Nothingness

Yep, that was nothingness.

See the irony? This post is about nothingness. I was truly nodding at my screen as Swami spoke about nothingness in His 26th March discourse  “Yes, yes I get it, I thought to myself.” Although, this was before He spoke about opulence. As He spoke about that I gently looked out towards the trees, in deep thought. Just kidding. I digress. 

But at the end of the day, isn’t it true that there is nothing in anything? Without trying to be cryptic, if we really contemplate about it, what is there really to life? All that we hold on to; whether that’s our feelings, our things, our thoughts, our relationships, our ideas, our beliefs and our desires, how real are they? By real I don’t mean that we cannot feel, touch or live them, but at the end of the day they are only as real as their lifespan. 

No matter how sad we were yesterday and no matter how happy we are today, if we try to relive those same moments in a week, it may take quite a lot of effort and it may well be futile. Everything that we possess or go through in life is fit for the current moment because although each moment is full, at the same time, it’s also empty. We hold on to our thoughts so tightly until we are distracted and start focussing on something else, as if the previous moment never even existed. What happened to our original thought then? It’s gone. It was nothingness.

We have these desires within us, we thrive towards them, and when they are fulfilled we are momentarily ecstatic, and before we know it, we are already pursuing the next desire. And the same applies to our worries, joys and fears. If we were to really delve deep into our worries and face our fears, we may well realise that what were we holding onto? By investing so much energy in battling things we don’t get or even thriving for fulfilment, we fail to realise that perhaps our greatest freedom lies in losing things and in not obtaining what our minds desire. And if this sounds very familiar, well it’s because that’s  what Swami says here. Nothing can’t come close to Him:)

Perhaps also, the detachment which comes from breaking free from our attachments is the wisdom of life. The detachment which shows us that it’s all okay because at the end of the day there is nothing. But when this detachment hits us, it is only the anchor of faith and surrender which truly helps us experience the freedom. The freedom of nothingness can only be enjoyed if we actually wish to be detached. 

Have you ever been deprived of your favourite food, or perhaps one day your favourite outfit got ruined or even worse, you lost something/someone you were extremely attached to? But aren’t we all just fine eventually? Okay okay after shedding some, a lot of, tears, but still. No matter what we lose, no matter how important something seemed, at the end of it and over time, it is as if nothing happened. At least not the way it felt at the beginning.

If we give ourselves enough time to actually realise what is happening to us when we are deprived, after a while, a great sense of freedom dawns upon us. And I would even say that for a moment we become addicted to loss. We feel so much love for God, that we wonder how much more freedom we could gain from losing more! Why? Because essentially, there is nothing to lose! It’s all nothingness. Between two thoughts, there is no thought and between two breaths there is no breath. So, where is anything? Other than our essence, Him, nothing exists. Everything else is noise, let’s enjoy the all whilst it lasts, in beauty, in grace, in the knowledge that nothingness is real. I mean nothing is real. I mean… yeah!:)

If you understood this post, well done! You just understood nothing! If you see what I mean!:)

And if you are confused, I’ll pass the joke on to you, nothing matters. Go fool someone, it’s April Fools day!