritualism.  For example, Jainism and Buddhism were more for non-violence, austerity, chastity and forgiveness, whereas the Hindu Epics Ramayana and Mahabharta and the foundation of Khalsa (Sikhism) approve the idea of battle against injustice, and indulge in festivities and enjoyment in a righteous way.

During COVID-19 restrict your festivities and observe protocol.  

Zile Singh is a well respected Columnist, Writer, a Vipassana Meditator and has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Rights.  He can be reached at zsnirwal@yahoo.ca