Guiding Light: Do You Have It In You?
We play many different roles in life: a parent or child at home, a partner in a relationship and an employee at the workplace, yet it’s the same underlying person who pervades across all these roles. Some of us identify more with our work, others more with our personal lives, and we end up clamouring for adjectives which define how good we are with that role. The trouble is that you get attached to that role, which ends up defining you, rather than letting you remain the unbounded reality that can fulfil all and any roles.
It is the person (vyakti) who is the medium for allowing what we hold within to be expressed and be perceived by the senses (vyakta). However, there is always that hidden potential (avyakta, the unexpressed) which remains untapped until the appropriate opportunity or circumstance comes along and allows it to be expressed through the personality. Like they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
When you’re faced with a challenging circumstance, you’re forced to step out from your comfort zone and step into that uncertainty, where it may feel like you’re flailing to stay afloat. It is only a matter of time, however, given our unique ability to adapt, that we find a way to succeed. However, early success in a new area can also give rise to impostor syndrome, where you start questioning your early success and wonder if you really deserve it. The fact is that you’re the unbounded self, rather than a collection of adjectives, which sought to define you in your previous role.
The underlying substratum in all circumstances, from the time you were born, is your chitta, the mind stuff that is the reservoir for your memories, thoughts and emotions. Your consciousness is what makes the world real; it is the screen on which situations play out, and like a movie or a play, they are all transient. It is when you realise this truth that you become aware of the infinite potential you carry within, a spark of the divine, which cannot be constrained or even defined.
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