Hinduism/ Arbor Barrow

Imagine for a moment that you are in a room. There are mirrors lining the walls around you and all you see is yourself. All you see are your wants, your needs, and your desires. There is nothing truly wrong with that, but can you move on? Can you break free from the hollow room of mirrors and see beyond the reflections of yourself? Can you see how the scope of your life is not confined to the image in the mirror?

As I understand it, Hinduism’s vision of the human condition is just that: we are essentially stuck in an illusionary world. The four yogas, Karma, Jnana, Raja, and Bhakti, are the tools that we have to use the break free from the mirrors and see that there is more our lives and by extension more to eternity than a two-dimensional image of ourselves. A mirror is just that: a mirror. It can only reflect what it sees, it cannot delve deeper and see the depths of human emotion or beauty any more than naked eye can see the stars in the daytime. And most importantly of all: it can’t see the Atman, or true self, the self that is part of Brahma.

Breaking free of the Samsara cycle, the cycle of karma dragging you to higher and lower levels of existence, is not easy. Because you have to realize three important things, Sat, Chit, and Ananda: pure being, pure consciousness and pure bliss. Once you have attained these three things only then can you realize Moksha and through that Atman. In Hinduism, to do this the right way you have to have a Guru, someone on your same path in life, whatever it may be, who can lead and guide you on your way to enlightenment.

For Hinduism there are many highways and byways to the same spiritual destination. Just as there are dozens of roads that lead into a city, there are dozens of roads that lead to full realization of the Self. Whether you take the path of love through Bhakti, the path of action through Karma, the path of study through Jnana, or the path of meditation through Raja, each leads to the true liberation of the mind and the Self and finding God. Each is a viable solution to breaking free of the enclosed world of mirrors. Hinduism also understands the nature of being human, in that, we are all different. Our corporeal lives will take us different places, but our spiritual selves walk side-by-side if not hand-in-hand.

In order to fully realize Moksha we must find our variety of yoga. I feel that personally I can take a lot from both Karma and Jnana. My path to my own form of spiritualism, even though I consider myself an atheist and a secular humanist, is through giving unselfishly to others and discovering all there is to know about the world around me. So when it comes to finding your own form of spiritualism you have to find what speaks to you most, whether it be through the self-discipline of meditation or the through the songs of praise heard at least every day in places of worship across the United States it is a good feeling to know that it will lead us all to the same realization of Atman.

I appreciate that Hinduism caters to the many shapes and forms that human lives come in. Because I know for a fact that the path I have chosen in this life is not the same as my brother or either of my parents and if I had to walk in their path I would not feel like I am fulfilling my own potential. I think that the idea that the answers we seek in life are already here and we just have to wake up and realize it is brilliant. We tend to be too focused on ourselves, our worries instead of the concerns of the world at hand and that makes us selfish. I feel that in general all humans do need to realize the world outside of the room of mirrors, because I feel that the idea that all things are connected is the truest thing that we have.