Sacred Journey

Innately all human beings know that life has a higher purpose, even though they may argue and create philosophies that maintain that life is aimless or an accidental phenomenon in an infinite universe, and thereby nourish and strengthen an inner emptiness and discontentment.

We tend to project that unhelpful and unhealthy interior state into our daily lives and begin to try to fulfil that sentiment of absence looking for completion from the objects and comforts of the world – mostly through our relations and possessions – or even in all kinds of vices, which eventually leads us to even more misery and sorrow. But the paradox is that, despite all of it, we remain attached to the transitory little pleasures. Without realizing what could give us eternal happiness, we keep on going gathering things and renewing relations, and thereby intensifying our bondage and attachment to them. This dependency on the worldly objects for pleasure leads to a very deep-rooted fear of death – the fear of losing all these material things.

“In one way or another everyone strives for happiness, calmness, and peace of heart and mind.”

The Ancient Sages, through the transmission of the perennial wisdom revealed to them, especially in the Upanishads, have showed us that the way to dispel the darkness of confusion and ignorance from our mind is by learning how to think properly in order to discriminate between what is the Absolute Reality and what is Its temporal manifestation, which is subjected to change, death and decay.

Swami Rama also stated in the Introduction of the book on same title:
“To understand death, a person must try to understand the purpose of life and the relationship between life and death. The two are partners, each providing a context for the other. Death is not a period, but merely a pause on a long journey. When life and death are accepted as having real meaning and purpose, and death is understood and accepted as part of the human journey, then the fear of death disappears, and life can be lived fully.”

By thinking properly and correcting our understanding we can live a life purposefully and experience the transition period gracefully. In this residential retreat with Rabindra Sahu, we will make an attempt to understand the purpose of our life, and how to move forward towards our purpose in life.