Life is filled with stories
Many times when I tell stories about my experiences with Sri Sri, people ask, “How did you get so lucky to spend so much time around Guruji and be with him so early?” Everyone who embarks on the path to spirituality has their own story to tell. All events and circumstances lead you to one place — to the divine within, to now. My story may seem exciting and adventurous. But it isn’t more or less valuable than your spiritual journey. There is a time for each of us when the satguru, the true spiritual teacher, physically appears in one’s life. For many, that moment has already occurred. For others, that moment is just around the corner. There is no doubt that spending so much time around Guruji has been a great blessing in my life. But it is just a story. Stories can be a trap for the mind. “I’m special because this happened to me.” Or, “He is so special because that happened to him.” These statements are expressions of the ego. They take us out of the moment, glorify the past, and separate us from others. The more we get caught up in our own story, “I’m special” or “I’m inferior,” the more we perpetuate the drama and stay away from the truth. There are so many reasons we tell stories. Stories are a way for us to get close to each other and bond. Old friends and family members like to reminisce about the past. It makes them feel connected and special. But many times, we tell stories about the past to brag, to feel important and superior. Or, sometimes, to confirm our own low self-esteem. More valuable, is to become aware of the perpetual story that we tell ourselves. This constant chatter that goes on in our in our mind becomes our identity. Without this story, who would we be? We tell ourselves stories about what I like and don’t like. What I know and what I’m learning. How I’m going to get this or that. We label ourselves: I am a seeker, I am a meditator, or I am a devotee. This story, “I am somebody,” is the source of human suffering that perpetuates the feeling of being separate from the unbounded consciousness. It provides a false sense of satisfaction, a sense of being better than others, when sometimes we really feel inferior. It’s a way to remain a victim and complain about situations and circumstances that have already happened and can never be changed. Life is filled with stories. Yet not identifying one’s self as the hero or villain, winner or loser, is the purpose of spiritual knowledge. Moving away from the story of changing events and circumstances to that which never changes.
