I have my keys in my pocket & other things on top which hides it. I think I lost my keys. I search everywhere. I finally find it with me. It was always with me. I simply thought that it wasn't with me. This thought is Maya.
Today, we have our physical body. It is real, for now. Once we die, it will eventually cease to exist. It is no longer real. Something that is temporarily real & unreal is Mithya.
Reference: Based off Chandrasekhara Bharathi's bhashya on Adi Sankara's Vivekachudamani
There was once a lioness who got killed by a hunter. The lioness had a cub that was orphaned. Some sheep took pity on the lion cub & raised it. The lion copied all its mannerisms, would eat grass & bleat. It grew up.
One day, a lion hunted the sheep. It was surprised to see the sheep-lion run away with the sheep. It managed to corner the sheep-lion which cowered in fear. It led it to the water & asked it to look in the water. It looked like a lion & realized that it was a lion.
The lion was always one. It simply didn't realize it until then.
There was once a young baby prince, who owing to attacks by enemies was abandoned. He was adopted & brought up by beggars. He would beg for food. One day, based off his birthmarks, he was found to be the missing prince, who was once presumed dead & crowned king.
He was always a prince. He simply didn't realize it.
Similarly, the Yogis say that we are the core, pure bliss & one with the divine. However, we self-identify ourselves as the sheep or the beggar. To realize our true identity, we need to put in the effort. Yoga is a prescription. Observing our own mind & breath is the way to start.
Based off our SvaBhava (innate nature), we can, with some mental effort, figure out our SvaDharma, what we can do to make things better.
Some will have Sadhu Dharma as their SvaDharma, the path of Ahimsa (non-cruelty), Yoga, Dhyana (meditation) with Virakti (asceticism).
When Arjuna wishes to follow Sadhu Dharma instead of fighting the war, Krishna dissuades him & asks him to follow Kshatriya (warrior) Dharma, which was his SvaDharma. Samartha Ramdas would similarly dissuade Shivaji, after he expressed a desire for Sadhu Dharma after listening to a Pravachan, saying that his SvaDharma was Kshatriya Dharma.
Subhash Chandra Bose in his younger years, searched for a Guru. Not finding one, he decided on his SvaDharma of Kshatriya Dharma, which many historians credibly argue, would eventually get India freedom, rather than Gandhiji's Sadhu Dharma.
However, one thing common to both Bose & Gandhi was everyday Dhyana. This is true even for Kshatriya Dharma.
Whatever SvaDharma we choose to follow, Yoga with Dhyana will help us perform it better.
Hindus don't have control over their institutions, regardless of which party rules. Are protests the answer?
People who are busy working & making a living don't usually go protesting on the streets.
The ones who do come to protests either make huge personal sacrifices, or can afford the time & the costs, or are paid to do so.
To pay someone to do so, funds are needed.
To have funds, Hindu institutions should be in Hindu control. To free the institutions, Hindus need political power.
How to get political power? That's the real problem Hindus need to solve.
There was once a martial arts student. He had tried to defeat his classmate multiple times during practice sessions & had failed. After graduation, he decided to continue training under a master to defeat his friend. He trained for a decade. He then challenged his friend & failed yet. He underwent further training with a different master. Failed again. Repeated the process. Failed yet again.
Finally, he gave up. "I have practiced so long. Still I kept failing with you. Why is that?"
His friend replied: "All I do is practice".
In life, we all perform tasks. Some well, some not so much. However, external efforts are most useful if they result in inner transformation. Every act can be an act of Tapasya.
Any task done well improves concentration (Dharana) & knowledge (Vidya).
The knowledge can take various forms: we can learn to understand things or people better, or understand ourselves better observing how we react to situations.
When we have low self-confidence, we will tend to virtue signal & not speak up even if we disagree, with our mind ruled by fear, jealousy or guilt. The goal is social acceptability & wanting to be liked.
As we get comfortable with ourselves & our confidence improves, we start expressing our opinions. But a different problem may emerge. Our reaction to disagreements will reveal the extent of our ego & attachments. We may have tendencies to bully & silence the weak, the ones who are fearful & lack courage to stand up & speak up.
As we understand ourselves more, we will express ourselves & be unafraid of debates. We will gain courage & lose fear of being wrong. Our goal is just knowledge & self-improvement, and we won't mind our ego (AhamBhavam) taking a knock.
Maybe eventually, as the Yogis say, we'll learn that we're all interconnected through divine love. That love will not stop us from gently improving ourselves or others.
Isn't life best lived if we manage to improve ourselves a little bit more in the process?
