So, listen. There is this man, Deven. And don’t for a moment think he is somebody else. This Deven is you. With your serious face, your plans, your search for meaning. It is a beautiful joke, no?
This man is suffering. Not from poverty, not from sickness. He is suffering from a disease called ‘more’. He has enough, but he is convinced that happiness is somewhere else. It is always in the future, in some magical room. The mind is a cunning politician; it always keeps you hoping, always keeps you running after a tomorrow that never comes.
So he goes on a great search. A spiritual search! It sounds very noble. But what is this journey? He is climbing the mountains of his own opinions, getting lost in the forests of his own chaotic thoughts. He is simply running in circles inside his own head and calling it a pilgrimage!
Finally, he comes to a door. And the mind, which loves drama, expects thunder and lightning. But existence is simple. It is just a door. He pushes it open.
And what does he see? Heaven! Gold, diamonds, everything the foolish mind has ever craved. A whole supermarket of desires, polished and glittering. The mind says, “Aha! I have arrived!”
But existence has a great sense of humor. In the middle of all this treasure sits a dinosaur. A huge, terrifying dinosaur. Now the real circus begins! On one side, greed is pulling: “Take it! It’s all yours!” On the other side, fear is screaming: “Run! It will kill you!”
And Deven is torn apart. This is your whole life, have you watched it? Pulled between desire and fear. You want money, but you fear risk. You want love, but you fear rejection. It is a ridiculous tug-of-war, and you have become the rope, getting shredded from both ends.
For weeks, this man plays the game. He makes strategies. “How to trick the dinosaur?” “How to steal the gold?” The ego is a great strategist, a great general, but it is a general of a phantom army, fighting a phantom enemy. How can you trick your own fear? The more you fight it, the stronger it becomes.
Then, one day, something beautiful happens. He gets tired. Utterly, totally exhausted. He collapses. He gives up the whole stupid game. And in that moment of surrender, when the fighter is gone, for the first time, there is clarity. He is not looking at the dinosaur through the screen of his thoughts. He simply sees it.
And he starts to laugh. A deep, belly laugh. What is this dinosaur? It is his own fear. What is this gold? It is his own desire. They are not two separate things! They are two hands of the same phenomenon. Fear is the guardian of desire. You cannot have one without the other. It is a package deal. To choose the gold is to choose the dinosaur. To run from the dinosaur is to run from the gold.
The whole thing is a joke! The mind has created a problem and is now trying to solve it.
He gets up. He is a new man. Not a wise man, not a saint—those are just more ego trips. He is simply sane. He walks into the room, and the dinosaur doesn’t move. Why should it? It is his own energy.
He walks past the mountains of gold. He sees them for what they are: shining pebbles, beautiful but meaningless. He doesn’t need to possess them to enjoy them. He walks right up to the dinosaur, his fear, and he gives it a wink. He acknowledges the great joke. In that moment of total acceptance, where is the fear? Where is the desire? Both have disappeared.
He walks out of the room with nothing. Empty-handed, empty-minded. And in that beautiful emptiness, he has everything. He is not seeking anymore. He has stopped searching for treasure because he has realized he is the treasure.
Your fear is not the enemy. Your desire is not the enemy. Your only enemy is your unawareness of the game your own mind is playing. Just watch it. Watch the circus. And in the watching, you are free.
Source: Read MoreÂ
