All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts
(William Shakespeare)
Very interesting that a Playwright’s words echo the same “Geeta” message given by Lord Krishna in a different era and geographical area! Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in the Epic of Mahabharata, “You are not the Doer. You are only an instrument. Take action according to your role.”.
When we sign up for a role in the cosmic movie, it is meant to be Bliss, Enjoyment, Celebration of the immense creativity of the Spirit, and the Power of Choice. But soon after we enter the movie set, we forget our True Selves; we become the role and the Character we were playing.
The fact that we forget our True Selves reminds me of the popular Goldie Hawn movie ‘Overboard’ A very wealthy heiress suffers amnesia and ends up being tricked into living in a place and conditions opposite from her original lifestyle. She keeps getting this nagging feeling that something is not right, that she doesn’t belong in that filthy place, but she is quickly brainwashed into forgetting her true identity every time.
She practices immense patience, perseveres, gives her best to work hard to carry out her new role. She grows as a woman and a human being in the process. Of course, she does learn of her true identity in the end, but now that she is a transformed person, she chooses to use her wealth in a much more loving, caring, and fulfilling way.
It is an enjoyable comedy movie in which I see a powerful spiritual message.
We, too, have these nagging doubts that we are not the part we are playing. How can this be all of life? What is the meaning of this life? We have flashes of intuition and insights that make us question how we can live and die like powerless, helpless creatures?!
Something nags at us relentlessly that there has to be more satisfying lasting Joy, Love, and Peace. Where is it? Where do I find it? Ok, the, if all I am who everyone around me is telling me I am, then I too will search for happiness the same way and same place everyone else is searching— In this Physical Reality, Outside of myself.
And so the wild goose chase begins. But one sudden moment when Death knocks in one swipe of that credit card, the whole account is emptied, and we leave empty-handed.
Masters say our True Treasure is always with us; It always was before, during, and after we, the Souls, take up bodies to play a role in the cosmic movie making.
So their timeless message over and over again has been for us to Wake up From this Forgetfulness. Play your role with full awareness of who you indeed are; else, you will be wrapped in unnecessary suffering and unfulfilled life.
Without this inner awareness, it is like living a dream within a dream.
When our body sleeps, we live through a reality that seems very real at that time. When our body wakes up, we call that sleep state reality a ‘dream.’
Similarly, when we forget our True Spiritual Nature, we live in a waking physical reality that seems very real to us at that time. But when our Spirit wakes up, we realize that this waking reality is nothing more than a ‘dream’ too!! To the Eternal Soul, this physical waking reality is fleeting, temporary, and changing as the dreams are to our sleeping body.
In our dreams, even if we drown, die, or get burnt in the fire, we still find our body fully intact upon waking up, and that is how we figure that we must have only been in a dream.
Similarly, even though our bodies drown, die, or get burnt in the fire, we still find our soul to be wholly untouched and intact upon waking up to Soul Awareness. That is how Enlightened Masters have determined that the physical reality is a dream state too. Hence many name it an Illusion.
Do we want to stay with this ‘Illusion,’ or do we want to go beyond the sleeping and waking dream state to Soul Awareness? God, in Its Infinite Unconditional Love, says, “The Freedom of Choice is yours. I will wait. You come back to me when you choose to come back.”
It seems impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel when we are already deep in suffering and grips with erratic emotions and mental states.
That is why we need to use all the stable and happier times to practice ‘remembering.’ It helps us build a foundation for the bridge to crossover to our Soul Awareness. For it is then that we can be in the body playing our physical reality role with full Awareness of our Divine Blissful Self and enjoy the Cosmic Play.
Blessed Be.
Ritu
