The Rare Art of Being Unrepeatable

“Just because rain falls on us, doesn’t mean we are the rain” (trip aum shanti)

Yoga Sutra 1.4

vṛtti sārūpyam-itaratra

vṛtti: any movement of the mind-field (citta)

sārūpyam: mind takes the shape of its object; the seer appears to be that shape

itaratra: in all other states, at other times

As we grow into adulthood many impressions (saṃskāras) are placed upon us but we are not those impressions. We are not what was programmed into us nor what we continued programming into ourselves. We are not even our own name for that too was given to us. Yet most people believe they are their labels: their job, their family role such as wife daughter aunt their status their achievements and all the other identities used to describe the personality.

The idea of discovering who you are without these labels can create fear fear of the unknown fear of losing what feels familiar. Acknowledging something keeps the mind feeling safe. After all we did take on this human life purposefully. Shedding our labels can feel like shedding our skin; we have carried them for so long that we sometimes do not even realize what we are attached to. Humans like to identify with something because it feels secure.

Yet life is constantly repeating itself. No one is truly unique when everything becomes a regurgitation of someone else’s ideas. A study once showed that after the age of 40 if the brain is not actively stimulated or inspired to create it begins relying solely on old memory data and runs on repeat. It becomes genuinely difficult to come up with anything new or insightful.

Doing something creative every day can literally change the way the brain functions. But we have seen a dramatic decline in reading reflection and genuine writing. If you do not use it you lose it. This is why I always emphasize that if you are going to take in information whether through books teachers or even social media reflect on it through the lens of your own personal understanding. Let your mind digest it. This allows the knowledge to become wisdom.

If we were to be truly unique in every moment every breath would require fine tuning full awareness and connection to the Self. This becomes increasingly difficult in a world where attraction to social media runs rampant and people constantly share the stories styles and thoughts of others. This is a subtle form of asteya stealing. No need to think for oneself when you can simply borrow someone else’s insight and respond with it. Many of the stories we consume online come from people we will never meet in person. Were it not for digital platforms we would not even know these stories existed.

To be unique in this age of mimicry has become an incredible task.

My guru and I were discussing how rare it has become to find individuals who read deeply elevate their intelligence practice discipline and engage in self mastery. They have almost become a vintage species retro edgy rebellious. The point however is not to stand out for the sake of rebellion but to stop living predictably unlike the follow the crowd mentality that now shapes so much of society. This is a different kind of one percent those who stand apart from the whole while understanding they are also of the whole.

As the world loses itself we start to witness shells of human beings rather than the essence of Souls. Tapping into Supreme Intelligence parama jñāna awakens us to the understanding that we are all of it. We are the master painter and every stroke of the painting. We are both the witness draṣṭṛ and what is witnessed.

Returning to the understanding that the Self witnesses itself as Self is liberation. Getting caught in reflections the mental images labels stories shows only shadows of who we are. It does not reveal that we are both the person and the reflection the one who controls the reflection the action the surroundings the outcome and the witnessing itself. Everything in the story is a part of us. The world does not exist without the observer and the observer does not exist without the world. Knowing this one comes to understand I am not separate from Supreme Intelligence. I am in direct union with it.

All of the mundane is merely a distraction from our True nature.Understand what you are - and know.

This is freedom.