The Movie of Life
While watching a good movie, we virtually go through the different emotions of the characters in the movie. We laugh at their jokes, feel the suspense and thrill and also we become sad when something tragic happens. We may sometimes get so engrossed in the movie that we may feel as if we were part of the movie. Still, we know that we are just watching the movie and we are different from the movie. Bhagavad Gita explains our life to be similar to the movie. The self (I, atma or soul) is the Witness (Sakshi) and the Seer (Drashta). Like the movie, all material objects including gross and subtle bodies are witnessed or seen by the self. The self is beyond the body and the world. Due to projection of mind, the self considers itself as body. This self is eternal and can never die or be affected by any physical entity. It can never be burned, cut or harmed in any way. The body dies and the self remains complete. One may feel incompleteness in this world but in reality, the self is complete and filled with infinite happiness. In fact, the self is just a witness to all the changes in this world i.e. events or actions happening in nature. From an absolute perspective, this world is also like a movie. We experience happiness and distress, victory and defeat, praise and critic, and profit and loss. Like a movie, these are just projections of the mind and our self remains untouched or unaffected by these projections. In this movie of the world, we also participate in script writing. We have some freedom to change the script. We can give happiness to the people around us and make this movie fun. Or we can cause suffering to others or just fail to do anything. Giving happiness to other or doing service (seva) helps us to remove the projections of this world and to realize our true self.
While watching a good movie, we virtually go through the different emotions of the characters in the movie. We laugh at their jokes, feel the suspense and thrill and also we become sad when something tragic happens. We may sometimes get so engrossed in the movie that we may feel as if we were part of the movie. Still, we know that we are just watching the movie and we are different from the movie. Bhagavad Gita explains our life to be similar to the movie. The self (I, atma or soul) is the Witness (Sakshi) and the Seer (Drashta). Like the movie, all material objects including gross and subtle bodies are witnessed or seen by the self. The self is beyond the body and the world. Due to projection of mind, the self considers itself as body. This self is eternal and can never die or be affected by any physical entity. It can never be burned, cut or harmed in any way. The body dies and the self remains complete. One may feel incompleteness in this world but in reality, the self is complete and filled with infinite happiness. In fact, the self is just a witness to all the changes in this world i.e. events or actions happening in nature. From an absolute perspective, this world is also like a movie. We experience happiness and distress, victory and defeat, praise and critic, and profit and loss. Like a movie, these are just projections of the mind and our self remains untouched or unaffected by these projections. In this movie of the world, we also participate in script writing. We have some freedom to change the script. We can give happiness to the people around us and make this movie fun. Or we can cause suffering to others or just fail to do anything. Giving happiness to other or doing service (seva) helps us to remove the projections of this world and to realize our true self.
Next time when you feel sad or experience adverse circumstance, keep your focus on your true self and understand that you are just the witness of these events and they are just like a movie. So, don't get overwhelmed by circumstances and be happy no matter what. This does not mean that you become like stone and don't feel the world. You feel the world, you enjoy the world and have fun and you also experience the sadness. Even amongst all these experiences, you should know that they are like a movie or a dream. So, don't give too much importance to them and ultimately, experience the happiness which comes from understanding that you are eternal (sat), all-good (siva) and full of knowledge (cit) and happiness (anand).
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