Wise Words
Boredom In Spiritual Life
Neelam Nimare
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Boredom in spiritual life A lot of seekers experience this, boredom after Self knowledge. It is not that a person has never experienced boredom in life. In ordinary life, before one comes to the spiritual path also, there are many times daily when we experience boredom. But it is different than spiritual boredom. For an ordinary mind, there is a well established ecosystem to address the boredom. A whole big industry is meant to serve the ordinary bored mind. But for the Self realised seeker this is a peculiar type of boredom that is not quenched with the regular things. It can also be called as Dryness. This is a very common consequence of the knowledge. It is typical of the path of knowledge. This feeling of Boredom can leave seekers often confused as to why is this happening. What is the the cause of this strange dryness after knowing the Truth. This boredom is not because of the knowledge. Self knowledge or knowledge of the Truth never brings boredom. Knowledge in fact reveals that the nature of Self is Bliss. Boredom arises in the mind, in response to the knowledge. The mind experiences sudden change in its tendencies. Earlier, the mind was very busy, occupied with so much activity. What sort of activity? To achieve something, to become something, seek validation, doing comparisons and the default background activity of rumination of past events and future simulations and imaginations. All these are the natural activities of the mind. It is meant to do all this. So the mind engages in them very sincerely and seriously. Now, when there is realisation of what is Truth and what is illusion, the mind suddenly finds that what it was doing was actually futile. It was just playing a fake game. There was no reality in the game. All this activity is useless.Therefore it slowly loses interest in that illusory play. The worldly activities seems unnecessary and meaningless. There is no motivation left for the mind. This state is exactly what we experience as Boredom. In ordinary life, whenever there is feeling of boredom, we have good anaesthetics agents that we call entertainment. But for the spiritual seeker this anaesthesia does not work. Entertainment does not help much to remove the boredom. Another reason for this boredom is there are no more unanswered questions left for the seeker. Earlier in the spiritual journey, the seeker was very curious. He had many unanswered questions. There was lot of excitement in the early seeking phase. There were breakthrough insights, excitement of new wisdom, lot of reading, discussions etc. The mind had lot of action. As the knowledge sinks in, the mind discovers there is nothing more to know, nothing more to do. Path of Knowledge is a very quick and direct path. It does not take long to discover the Truth of your existence. Mind misses the thrill of seeking. This could be experienced as Boredom. It is similar to a climber who after touching the summit feels the excitement draining away and mind asks - Now what? Sometimes the boredom is felt more because lot of expectations were built up when the seeker began his journey. Our conditioning told us that spirituality is a miraculous journey. Some exciting/ magical/ out of this world things happen here. But Truth turns out to be very simple. Mind finds simplicity boring. Ego loves fireworks, and when nothing of that sort happens, boredom follows. What can be done? First understand that nothing bad is happening. It is a natural phase where mind is recalibrating itself. It was accustomed to chaos now it is adapting to stillness. It is similar to the cocoon phase of the butterfly. Secondly, do not resist your feelings. The mind is undergoing transformation, purification and let it happen in awareness without resistance. Witness it. It is not happening to you. The teachings of the Path of Knowledge will ask to be put into practice now. It will also require to bring Patience, surrender, faith on the path. That is why these are also the required qualities of a seeker. Also if your Teacher around, tell him what you are experiencing. The Guru has already navigated such phases in his spiritual journey and he may have guided similar seekers. So he is the most appropriate person to go to if you are distressed. He will also be able to differentiate if those are symptoms of boredom or something else. He can diagnose it and advice some remedy or practice specific to your case. When the boredom feels like lack of motivation or meaninglessness, then the best way to is to engage the mind in another job. Because the mind body structure is naturally inclined for action, it cannot stay inactive for long. So give it some spiritual activity. Here is where the path of action complements the Path of Knowledge . Therefore all the teachers prescribe some spiritual service for the seekers. This can be the most optimum way to engage the bored mind. There can be many types of services that the seeker can chose, depending on his own willingness and capabilities. It is best to ask the Guru. On the Path of knowledge, the most preferred service is knowledge dissemination. Service is also in alignment with the law of the illusion. There is this default mechanism built in the illusion. You return the favour you received. It is the law of balance of the illusion. You were helped by the teacher to come out of your ignorance and now you can bring the balance back by helping another person with the same.There can be many ways to spread the light of knowledge. If you think that you are not capable, then just have the intention strong enough. You will discover unique ways to do that. There are infinite possibilities in the illusion. You only need to desire it. You may also consider doing something else which you like very much. Some hobby something creative. Learning something new which you always wanted. So boredom is only there when you identity with the mind. The Self is never bored . It is eternally blissful. Bliss will replace the bore as you establish yourself as the witness with awareness practice. When you live in you your mind, life may seem boring but when you come out of the mind, you will realise that life is such a happening thing. This is a very poetic observation. There is never a stagnant or boring moment here in the illusion. It is such a happening place. The sky is never the same, day is changing, new flowers bloom everyday, children grow, people change, seasons change. Every moment, there is something happening. So much is happening that the mind cannot even catch up with it. When we look at this experience of life in this way, there is no boredom. It is an eternal party! .