Masks and our Reality

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest||Quotes by AiR

Masks and our Reality

Each and every one of us has wears several masks, and with each mask we play a different role and none of these roles are real. Shakespeare in his play ‘As You Like It’ had said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the people merely actors; they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.” This statement has the essence of one’s life written in it. It embodies the human role on this global stage and the various parts played by one person throughout his/her life.

We play several roles – a child, a son/daughter, a brother/sister, a father/mother, a grandfather/grandmother, an employee/boss, a friend/enemy – we wear all these different masks and we play our role perfectly fitting that mask! Others are living with painted face, wearing masks – these people are called Christians, Hindus, Moslems, Jainas, Sikhs, Buddhists – they wear masks of religion and some of these religions kill to prove that their religion is superior! Now, this is against the basic tenet of humanity – but if you see historically, all the major wars have been fought over religion – more people have been killed in the name of religion than by any other means! This speaks volumes for man’s inhumanity against man!

All these masks are hiding your reality – your reality lies buried deep within you. Spirituality belongs to your essential being, and religion only to the outermost. The spiritual person does not belong to any creed or dogma, church or temple or mosque. Spirituality is one and religions are many.

As Osho had quoted a Zen saying: ‘Better to see the face than to hear the words. Wouldn’t it be better to see the and to hear the words?’ It is one thing to understand the words of mystics and it is a totally experience to understand them. The words are simple, anybody can understand them, but the implications can only be understood by those who have experienced the consciousness flowing from the words. In the above saying – ‘Better to see the face…’ by the ‘face’ the implication is about your innermost reality and not the face you see in the mirror – it is about the real you and not the mask you are wearing at the moment. It is your inherent spiritual reality – the you, the consciousness which is a part of universal consciousness – that part which has been hidden for thousands of births!

So, through meditation and spiritual practice under the Master’s guidance, till we learn to walk on our own, we peel of the various masks which we wear and go deep down within our core to find our real ‘self’ – ‘Aham Brahmasmi’. That is the goal of spirituality, the meditative path makes us discover our true nature, our true self – we are Brahman – we are universal consciousness. Like Osho said, “I was never born, I never died, I was just passing through.” Peel of the masks and revel in the REALITY.