The Journey To Self-Realisation

We all are the result of maya, which makes us undergo a journey, only to realise that there never was one, says Ajay Kalra

- Ajay Kalra

We are all on a journey. The journey to realise who we are. Most personal journeys are about finding ourself. This journey is about losing all ideas about ourself. It's an uncommon journey which few people undertake.

The other thing unusual about this journey is that people undertaking it are imagined. It may seem that a person is undertaking a journey over a period of time, but, in actuality, nothing ever happens. Like a dream seems real until waking up, similarly, this journey seems real until the end is reached, only to realise that the character and journey never happened.

This is the peculiarity of this journey. And these are the different stages of this mysterious journey:

1. Unconsciousness

This is where the journey begins-in darkness. We suddenly come into this unfamiliar world. We try hard to fit in. If we can't, we rebel. The mind is a jumble of thoughts. We are not aware of these thoughts. Just as a ring is stuck on a finger, we are stuck in our thoughts. We believe every thought. We are what the thoughts say about us. Because we are fused with thoughts. Some of these thoughts are about who we want to be, some of them are about who we are, and others explain why we are not what we want to be.

This is a confusing period. We are easily influenced by thoughts, not just our own but also those of others. We are not clear about who we are or who we should be. We are simply propelled by the force of what others tell us, how others are living, and how others want us to be.

We may believe we know what we want, but that is the illusion of thought. What we know is mostly what we have heard and read. Most humans start their journey in this stage and end their journey here. They believe they know who they are, not realising that what they know is just a belief.

2. Consciousness