Truth is One -  Sages call It by various names - Swami Aparananda

Throughout the world human beings are engaged in a search for ‘reality’ in a variety of ways. Most of us, however, are strongly inclined to view the material world as real. To many, reality means betterment of the objective conditions of mankind, human progress through scientific and technical innovations and discoveries and through social institutions such as economy, government, education and family. Today, some may even include the army among social institutions.

Be that as it may, to many of us reality is mostly understood in physical objective terms. In other words, what is real is merely social—an outcome, a by-product of men and machines. Most importantly, such outcomes can be seen, measured, and above all, felt. For instance, television is an outcome of electronic technology; its result is social enjoyment, leisure: We can watch our favorite sports, see comedy, etc.

Routine Life-style

These goods—car, home, furniture, etc., and even human beings, husband, wife, children—which we see as real, in the sense that they have an empirical existence, can add charm and fill a void in our being. These objects can amuse us, and in short, fill our desire very much like a glass of water for a thirsty body. Now that we have watched the game of life, are we happy? What else is there to the game of life? In the allegory of life most of our days are cut out for us. They are as predictable as the sunrise: morning alarm wakes us up, we bathe, get dressed, have breakfast, go to work… you get the picture. The question remains: Is that all there is to being?

I call this Siddhartha’s question. After all, Siddhartha was a prince; he had all the pleasures of his father’s kingdom. Nevertheless, he heard a gentle cry coming out of his inner soul, which was yearning to be free. Siddhartha’s soul, atman, sought liberation because his princely life style, however satisfying, did not have answers to one of life’s basic issues—suffering. Gautama noticed a feeble old man, half bent because of osteoporosis, and when he asked his attendant for the original cause of his condition, the answer came that all life must end.

© "The Vdeanta Kesari" (February, 2003) published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004. (Website: sriramakrishnamath.org). Reprinted with permission.

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