Shivaratri Message: ‘The only way out is in’

Shivaratri Message: ‘The only way out is in’

There is only one reason why everyone is not naturally enlightened, and it is simply this: people have categorised the world. They have divided it into good and bad, God and Devil, high and low, sacred and profane, heaven and hell.
Once you have fractured existence within yourself, there is no way to reach a state of ultimate union. High-low, pure-impure ­ these are parallel lines that will never meet. You have been told to love your enemy . If you first label someone your enemy and then try to love him, it's impossible! Once you have fragmented creation like this, there is no way to arrive at a state of absolute inclusiveness.

The problem is that human beings have lost a fundamental distinction ­ between inward and outward, between one's way of being and one's transactions with the external world. Transactions are different, according to the nature of a situation or relationship. However remote or intimate, transactions are always governed by laws or norms.

However, when it comes to our inner nature, there is only one governing principle: borderless unity. Our physical and social worlds are governed by boundaries. Our inner world doesn't need boundaries. To attain the ecstasy of borderless unity , our natural state, there are just two simple guidelines to follow.

First, understand that all human experience is generated from within ­ either with the support of external stimuli or without. Human experience is 100% self-created. If one establishes this absolutely , the consequences of our transactions will no longer be burdensome.

Everything in existence is happening according to a certain natural law. If you know the nature of life within you, you can completely take charge of the way it happens. Your destiny is at present written by you unconsciously. If you have mastery over your physical body , 15-20% of your life and destiny will be in your hands. If you have mastery over your mind, 50-60% of your life and destiny will be in your hands. If you have mastery over your life energies, 100% of your life and destiny will be in your hands.

This doesn't mean you will ever be completely in control of the outside world, but you can become the sole creator and supreme architect of your inner world. Whatever the inner world. Whatever the events and situations that occur, you don't get crushed by them; you ride them.

Second, set this golden rule: You never look up to anything, nor do you ever look down on anything. If you allow this to soak into you, you will enter into a profound state of involvement with everything around you. If you believe the `ooperwala' is in charge of the world, remember that you are living on a round planet ­ and one that's spinning. So, wherever you look, you are obviously looking in the wrong direction! In this vast ever-expanding cosmos, what's up and what's down? You have no clue.Nowhere in the cosmos is it marked `This side up'! The only distinction you do know right now is `within' and `without' ­ although, for the yogi, even this distinction has vanished.

This Mahashivaratri, let us remind ourselves: Up and down, good and bad, sacred and profane: these are all assumed. But inward and outward: this is the one reality we are sure of. This is the one reality we can work with.

This is Adiyogi's most significant contribution to humankind and it is a profound and enduring one: “The only way out is in.“

Om Namah Shivay