The Mithila Matrix

Yes, it’s been a while! Maybe that’s my fault. Things have been a little hectic on my side, but now we’re back. I’m still researching and writing for my upcoming project, and I can’t wait to share this with you all!

I’ve been at the Neasden Temple in London for the past six weeks, in the supremely sacred presence of my guru, HH Mahant Swami Maharaj. So many memories. So much to cherish. But… that’s to share another day. Being in his presence felt like I had stepped out of the matrix of daily life. Contemplating this today made me remember the opening chapter of my second book — Keshav. I’ll share it with you.

In Vedic times, there lived a lineage of kings who ruled over a region known as Mithila, also known as Videha. It is located in the Eastern part of the South-Asian Peninsula. Funnily enough, all the kings chose to name their children after themselves, and so they were all called Janak.

One such King Janak was known to hold regular assemblies of scholars and philosophers to discuss spiritual and philosophical topics. He had a deep desire within his heart to discern the real from the unreal. In Hinduism, this notion is known as vivek (discretion).

After a long day, filled with discussions and lavish meals, Janak retired to bed. Halfway through the night, he awoke to the sound of horns and the beatings of drums. His attendants ran into the room shouting, “Your majesty! The kingdom of Videha is under attack!”

Janak put on his battle attire, prepared his horse and weapons and rode into battle under the night sky. He was captured by the invaders, forced to surrender his kingdom and go into exile in order to protect the people of his kingdom. He obliged and left with nothing left to his name. He felt humiliated and weak, travelling around and begging for food from anyone, yet being rejected by anyone he came across. Society rejected him, no one wanted anything to do with this begging man. Ravaging with hunger, he came to a shelter which provided food for the poor. When it was finally his turn to get something to fill his hunger, there were only a few scraps of food left. He accepted this too. He couldn’t go another day without food. Just as he was about to put a morsel of food into his mouth, it was knocked out of his hands into a small home. He cried in agony at his own condition. Then he woke up. Janak looked around and saw himself amidst his room, within his palace, the lanterns burning and the crickets chirping.

“Was?this?real or was?that?real?” He muttered to himself.

Awoken by the noise from his quarters, his attendants ran into his room and asked their king what had just happened. “Was this real or was that real?” Janak asked his attendants. His guards were confused as to what their king was talking about. Thereafter, whoever he met or spoke to, he asked one question: Was this real or was that real?

This same question he asked his queens, his ministers, or the scholars and philosophers of his kingdom. Word quickly spread throughout the kingdom that the king had gone mad. One young scholar named Ashtavakra came to hear about this, and he made his way towards the palace. Ashtavakra literally means ‘eight bends’, and described him perfectly. He suffered deformities from birth, resulting in physical handicaps. Despite being one of the youngest scholars in the kingdom, he was wise, and so Janak often confided in him and looked up to him as a teacher.

“King Janak! I shall answer your question” Ashtavakra said looking straight into the eyes of the king, “If this is real, then that was real. If that was real, then this is real. If this is false, then that was false. But you should know Janak, if that is false, then this is false too.”

Ashtavakra didn’t need any context. He very well knew what Janak was talking about. “Janak, look around you. Here you are surrounded by jewels, luxuries, women, wealth, comfort and respect. Tell me, did any of this exist in your dreams?”

Janak shook his head.

“What you experienced in your dream, is any of that currently present?”

“No, it isn’t,” responded Janak.

“Janak, none of those objects or feelings, whether they be in your dream state or woken state, are real. One dream finishes when your eyes open, and the other dream ends when your eyes close.”

“If it is all false, am I to believe that nothing is real?” Janak asked curiously.

Ashtavakra smiled and then revealed, “The experience itself is not real, but you experienced it. You are the common unchanging element in both states. You are real. You are on a level deeper than the physical and subtle bodies. You are the atma.”

Janak had grasped the meaning fundamental to human existence. He ignored the false credo that ‘ignorance is bliss’ in this context. Janak had realised the essence of the good life. Alexander the Great was enveloped by this very ignorance. Howard Hughes too. Napoleon. Stalin. The list can go on. Probably all of us are affected by this ignorance to some greater or less extent. When we fail to adopt vivek in our lives, we fall prey to ignorance in all of its deceptive forms.

In a world enveloped by ignorance, we are immersed deep within that very ignorance that we fail to realise the discretion of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, failure and success. Along with many other truths of life, Janak realised this, and that was what set him free.

Keshav?is my small attempt to unveil the ignorance that stops us from distinguishing between the truth and the untruth. I am not some elevated individual who has reached the highest truth and wishes to reveal it to you, oh no. I am very much on the same path as you. But I can say that I have witnessed those who live the truths. I have interacted with those who have risen above the ignorance that surrounds us all, living in an elevated state of joy and peace – living the ultimate focused life. We will be focusing on three domains: the body (the physical), the mind (the mental), and the soul (the spiritual).

No one will tell you this stuff because most people don’t benefit from doing so. But I aim to share some unconventional truths with you, that afflict our minds, and show you practical, ancient and scientifically-supported ways to enable you to live a more focused life. Experience is more important than theory.

In my first book (The Keshav Way), I wrote about happiness in a very broad sense, in which sometimes I referred to happiness as a mood that fluctuates in our day-to-day life, and at other times I referred to the state of bliss and fulfilment. In this book, when I talk about happiness, I talk about it in the context of an internal state; an internal feeling of peace and fulfilment. It follows that happiness isn’t merely a fleeting mood, but a state of being. You can be amidst the troubles of day-to-day life and still remain happy. You can be frustrated (a fleeting mood) yet happy (content from within) at the same time.

Socrates admonished one to know thyself. To know oneself is to know one's body, mind, and soul.?Keshav?takes you on the first steps to doing just that. The book aims to map out a path that everyone, of all backgrounds and ages, can follow, offering a framework at a level that even a newcomer to the world of spirituality and philosophy may grasp.?

So, now that Janak has woken up and seen his kingdom, is it not time for us to see ours?

This post is an excerpt from my second book?Keshav,?available everywhere across the world.