The Nature of Reality

In discussing the nature of reality, Sri Bhagavan says that...

"The first time in your life you are able to say, 'Yes, I am this, I am not ashamed of it. That is the only truth. I'm being truthful.' that is when you have taken the first step in spirituality. That is also the last step. Thereafter, everything is automatic."

How to Discover
The Nature of Reality

Bhagavan teaches that all spiritual journeys are basically a journey towards experiencing the nature of reality as it is. The journey begins with an awareness of where you are, and not a wish of where you want to be. Essentially, becoming fully awake is a state of consciousness where you experience reality exactly as it is, with no interference from the mind.

Once you begin to experience reality as it is, conflict and suffering automatically come to an end. You will feel connected with everything, because whenever you experience anything completely there is no longer a sense of a separate existence.

One of the purposes of Sri Amma Bhagavan's Oneness Movement and their Oneness Blessing is to help clear our emotional charges, since it's these charges that prevent us from experiencing reality as it is. These charges constantly move us into the past or the future, therefore we can't easily focus on the reality of what is.

So why can't we sustain a focus, or why is the brain unable to hold awareness in a sustained fashion? What exactly causes all the distractions?

The most important cause of distraction is the prevalence of the "what-should-be" instead of the "what-is." The what-should-be is only a prediction, it's not reality. Basically, it's a product of conditioning through cultural conventions and other indoctrinations. The human mind always seems to be divided in terms of good or bad, right or wrong, should or shouldn't, etc.

For example, we've been taught that anger is bad, and we shouldn't feel that way. When we do, we may try to pretend we're not angry. We immediately want to be free of the anger and be at peace. This conditioning creates a movement from the what-is to the what-should-be.

In order to be aware of true reality, you need to recognize the tricks of the mind and stay focused on the true reality of what-is. In creating the what-should-be, you're only creating a false, second scenario. There is the what-is and the what-should-be, and the mind will constantly keep shuttling between the two. This is the nature and cause of inner conflict.

If you're feeling uncomfortable, the only truth is, "I am uncomfortable." That you should be comfortable, or should be feeling better is not the truth, it's a prediction. If you're feeling uncomfortable, the best thing you can do for yourself is to stay with the uncomfortable feeling and experience it fully.

As you allow yourself to go into the truth, you will start experiencing that truth completely. You will be able to hold awareness in a sustained fashion. Whenever you hold awareness in a sustained fashion on any experience or charge, that experience will begin to unfold and reveal its story. It will begin to speak to you and tell you the story behind its existence.

Do this short exercise...

Close your eyes and think of any conflict that you are currently undergoing, or have undergone in the past. Now try to see how in that conflict the mind is actually shuttling between the two realities--the what-is (the actual situation) and the what-should-be, (the mind's expectation or prediction of how the situation should be). Listen to its story. Try to become aware of what the mind is actually projecting.

It also helps to focus on the sensations in your body that are associated with the emotional charge, and just feel them. If your mind tries to escape into the story, gently guide yourself back to feeling the bodily sensations. You can also ask the Divine for help in this process.

As we keep continue to catch our mind in the action of playing tricks and making projections, our attention will turn back to the what-is, and slowly the ability to stay focused on the true reality will increase.

Once you see the truth of a situation, stay with it, feel it, listen to it without trying to change it, then accept it for what it is...

Bhagavan says, "To see is to be free."

Finding the nature of reality--that is the spiritual journey. That is the inner exploration we have to undertake, and it will speed your journey to self-realization.