Bliss through the Inner Journey

 

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Bliss through the Inner Journey

One can conquer the whole world but still not know bliss. Alexander the Great’s story is well known – Alexander’s misery was tremendous when he realised that even after conquering the whole world he would have to give it all up just for a glass of water if he was dying of thirst in a desert. One can only attain to that level of bliss when one conquers the Self.

We can have everything and still feel that we are at a loss. We can pile up money, power, prestige, and the more we have the more we become aware of the futility of it all and the greater the emptiness we feel within.

Only the rich come to know what inner poverty is, because they can compare; they can compare notes. They have a background and they can see their own inner poverty against it. They are rich as far as the outside is concerned, but the inside is simply starving.

The only bliss possible is that which comes through the inner. One has to come to one’s own self, to one’s own treasures. They are infinite… immeasurable. Once known, we never beg again. We may not have anything of the world – still we remain emperors. Our emperor-hood has an inner luminousness.

We become emperors not because we have kingdoms, but because we are emperors. Our being emperors doesn’t depend on kingdoms – it is independent of all kingdoms. Only then can one truly be a king, because nobody can rob us, nobody can take away anything from us…..not even death.

We all have something which cannot be robbed, cannot be taken away. It is only when we have something that cannot be taken away that our fear disappears. And when you become totally aware of this we start feeling that we can never die – that we are eternal.

Let this be the key – that we have to look more and more inwards. Temptations are there, desires are there – this is natural. Don’t become an escapist. Don’t try to escape from the world. Just be in the world but give more and more energy and time to the inner search. Do whatsoever is needed on the outside, but don’t become too occupied with it.

Things are needed: food is needed, a shelter is needed – absolutely okay, so one should work for them. They are necessities, they are needed to be happy, but they are not enough. They are basic requirements. Outer things are needed, but they are not enough. Fulfill them, but don’t expect too much out of them. They are needs, and the inner life is something more than needs – it is a luxury. The inner life is always aristocratic.

One should work in the world so that one can work in one’s inner world. One should earn a little money so that outer things no more trouble or distract one. One can close one’s eyes and go into meditation. If money serves meditation, money is good and one should use it. But if money becomes our meditation, we will become neurotic.