Where lies the Truth?
"Truth is within ourselves;
It takes no rise from outward things, whatever you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in us all, where truth abides in fullness;
And around, wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This perfect, clear perception—which is Truth.
A baffling and perverting carnal mesh binds it, and makes all error:
And, to know, rather consists in opening out a way,
Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light supposed to be without."
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It seems almost everyone is seeking the 'Truth'.
Many look around their world and claim to know the 'truth'. Our arrogance misleads us, and we will probably never discover the Truth.
In our search for the truth, we constantly behave in strange ways. We parrot prayers, we perform penances, go on pilgrimages, regularly visit 'holy' places, shrines etc. we shout from the minarets, we bathe at holy places etc. We offer bribes to men and gods, at altars and at tombs, to crucifixes and stones. All these outward quests and activities can reveal no truth to an unawakened soul. An awakened soul does not need them.
Do we know what is 'Truth'?
The confusion is compounded by the fact, that everyone has his or her own definition of the truth. A truth which is actually borrowed from others. That which is borrowed can never really be ours.
The Hindu often sees the truth playing the flute, and the Christian sees truth on a crucifix. We always mistake our hallucinations and mental projections for truth.
Truth is the illumination within. What we see outwards are the shadows of this illumination. There is nothing wrong in being wealthy, beautiful, powerful, famous etc, as long as we know them as mere manifestations of life, not the truth.
There is no truth outside of ourselves. We are Creation and Creation is within us. The drop is in the ocean, and the ocean is contained within the drop.
To know the ocean of Creation one has to know oneself. Not the knowledge of the things that prop us up, but the wisdom of what remains after everything we possess is shorn from us.
That is what all the great spiritual masters teach us.
Unfortunately in the name of these great Masters, have been founded organised religions, who preach and practice the exact opposite of this message. Why then would humanity not be confused.
All that is created, will one day perish, except the Creator /Creation. We can choose to live fully with awareness so that even when bodily death comes, its without fear, and spiritual baggage.
Journeying within, layers of my outward self are shedding slowly but effortlessly. Anger, greed, ego, lust for power, money, and flesh diminish constantly. I suppose, my journey just like peeling an onion, reach the very core of my being, only to discover there is nothing there.
One day each one of us would have dissolved back into Creation from where we emerged. That, to me, is the only truth.
The gift of a true artist to humanity is his or her ability to capture the essence of things, people, nature and phenomena, and convey it to us through their work. However for those who journey inwards its the mystic that helps us become one with Creation.
Robert Browning has done that and in such a beautiful manner.
Those that look outward, see. Those that look within, awaken.
Many readers have expressed being somewhat confused by the style and words of the poem.
For their benefit the poem has been reconfigured for contemporary reading.
The original poem can be read here.
The poem explained.
Truth in all its fullness and glory lies within us.
It is unaffected by things outside of our being, no matter what we may choose to believe.
This Truth is trapped within us by our material, emotional and intellectual desires, blinding us to its presence.
We err in believing, that, the truth lies somewhere outside. So we keep on looking for means to let this distant and mirage of Truth enter our beings.
Rather if we awaken, by the same means but in reverse, we will be able to release the splendid and glorious Truth from within our beings.
Gurvinder Singh.
~ Nov 2019
