What do we really mean when we use the word awakening? Who awakens? And what happens after awakening? Aren’t these the questions that most of us remain preoccupied with once there has been a glimpse into the nature of reality? The thing is that you did not choose to wake up, but you were woken up by the awareness that seized you and became one with your entire being.
In other words, it is the Source or the pure awareness that decides and not the individual. When the awareness ceases individuality, there is an experience of oneness in multiplicity. The unicity is seen in diversity that is projected as the world comprising of objects that appear separate from one another. Your Being-ness or Am-ness is not separate from mine or from any other thing in the world.
Spiritual awakening is an impersonal recognition that behind all appearances is the same consciousness operating through all beings and that there is no individual with a separate existence. This recognition brings about a shift in the perception of the apparent individual. While there is no denial of separation in phenomenality, there is a deep knowing of a unifying field of infinite consciousness that is the substratum of everything known and unknown.
You may be wondering, how this knowledge impacts my relationships and daily living. It changes the relationship dynamic entirely because the “other” is not seen as separate from oneself. In other words, awakening breaks down the subject-object relationship that corresponds to “me” and the “other.” I am the other and the other is I am.
Jiddu Krishnamurti often stated that you are the rest of mankind. What does that mean? It means that the consciousness that appears as the content “me” here is the same consciousness that appears as the “other” there. There is no difference at all. The difference is perceived only when the perception is filtered and distorted by the prejudices and biases of conditioning that the individual goes through during their lifetime.
Awakening destroys these filters enabling direct perception of reality. That is, I see the other as myself and the rest of mankind. I am plagued by the same troubles and sorrows as the others do. I am desperate to find a solution to so-perceived “my problems” just as the others do.
Caught up in the worldly constructs of religions, organizations, sects, beliefs, and identifications like nationality, race, caste, creed, color, gender, and all the other divisions created by human beings, I live in separation and suffer debilitating loneliness. Without these divisive structures and filters, my perception remains direct and undistorted. I see things as they are, and not as they should or should not be.
As the weight of this conditioning is dropped from my shoulders, I feel light and relaxed and free from the expectations of how others should or should not be. I continue to live with my rules, principles, and boundaries, but none of them are rigid. I become fully conscious of my personal traits and tendencies, and the limitations and flaws that the biological organisms have been given by nature.
My acceptance of my own limitations brings about an understanding that it is perfectly okay for others also to have the same limitations and flaws. I still may discriminate and choose to be with a certain group and avoid the other; be in the presence of a particular individual as opposed to another; or identify with a certain set of beliefs and causes as opposed to the other; but I fully accept the dance of the dualistic energy. I surrender to the energy and the result is unconditional compassion for myself and others.
Therefore, I experience harmony in my relationships and peace in daily living, even when things don’t go as I hope them to; even when people don’t behave as I expect them to; even when life comes up with unexpected and unforeseen challenges. My relationships are not limited to people and animals, but to every thought, feeling, and sensation that is contained in the mind.
I am in a harmonious balance with the polar opposites of happiness and unhappiness knowing that everything arises from the Source or pure awareness and merges back into it. I know that no arising and subsidence can happen independent of the awareness that is our real nature.
I fully accept that the rascal that hides within me is the same within the others. Awakening is the unconditional acceptance of things the way they are, where choice has no role to play, and effort is practically useless. I don’t put in the slightest effort to change anything or anyone. Not even myself. Forcing a change in oneself and others is an act of violence. And I don’t commit such acts.
People get so caught up trying to change others, that somewhere in the process, they lose themselves. Even changing oneself to appease others or as they popularly say “to become a better version of myself” is an act of violence. How do you know what version you are? Claiming to know yourself in a particular way is to claim that you know better than God or Source.
Who are you really competing with? An image? What is your measure? It’s a waste of time, effort, and precious energy, which could otherwise be used for creative pursuits. You will never be at ease while you remain obsessively preoccupied with your persona. Persona is fake. It is an image that is constantly trying to modify itself to become “better” and there is no end to this process.
The default setting of our mind’s movement is external, but after awakening, it reverses. The mind inverts on itself after failing to find happiness and peace in the objects of the external world. So I am no more concerned with what is happening externally, but only what is happening inwardly. Therefore, I don’t carry any shame, blame, guilt, malice, spite, ill-will, jealousy, envy, or any other negative sentiment either towards me or towards any other person for a prolonged period.
I recognize that the “I” that shines within me as the God-principle is the same for all beings. I still may react sometimes and show my displeasure in a given afflicting situation, but I never get caught up in the story and place blame or shame on the other for their so-perceived acts. I don’t carry guilt for reacting in the moment, as I see that also as a happening, and not as my doing in isolation.
The complete embodiment of truth or deliverance of spiritual awakening is the complete and unconditional recognition of the common factor or the consciousness that powers all beings in the world. This recognition is true love, as it unites, as opposed to the mind that divides. Love is the end of separation.