Born Again: Decoded
“Verily I say unto Thee, unless one is born again into water
and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of god.” John 3:3-7
In our search for ever lasting peace, happiness, and bliss, we
would have come across phrases or concepts that says that one should die and be
born again to achieve the final stage. Many Enlightened Guru’s emphasize that
one should die to be ‘Enlightened’. We also came across references that ‘to die’
is meant in a literal way where one should give up his/her sins, identity,
mind, fear and instantly they are reborn. There are ancient stories that tells
tales of disciple jumping from a cliff or into fire only to be rescued by the
invincible hands of the Guru.
How then should one attempt to die? How would it be possible
for us to enter the Kingdom of everlasting peace?
Before we can decipher the code, we need to take a moment to
understand about Identity. What is Identity? If someone were to ask you this: You
will refer yourself to your name, place of residence, religious beliefs, your likes,
or dislikes. Identity is something that was added to everyone upon birth. From
a person’s name to a person’s belief, Identity is formed over time, changes
over time and gets solidified over time. While scriptures may claim that we are
the soul and not the body, from an identity perspective, we cannot simply have
a different sense of soul, mind or body. Our identity is a collective function
of all elements.
# I am not the body – This is the first and foremost incorrect
assumption that leads to a circle of searching. Despite claims that, ‘we’ do
not exist in sleep, hence we are not the body, our reality functions collectively
during our awakening state. The fact remains that the body is real during sleep
and while the ‘mind’ which drives identity is in a sleep state. ‘My’ identity
is true to my day-to-day experiences and functions. Leaving all concepts and
ideas behind, let us first accept what is real to us. Let us acknowledge our
identity first before making any attempt to ‘kill’ it. Gautama Buddha was
fasting continuously until a conversation by someone adjusting the strings of a
musical instrument took him to his realization of the middle path. The body is part
of our existence and should not be brushed away as ‘not real’ or ‘maya’.
# I am not the mind – When I say, ‘I am not the mind’, who
then is making this claim? Can we exist outside the mind? Can we think without
the mind? Again, the concept states that we are pure consciousness, awareness
and beyond the mind. That we are in fact a silent witness. The ‘Observer.’ But
can we truly observe without the mind? Can we think without the mind?
Definitely not! The actual interpretation should be to see with the mind but
without judging. Seeing as it is without getting distracted or without imposing
our own thoughts and belief. The mind is the ‘Observer.’ But absence of
judgement makes your seeing as unbiased. Let’s take an example: If someone
gives you an orange, what do you see? We would have seen an orange almost quite
often at supermarkets, restaurants at home and may not trigger anything in specific.
An orange is an orange. Either you like to eat oranges, or you don’t. But, if we take a moment to see an orange as
it is, we will see an orange, its texture, its fragrance, we will see the
orange from a holistic view. We will be able to see the Tree that exists before
the Orange, the soil that nurtured the Tree, The Sun, The farmer, the wind, the
very existence of Orange itself. No prejudice, no
judgement, but a complete
seeing and understanding. Instead of developing a sense of liking, we will be more
appreciative and respectful for even an orange’s existence. This is what ‘Observation’
is.
# I am pure conscious – The ‘I am’ can take many shapes and
believes. But if, we can, for a moment, drop our identity and start seeing ‘as
it is’, there can be no distinctive difference between any molecular existence
in the universe.
Imagine the collective ‘identity’ now just drops and seeing ‘It’
as existing within a cosmic space. Reality is this: Along with our identity, we
have picked up numerous unwanted thoughts, experiences and beliefs that has created
a gap between ‘I am’ and ‘It”.
## Reborn – simply means going back to our original state. A
state when ‘Identity’ has not existed. Can we drop our collective Identity for
a moment? Probably not. But can we initiate a state without Identity? Yes, we
can. Because state without identity is happening to us naturally. We simply
need to be able to see to recognize this state. The kingdom of God or Enlightened
state is embedded in our very existence itself. Both are not thousands of miles
apart from us that it is impossible for us to attain. Because there is nothing
to attain when we are already existing within the attainment. A simple
illustration of how a man can dream of touching the sky or the space. But how
can a man do that? Take a rocket? Build a tower? If we really think deep, man
is already in space. The earth is already orbiting the space. There is simply
no need for man to touch the space or sky as he is already within the space.
The illusion is simply the limit of sight, clouds, atmosphere, etc.
Let’s think about this for Now.
