Loneliness and Godliness! Loneliness is a very tough emotion to overcome. Human beings are social animals and they tend to flock around others of their kind. But when they become lonely, they are not able to come to terms with themselves.
Loneliness comes from various sources. When the partner dies, when there is a breakup of marriage or relationships, when children go away, when everyone opposes you, when you travel alone, when wife goes for delivery, when you leave your educational institution, when friends depart, when you sleep alone, etcetera. These and other such circumstances drives a person to loneliness. It’s like solitary confinement in jails or institutions.
So what happens when a person becomes lonely? Fear grips that man, incompleteness engulfs her, deprivation strikes one, you feel everyone has ganged up against you and the feeling which comes out of this is a singular conspiracy is being played out against you! No one wants to be friends with you anymore.
When you are lonely the one who is constantly with you at such times is your mind. All these thoughts are emanating from your mind. The one talking to you is your own mind. So isn’t your mind with you? Yet, it tells you that you are so much alone. You have no one with you to care for or to be cared for. You are deserted because of reasons which you aren’t responsible for. So what does your mind do?
The place in front of your mind is the screen on which the dangerous episodes will get played out. The mind is a great playwright or even a dramatist. It will show you the most dastardly picture possible. It will prove to you the criminal conspiracy that is against you. It uses past episodes with that individual to tweak them to show you in a different light. When the partner has died, it will show delightful pictures but when there is bitter conflict before departure then the same picture changes to red and dark hues. The mind creates these pictures and destroys your peace and tranquility. You believe that you are the worst possible human being to be afflicted by everyone.
The repercussions are dangerous and extremely destructive in nature. The individual goes through a very traumatic state leading to extreme masochistic tendencies. Recently a lonely woman hoarded everything that she could lay her hands on and one fine day the entire floor crashed on her killing her with her hoards of debris. Another young boy felt so dejected that he took three guns and knives and slashed and shot his school kid friends to death. Some take to drinks and some to drugs. Some take to extreme sexually dysfunctional acts, while others accept pornography, some cut themselves up, some love voyeurism, some develop repulsive fetishes and some just brood. It could lead a man to any kind of extremities. Food consumption may go up or go down, whatever may be their state.
Now some accept that they have a problem and try to seek help. Some don’t want to meet anyone but shut themselves up in their rooms or spaces. Some just wander about doing absolutely nothing constructive but working out their delusions in the minds.
In spiritual, we take to loneliness as a blessing. We reject the world by means of detachment and don’t have any cravings due to dispassion. When dispassion strikes a human being, nothing seems interesting, no activity seems productive, repulsion is the main feeling and extreme case of contempt for all worldly desires come about.
Loneliness in spiritual is a state where you get to detachment from every human beings and material things. You no longer want to be around anything or anybody who would distract your loneliness and break the silence. This single pointedness is needed for spiritual unfoldment and rise. Most ascetics take up the loneliest places to do their sadhana or practice. Why are these people not affected by the things that affects common folks? That’s because their primary motivation is liberation from this material world. They have removed all kinds of desires from their minds. Since there are no wants or needs that can disturb them, the mind has no where to wander. The minds screen plays only images of God or the divine. The company that these spiritual being prefer is only of other devotees. They refuse to mix around with the material worldly people. These people can misdirect their minds back to the material world hence they stay away from them.
Again, the material world cannot understand why these people have become recluses. God is their constant companion so they are never alone.
They do not suffer from delusions or depression. They are constantly engaged in devotional service to God alone so there is no loneliness for them.
So isn’t the easiest solution to anyone who feels deprived of human company to come to spiritual? Spirituality offers you the change and the chance to overcome loneliness and feel tranquil. It offers peace of mind and constant oneness with bliss. It comes free with your Guru as the shrink. He removes all your desires and makes you spiritually perfect. He shows you that there is oneness with loneliness. The soul is one and alone. There is absolutely no need of another. So follow your Master and learn the art of knowing the truth of Oneness.
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