Who has not, at a point in his
life, made so many beautiful dreams? In fact, everyone is
constantly dreaming of some bright future or paradise. The
poor is dreaming of becoming rich or, at least, more
comfortable materially. Lovers are dreaming of marriage,
honeymoon and beautiful family. The businessmen and
politicians are dreaming of flourishing businesses. With
clearer perception, it is not difficult to come to the fact
that almost everyone spends his life dreaming nearly
constantly. Everyone is living in a mentally created world.
Life has become so ugly that many people or even nations are
dreaming of peace, something which should have been natural,
human or our birth right.
But
how many dreams are fulfilled? Does the lover succeed in
having a peaceful married life, a life of constant
honeymoon, with material comfort fulfilled? Dreams and
reality! How many people are disillusioned! Who has not
cherished the image of an ideal life partner? Let everyone
ask himself about the fact of the ideal partner! Who dreams
of the thorns? We all create images of the best rose petals.
Every second, crimes of all sorts including rapes, killing
and wars, poverty, diseases and natural cataclysms are
falling on us to shatter our dreams and to make us take
cognisance of the realities of life. Yet, people go on
living in a dream-world. That is a wonder!
There are certainly a few people
who are starting to become aware of the fact that the
treasure of life does not lie here or in this way of life,
but they are not sure about the whereabouts of the eternal
treasure. Though the statement of Jesus resounds highly in
the Bible, yet people are deaf to it. Let me remind you,
dear Reader, of his statement where lies the key to eternal
bliss. After all, are we not all seeking eternal and
boundless satisfaction? Jesus said, “Lay not your treasure
on earth where it will gather moss and may be stolen by the
thief, but lay it in heaven where it will be well
guarded.” To which treasure was he referring? Who is the
thief? What is the moss and also where is this heaven? My
understanding of this statement is very simple. Matter is
not eternal. Seek the spirit which by nature is eternal and
pure infinite bliss and peace. By using the ten senses to
indulge in the illusive pleasure of this world, the mind or
the spirit gets corrupted, that is, it gathers ‘moss.’
The mind becomes more unconscious and its energy flows
outward.
What can be done? Be courageous to
become aware of the real nature of things. Has anyone ever
achieved something here? Alexander the Great had both his
hands laid out of his coffin after death so that people
could understand that the Great Alexander was leaving with
empty hands. This is where Albert Camus’ famous philosophy
of “la vie est absurde” finds its real meaning.
But Camus stopped at the absurdity of life. How can life,
the most beautiful expression of the Divine, be said to be
absurd? Life is what we make of it. The Kohinoor, the
biggest diamond ever found, was a piece of material that lay
in the bosom of Mother Earth. Its value, price and beauty is
now incomparable. How did it achieve such a status? Didn’t
we humans give its real value? Similarly, if you consider
yourself a mere body meant for sensual pleasure and some
material progress then, of course, life is absurd.
No one wants to face the crude
fact of the absurdity of life because if they do so, then it
would be as if a dream is being broken. What next if the
dream is broken? If you take away the dreams from the human
mind, the empty space should be replaced by something else.
If it is not, then life becomes absurd and absurdity is
worse than hell. This is the reason why the existentialist
Jean Paul Sartre says that the only thing that is worth
doing is suicide.
The culminating point of broken
dreams is reached at death when even the dreamer will be
finished. Who is not going to taste death? After all, it is
the ultimate fact of life. Note well, I have said
‘ultimate fact,’ not ‘ultimate truth.’ The
difference is immeasurable. It is unfortunate that Camus saw
only absurdity of life. Buddha realised it too, but he went
on a search. He went to search what is beyond the absurdity
of life. If Camus had sought, he would have found. All those
who have sought have found. Of course, the conditions for
seeking must be fulfilled. Life is already like a big dream
and in that dream, man creates so many dreams. It is a dream
within a dream. Eating, drinking, indulging in sex and
seeking material comfort: is life only this? If this only is
life, then it is indeed boring and thus absurd.
Fortunately, life is much more. We
are blessed that there have been people who have, by their
achievement, given proof of it. “I am a witness to
truth,” proclaims Jesus. “I am all,” retorted Krishna.
“I am God,” utter the Upanishadic sages. “I am
infinite peace and bliss,” says the yogi. “God is
love,” says the devotee. Why should we listen to Camus
only? What he said was half-truth, the complete truth is
that life is a gift. Those who can understand this will
attain life eternal. But only those who are ready to give up
dreams can face reality. The beautiful scene of a rising sun
and the nectar of a fresh breeze are enjoyed only by those
who wake up early.
It will be definitely painful to
realise the absurdity of life. Broken dreams bring
suffering, but they also open the door for seeking eternal,
infinite bliss and freedom. The only thing that is required
is the courage to give up the stone which is taken to be a
pearl. Be ready to wake up when the sun is rising on the
horizon. Do not continue to sleep, otherwise night will
again shroud you in.
