Baahar se Bheetar

At the wedding of my son, I was wearing a self-designed brocade lehenga. One of the guests asked me, “Who are you wearing?” I said, “Sorry, I didn’t get that.” She then named a couple of designers, trying to guess whose creation I was wearing. I said simply, “No no, it’s my own creation. I designed this myself.” Her jaw dropped. Her eyeballs literally fell out of their sockets. It is no secret that it’s a fashion statement to wear the big labels. Sadly, the world lives in awe of glitterati, though they may be far from gold. The focus is on everything that’s outside us.

I wish the focus would shift on what’s inside us, rather than what’s outside. The fashion industry is hugely dynamic, and there’s lots to lure the senses. With the internet being all pervading and digital marketing being the way to shop, everything is delivered at the doorstep, and can be ordered at the click of a button. But, is that all there is to life?

We need to surf the Inner-net, not the Internet! As the ‘world’ envelopes us, we immerse and drench in it; and forget our purpose. The purpose of life is not just eating, drinking, dressing well, socialising and making merry. The purpose of life is to realise why we were born and find our true identity. Our true identity is that we are a small part of divinity. A Guru can be the one who demystifies this for us and shows the path to understand this. A guru guides and goads us, to look within and surf the inner-net to realise the Divinity within. A Guru illumines the path for us to find our purpose in life.

When we visit a place of worship, perhaps after a long and arduous journey, while in the Sanctum Sanctorum, in the presence of the deity, inevitably, we close our eyes while praying. The question that arises is; having come all the way to have darshan of the deity, why do we close our eyes? Why don’t we keep looking at the deity? This is because having seen the deity, we look within, to search for the same form within us. Because the soul knows, that the Lord within us, is the same, as the one outside.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, “Not being able to recognise your innate divinity is ignorance. You have to enquire into the reason for this ignorance. This is mainly because you follow the pravritti marga (outward path) all your life under the influence of the sense organs, which are projected outward. You are not making any effort to follow the nivritti marga (inward journey). All that you see, hear or think about are outward acts. In fact, everything that you do is outward. Thus, you are fully engrossed in the outward activities and are completely neglecting the inward path.”

It is said that after the Lord made the universe, He wanted to hide himself so that He was not easily accessible to all beings. Here is something I read about this:

‘God wanted to hide; He said:

“If I hide on top of the highest mountains, man will climb it and find Me,

If I hide in the atom, He will split it and find Me,

If I hide on the stars, He will spy me out with His telescopes.”

So God decided to hide in the place where man would never search,

And that is in the depths of his heart!’

Yes. God resides within our hearts as the Atma-nivasi. The Atma/soul knows this eternal truth. Our intellect needs to see through the curtain of so-called intelligence and realise this.

Once the ancient, visually impaired poet, Soordasji fell into a well and called out to Krishna to save him. Krishna appeared there, as a cowherd. He held Soordasji’s hand, pulled him out of the well and saved his life. When the cowherd (Krishna) was leaving, Soordasji clasped his hand tightly and said, “Haath chudaaye jaat ho, nirbal jaan ke mohe. Hridaya se jab jaaoge, sabal main jaanoo tohe.” Meaning: ‘You are leaving my hand and going away, thinking me to be weak. I shall believe that you are truly strong, if you are able to go away from my heart!’ Truly, God can never leave the heart of a devotee!

Baba says, “Human life is a journey from ‘I’ to ‘We’ to ‘He’. To begin with, we think that ‘I’ am the most important. This journey of life centres around myself. As time passes, if we become a spiritual seeker, the focus shifts to ‘We’. Spiritual practices and devotion, makes us expand our mental and emotional horizon to include others. We start recognising the divinity latent in others and become more kind, empathetic, soft-hearted, helpful … because we feel that everyone is an embodiment of God. Eventually, we realise that the goal of life is to merge with the divinity. And Divinty (He) is resident in our heart. The truth is simple and profound but we refuse to understand it. We do not bother to seek divinity!

When we are on a quest for the Divine, a Guru can show us how to look within. A Guru awakens the yearning for spiritual knowledge. The Guru prods us to ask ourself, “Dheham?” (Am I this body?) Delving deep within, we are able to answer, “Naaham,” (No. I am not this body. I just live in this body.) We then begin to search for the one who is living in this body and ask. “Koham?”(Who am I then? Why do I live in this bundle of flesh and bones?) Deep concentration in a state of pure consciousness, leads to illumination. And an illumining thought flashes itself before us saying, “Soham!"  (I am HE!), I am a spark of the Lord! I live in this body, to learn how to find my way back to the Lord. I live herein because it is only through this body; this encasement of flesh and bones that I can realise my true self.

This transformation from I to We to He, is an evolutionary shift in perspective about our relationship God and our spiritual journey. Transcending the individual consciousness and realizing oneness with the universal consciousness is the ultimate experience.

A learned man said, “Main bheetar gaya; toe main bhee tar gaya!” Meaning: I looked within; and I found salvation! What a profound statement! The royal route to salvation is the inward path. Howsoever much the world with its tinsel and trash, may attract us and grip us with its tentacles; we need to be careful that it doesn’t swallow us, and we stay focused on our journey. Because we truly are spiritual beings, having an earthly experience.

God lives in man’s heart. A true devotee recognises this. Blessed are those who can look within and experience Him therein. Bheetar jaaoge, toe tum bhee tar jaaoge! Go within!

This has been published in the Daily Guardian on 02.08.2025. It can be viewed here https://epaper.thedailyguardian.com/view/2792/the-daily-guardian-mumbai/8

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