(Based on a series of WhatsApp posts over the last few days)
Modernity is embedded in the systems we are compelled to live in. Systems we cannot do anything about. That is a fact. More importantly, at the level of perceiving (drishti), modernity creates drishti doshas. Something can be done here at the individual level. Let us look at this more closely.
We are all driven by our vikaras and our aeshnas (विकार – मोह, लोभ, क्रोध, भय इत्यादि और एषणा – पुत्रेषणा, वित्तेष्ण और लोकेषणा). My experience till now is that out of these the two that need to be tackled most before stepping-out are:
1) Moha [Moha with the dazzlement of ideas of modernity (freedom, democracy, rights etc.), moha with modern technology etc.] So, we need to move towards moha mukti.
2) We need to get rid of लोकेषणा, the subtlest of the three aeshnas.
I have seen and met many great people from different walks of life like politics, religion, spirituality, business, journalism, activism etc. I found quite a few who were rid of पुत्तरेष्ण and वित्तेष्णा but I rarely found anyone who was rid of लोकेषणा. This is so subtle and alluring – more than money or drugs. So unless we are aware of this in us, how it lurks behind our actions, we are bound to get caught and then our stepping-out will be a farce. Lokeshna is subtle. Marketing, publicity, media attention are it’s offspring. Ravindra ji (guru ji) used to say “in these grave times, the light must not fall on our faces, the light must come from behind us” only then we will be able to do what we are trying to do. But the light on the face, the lokeshna, is so alluring. Very few can resist it.
Stepping-out is not possible if we ONLY look outside and not within. Looking within and seeing the vikaras and aeshnas is disturbing and therefore the immediate habitual response is to recoil and once again start looking outside. But that won’t do. In these times of deep and acute modern crises, some of us will have to step-out by working within at the level of dristi doshas.
We need to be acutely aware of our conditioning which resides in our drishti, causing drishti dosha. This needs to be recognised even if we cannot exactly identify the particular belief, assumptions, conditioning which impacts our drishti from moment to moment. But we can be aware of our responses to stimulation coming from outside and also be aware that the responses are emanating from our drishti. This awareness can bring about a certain humility. Coupled with the understanding that we are not the primary cause in the happening, that we are a nimitta kaaran, can lead to aastha in the great Unknowable. We are not the primary cause and yet we need to take full responsibility. It may sound contradictory but that is the way it is, whether we like it or not. This is walking on the razors edge. Remember, Truth does not lie in the extremes. Truth is seldom described. It has to be realised. This is where paradoxes, Koans, apparent seeming contradictions have their role. Contemplating on apparent contradictions, a feeling of being paralysed…helps reveal.