Turning within

With Navratri begins a festive cycle of fasting, feasting and celebrating that culminates in the noise and fervour of Deepawali. The weather turns towards winter, the sun’s harshness softens, and post-monsoon diseases hopefully disappear. Another annual cycle arises, comes to fullness, and falls away. Even as we continue to struggle with ourselves, our environment, our gods, our beliefs, our faltering hopes and unfulfilled dreams.

Do our daily encounters with the brutishness inherent in the business of living inure us to failures, heartbreaks and disappointments Do we become acclimatised, less susceptible to injury from hard knocks And is a thicker skin a good thing because it protects us, even if it might mean a lesser degree of empathy with the other Is it better to be encased behind bulletproof glass, safe, but also removed from the vibrant dynamism of life

I wonder if, for believers, festivals such as Navratri might be as much about a renewal as it is about observing prescribed rituals. Stepping out of routine breaks the regularity of daily life, and focusing on the divine might help access a kind of consciousness that one is normally not in tune with. It is not as if these deeper realms of consciousness appear only on a special day. They are always within reach, if only we were to access them. Perhaps during a festival, when there is an opportunity to turn away from the distractions we are usually entangled in, it becomes easier to form a connection with a depth of consciousness that is beyond our usual experience.

What might appear to be inherent in something outside — in an external presence, form or idol — is actually within. There is no divinity outside that does not exist within. As is mentioned in the Yajurveda, Yatha pinde tatha brahmande, yatha brahmande tatha pinde — as is the individual, so is the universe; as is the universe, so is the individual. It can also be interpreted as — as within, so without; as without, so within. In this, a sacred truth is revealed — everything external, whether it is the world, the cosmos, or an external divinity, is reflected within. In fact, the only way to access what is out there is from within. Our senses help us make sense of the physical world. Our minds and intellect bring to us the knowledge of ideas, how things work, how to navigate circumstances. Our hearts brings us knowledge of emotions, relationships, empathy and compassion.

Co-existent with these levels is an inner consciousness that is always present, and which we can access anytime, provided we are able to switch off and sink into quietude. This inner consciousness holds both the means and the experience of higher consciousness. Its continuous and constant awareness, when achieved, makes everything within and without seem steeped in luminous consciousness. For the atmagyani, knower of this inner consciousness, everything appears bathed in its light. Only such a person can truly experience divinity in everything — oneself, the idol in the sanctum, the spouse, the neighbour, the beggar on the street.

Swati Chopra writes on spirituality and mindfulness. She tweets at @swatichopra1