The Supreme Illusion
Seeing Beyond the Problems of the Body
by Kosi
Most of our time and attention is given to the problems we face in life. Just when one problem is solved another problem pops up. Life seems caught up in the whirlwind of the ever-changing problems we face. It is the common experience to find ourselves happy one minute, sad the next, angry the next, and so on. This is the problem sickness of the world that generates varying degrees of misery as we move through life.
Life is like a rollercoaster of ups and downs until you realize the source of the problem is not your circumstances or perceived problems—the problem is simply the deep belief that you are a person who has problems. But is any problem really your problem? What exactly is going on in your life? If you’re honest—you’ll admit that you spend most of your time solving the problems you have or running away from your problems and/or developing strategies to avoid any potential problem in the future.
The problem is actually the problem. All problems belong to your physical body—the destiny encoded in your DNA—the ancient karma you incarnated to fulfill. This ancient wisdom has become almost cliché in the spiritual subculture around the world. It is not uncommon to hear, “Oh, that’s just your karma.” But what if “karma” itself actually does not belong to you? What exactly is going on in our lives?
The truth is you do not have any control over the problems that emerge and disappear from your life. Whatever is happening in your life was simply predestine to happen. Your physical body incarnated on earth to fulfill a very specific destiny. This is known as Prarabdha Karma—the predestine nature of life. It might not sound like it, but this is actually really good news.
Once you deeply recognize that everything happening in your life and everything that will happen in your life was predestine—it is simply impossible to make a wrong decision. It is also impossible to change the outcome or destiny of your physical body. The truth is your physical body will fulfill whatever destiny it came here to fulfill—period. You can fight or resist this truth or you can simply relax.
The source of all suffering is the deep belief and feeling that you are your body—the supreme illusion of life. Naturally, if you believe you are your body when the body dies then you will die is the logical assumption, which can generate tremendous fear. But what if this most basic assumption is simply not true? What if you have a body, but are not your body? The more you realize that you have a body, but you are not your body, the more expanded your perspective of life becomes. This is the essence of all non-dual teachings.
Once you recognize who you really are—there are no problems—how could there be? It is simply the belief that you are a person with problems—both real and imagined—that is the source of most of your suffering. If your happiness is dependent on the people, places, and things in your life—this simply means you will be miserable most of the time.
The root cause of all suffering is the deep belief and feeling that you are your body—this is the essence of ego. Your deep identification with the body combined with the genetic mind, the very strong survival mechanism of the body, is a very strong genetic force that creates the supreme illusion that you are separate from everyone and everything—it is also the source of the belief that you have problems that you must solve.
As long as you believe this illusion is real you are subject to the ups and downs of your mind, ego, feelings, and life experience. Once you stop and see through the root cause of this illusion you are immediately free as freedom itself. To see through the supreme illusion generated by your mind, body, and egoic identification is extremely simple and also the challenge of a lifetime.
The natural question that can arise is; How can you see through what you not only believe is real, but feel is absolutely real? It is simply a matter of diving deep within yourself to see if your ego is even real. To begin with examine your name. Is your name real? Or is it comprised of loosely connected memories of your past? And even deeper is the deep sense and feeling of ‘me’ real. Is the ‘me’ you think you are real?
This deep dive into the core of yourself begins a natural organic awakening—a deep seeing that you are not your body. The body will die, but who you really are is eternal and cannot possibly die—in fact this eternal presence was never born.
The more realize that you are this eternal presence the more and more you will feel a tremendous sense of peace, happiness, and well being regardless of what is happening in your life. This presence is always free of all the problems associated with your body.
The absolute truth is your life is perfect exactly as it is and freedom is alive within you before you breath. If you are unhappy the reason is simply due to your deep belief and feeling that you are your body. To break free of this profoundly deep illusion you must begin to notice what are you giving your attention to? What are you focused on?
If you want to be continuously and profoundly happy—dive deep within your heart and discover who you really are. The initial recognition of this living truth is instant; to stabilize in this living truth requires determination, perseverance, and paying attention.
If you do not pay attention it is very easy to slip back into the deep trance generated by your genetic mind and ego. To be happy all the time is the mastery of now—the eternal wisdom that you are nothing you ‘think’ you are.
Freedom is the deep recognition that you are nothing at all—the eternal sunyata that was never born, never dies, and is eternally happy as the most profound happiness.
This is Grace and Wisdom of Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.
Tat Sat
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