Spiritual Beings

"You can't step into the same river twice", said Heraclitus. This simply means that any two moments are not the same. Every situation is unique. In fact, every single moment is. Every 2 weeks our stomach lining undergoes change. Every day in our body, thousands of cells die and thousands come alive. The atoms in our body are not the same in a months time. Change is life, like a flowing river. Time never stops, and neither does the Universe. In the midst of this mayhem, we are trying to chalk out a conducible future that we so desperately want. It's like making changes to an airplane while it's flying. Tough, yet possible. Just one problem - most of the people don't know what is the plane that they are flying.

Some folks think that they are born with pre-defined feature sets. While this may be true about our skin color, height, etc. most of the characteristics are shaped by our lifestyle. Especially, our mindset. Most of our identity is well developed by the age of eighteen. That means our values, belief systems, likes and dislikes, etc. Parents, siblings, relatives, friends, books, society, and many other inputs are responsible for this make-up. We view the world through these filters. As time goes by, we pick up experiences and attach them to our knowledge base. Some become conservatives, some moderates, and others, far-left liberals. Some religious, some patriots, and some radicals.

In the quest for more, we sometimes trod upon paths that may not be righteous, for the lack of a better word. All wars, differences, or even petty fights stem from this - my belief against yours. And even if we win, we don't stop there. There's something more we want. This incessant desire for the infinite is what I term as spirituality. And that is wired into us. We are all spiritual beings playing the infinite game in a finite existence. Spiritual doesn't mean that you have to believe in God, you have to pray, meditate, or visit your shrine. That seeking, that yearning for the infinite is built into each one of us. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are all searching for 'God', another name for infinity.

93% of humanity believes in God. An innumerable number of people have written about God. Some of these have gone on to become religions, mysticisms included. If there is one thing that is common to all of us, that is this unknown spirit of 'God' that runs through our innards. We may all seem different. But we are the same deep down. And this is not just us, humans. The energy of God pervades through all of existence. Lord Krishna has said 'There is no place where I'm not'. And this is God's indelible presence, although subtle, yet we can all feel it. God is not a figment of imagination. He/She is the only real truth. The rest is conversation.

God Bless!

((Rajesh Menon))