Life’s real journey is from a frustrated ‘I don’t know’ to a blissful one filled with wonder. Astonishment awakens us, dissolves dullness, and reveals the infinite beauty woven through creation. In that space, awareness expands and consciousness blossoms
Life is a journey from a frustrated “I don’t know to a beautiful ‘I don’t know!’ If you are amazed, astonished, wonderstruck, just close your eyes with a smile and stay in it. Astonishment is the beginning of one’s spiritual journey. It is amazing how this creation is so full of astonishing things, but we take them for granted. That is when inertia dawns and dullness sets in. Tamas, or lethargy, increases, and we become inactive and unaware.
A sense of astonishment brings wakefulness. A miracle shocks you, and that shock is wakefulness. When we are awakened, we see that the whole creation is full of miracles. The entire creation is to be wondered upon, because it is all a display of one consciousness.
In Indian mythology, the Divine is said to have an arch and five arrows. These five arrows are made of five flowers, symbolising the five senses. It is through these five senses that you experience something which is actually beyond the senses. And deep inside you, what gets created is a wave of beauty. It produces a sweet honey inside you.
When you experience such a wave, your eyes close. You’re no longer caught in form; you dissolve into the formless.
You return to your own nature. Whenever you experience something so great, so wonderful, and so beautiful, whether it is music, a fragrance or a gentle touch, your eyes close automatically, and you sink into that ocean of beauty.
The power, the energy inside you, begins to move in a new direction. There is a sense of elevation. It gives you more energy, long-lasting joy and a bliss that stays. Just like in spring, when the whole of nature awakens, birds begin to sing and trees blossom, in the same way, when this inner energy is kindled, it creates awe.
You spring out of dullness, out of the mechanical routine, and new life rises up from within. If this elevation in life is missing, then dullness takes over. The more you keep using your senses outwardly, the duller you tend to become.
Our little brain is programmed to understand maybe a handful of languages. Yet we think we can reason out and understand all that exists. But this feeling, “I know it all,” keeps us in a shell of dullness. “I don’t know” brings wakefulness. You need to know something in order to realise how much more is left to know.
The first qualification of a seeker is the acceptance of “I don’t know, but I am willing to know.” This willingness is what awakens us.
There is one “I don’t know” that comes out of ignorance. Then it passes through knowledge and becomes a transformed “I don’t know.” That is a beautiful “I don’t know,” filled with wonder. Every question begins to turn into wonder.
What is the difference between a wonder and a question? A question is associated with sorrow and restlessness. Wonder is joy in expression.
Life is a journey from an ugly “I don’t know” to a beautiful “I don’t know.” When you are frustrated, and someone asks you a question, even if you know the answer, you shrug it off and say, “I don’t know. Don’t ask me.” That is the ugly “I don’t know,” born of frustration. But as you evolve, you come to a stage where you realise how little you know, and how vast the unknown is.
Speak to any great scientist. They will say, “Well, beyond this, we don’t know.” That is the beautiful “I don’t know.”
This creation is enormous and infinite. It is a mystery. Mysteries are not to be solved but to be lived and loved. Love is a mystery. Sleep is a mystery. Your mind is a mystery. Life itself is a mystery. Trying to understand a mystery leads to confusion. But living it fully is called enlightenment.
Any wonderment or astonishment also leads you to that state. Whenever a “Wow!” arises in you, there is no mind, no thoughts.
Wonder is the preface for yoga to happen, for union with the supreme consciousness to occur. And once you are united, you simply wonder at everything. You walk around, look at a flower and say, “Wow! How is this flower so intelligent?” Recognise the intelligence in every petal, every leaf, every person who walks past you.
Look at any human being. They have a mind that looks through their eyes. Consciousness speaks through their mouth. It responds to you. That same consciousness, vast, infinite, invisible, is present in them too.
If you have been to a space museum, you may remember the state you were in when you walked out. You were in a different context because you saw yourself in relation to the universe. You begin to ask: Who am I? What am I? Where am I, in reference to this unfathomable universe?
You listen to music, and a moment comes when you are completely engrossed in it. Then you snap out of it. You are no longer hearing the music, yet you are fully present.
That moment, when boundaries dissolve and awareness remains, that is meditation. In the language of yoga, it is called Laya Yoga, dissolving into what is.
Even just watching the sky can do this. On a free day, lie down and gaze up. A moment comes when thoughts disappear. You don’t know where you are, but you know that you are.
That is the experience of a centre everywhere and circumference nowhere. Limitless awareness can arise simply by watching empty space, because your mind too is space. Your consciousness is space.
The prana, the life force, is present in everything. There is nothing truly inanimate on this planet. The past, present, future, the entire time scale, is within the purview of consciousness. Consciousness is beyond time and space.
When you say “Ho!” the prana is in the thorax region. That’s the sound of surprise or astonishment. “Ho! I didn’t know!” Then comes “Wah!” even more wonder. Here the prana rises to the upper region, near the throat.
The life force is higher.
Even a glimpse of this energy inside you can bring such a deep smile that nothing can take it away. Nobody can make you miserable. Life assumes a different dimension. That glimpse of something expanding within you is enough.
So, if you are amazed, astonished, wonderstruck, just close your eyes, smile, and stay in wonder. In that space, you are closest to your true nature.