The inner journey Tom wanted to avoid

"You don’t see things as they are but wish them to be as per your choice.  In the same way, the appearance of the outer world reflects the state of your inner world. If you are able to merge them together, your personal own god is born”, Bystander started to speak to Tom who happened to be seated in the same bench in the park.

“You may ask how that is possible. The answer is to perceive things with your inner vision. I know you will ask, what is this inner vision? The inner world is a weird and wonderful phenomenon. It is a reflection of the outer world that has mind as its center. How can you train yourself to see things from inside? Who can answer, as to exactly what is the inner journey that we make unknowingly?

Bystander went on without bothering for a reaction from Tom. Tom managed to squirm in his seat, looking intently at his toe nails.

“Every human being goes through this process. A world within a world is something that we hear now and then in the spiritual contexts. Who is it that is responsible for all our involuntary actions such as breathing, digestion and the blood circulation? Imagine how difficult it would be, if we have to remember and control all these activities to survive. We will be dead in a few minutes, if we forget. And that is why the access to control these essential activities to sustain life is denied to us.

“Where do the human beings acquire the knowledge to do things necessary to survive? Many a times, we end up wondering as to how things are controlled in our body. What makes us knowledgeable about a situation which we have never faced before?  This situation knowledge is generated by survival instinct. Bystander felt pleased with his flow of words and Tom wished to be elsewhere in place of the park.

“Where this instinct has its roots? Of course in the mind or simply stated it’s the work of the mind. The mind is an encyclopaedia and storehouse of all the knowledge that we ever want to know, for the entire human life. So in a nutshell, we are born with all the required knowledge to survive. All we have to do is to search for the answers. There are numerous books that try to explain as to how the mind works but none of them can fathom the depth and the complexity of the mind and how it works? Research is still continuing”, Bystander continued, warming up to the discussion.

The lecture was becoming too boring and the agony of sitting through it placed Tom in a dilemma: whether to get up and walk away or to put a stop to Bystander’s babble, then and there. He decided not to give in to that temptation, fearing a second course on the same subject will be unbearable. He let  Bystander to end the verbose once for all.

“There is very little information as to how the outer world and the inner one are interconnected except that the human mind plays a vital role in the connectivity. The mind is a world in itself and through the ages, religions tried to explain the works of this world in many different ways. Concepts ruled the physical world giving birth to various religions and some of them even managed to co-exist with commonality and contradictions. We can always ask our doubts to all of them and get the same answer. A difficult mathematical theorem can be solved in number ways to get the correct answer; likewise, religions tend to solve theories of life differently, promising the same end result”.

“Recognising maya as a virtual reality is a useful tool. If it does not exists then how one who does not want to spend time in reality can create it to find comfort? Maya necessarily need not mean events or thoughts that help in derailing a person from the path chosen by the majority to lead a life in contentment. In fact, those who outwardly appear to be content and righteous might experience the influence of maya for a brief spell but come out of it without overstaying there. This ability to correct an aberration at the slightest disturbance separates the Himalayas from the hillocks.

“Everything that we need exists within us. Become intrinsic. What is it that we really have to do?  Close all the senses and look deep within. You can call it by any name you like - meditation, yoga or any other technique that helps in concentrating on the inner self. Pose a question that has been troubling you for some time. Wait for the mind to search, retrieve, and process stored data and flash the answer on your mind’s screen.

“The clarity in the answers depends on the perseverance shown by the individual. Where the mind gets all the information from? How interactive it is? Can we take this iterative process as an ancient and remote system of learning by googling questions to our own mind?”

With these words, Bystander ended the discussion, feeling elated that nowhere Tom tried to interrupt the flow of his thoughts.Mistaking the dazed look in Tom’s eyes as deep involvement, Bystander congratulated himself for the clarity with which he was able to discuss some of the difficult philosophical points with Tom. Little did he realise that an entirely different set of thoughts were appearing in his friend’s mind at that precise instant.

Tom wondered whether the summer heat is taking its toll on Bystander. He felt like the uncleared post box – stuffed and suffocating. He recollected the earlier incidental meetings were a relief compared to his present situation of being dunked in Bystander’s pathetic philosophies. 

He was sure that any journey in the company of Bystander will be a nightmare.He recollected the earlier incidental meetings were a relief compared to his present situation of being dunked in Bystander’s pathetic philosophies. He was sure that any journey in the company of Bystander will be a nightmare.