My journal of small revelations

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19 Jan 08

“To be free, learn to live simply”

 

This was on the soap wrapper I ripped off this morning. Such a small statement, and simple as it is, it touched me.

 

I have been a simple girl all my life, or so I thought, but as I’m trying to look deeper into my life, I have started paring down even more, simplifying it more and more each day. I’m amazed at how much I can live without. There was a time when I took pride in my home, the way it was decorated, the compliments it got me. There was a time when I took the time to dress sharp, look impressive. There used to be a time when my lifestyle mattered.. There used to be a time when I depended on friends for validation. There was a time when I cared what society, neighbors and people thought about me and my life. There used to be a time when I bought into the morality of the world, courtroom justice and global politics.

 

Like the Vedantic neti-neti that man goes through, examining each element of his life as he makes his way through the journey to self, I think I’m peeling back the layers of my life around me, paring away each thing I don’t have a need for, and simplifying it more and more. I’d never have thought it would be so satisfying. Even as I write, I’m constantly on the lookout for anything unnecessary that’s only making my life cluttered. The more I simplify, the more it leaves me time for myself, searching for my Self.

 

Swami says, “Less luggage, more comfort”. He doesn’t mean just material possessions, but mental luggage as well. I long for the day when I can truly be a vairagi, not just in possessions, but in my heart, when I can renounce the world without regret, when I can be in this world but not of it, when I’m so light that I can float, when I’m so devoid of stuff that I am transparent.