From a young age, I always heard, “Do good in school, so that you can go to a good college”, then you can get a good job”, “then you can find a good wife”, “have kids”, “then work until you retire”, and “then when you die give your inheritance to your kids”. I always had trouble accepting and following this blindly. There was always this feeling inside me that there was something completely off about these strong, societal beliefs.
I always wondered “What is the point of living life like this?”. I vividly remember in preschool trying to recall back to before I was born to see where I came from. I thought maybe there was a “me” that existed before “I” was born, because I was curious about creation. When I was six and my mother was pregnant with my younger brother, I was absolutely blown away that there was actually another human inside her. In elementary school, I remember watching Bill Nye the science guy explain how small the earth was compared to the sun and that the sun is the exact distance it needs to be from the earth in order for there to be existing life on earth. Also, I remember learning that the universe is never ending and everlasting. This was all extremely fascinating to me.
Growing up, my parents fought a lot and divorced when I was young. My mother remarried when I was 6 to a man I now call my Dad (I realize now that my step-dad was a true hero in my life and a blessing, but that’s a different story) and my father was incarcerated when I was 8. My father was incarcerated for several years. He became a chronic drug addict after he was released. Also, when I was eight years old, my friend had accidentally choked and passed away. I remember also watching commercials on television of young kids starving in Africa. How can we let this exist? That’s the question I asked myself. My parents would watch the news and there were always stories of murders over love and over money. There were also frequent stories of kidnappings and child abuse. What’s wrong with humans? This can’t be right. I always wondered about this… The reason why I mention all of the above is simply because they all had a big impact on my life and I felt often felt sad, and empty from a very young age. When seeing my Mother cry because she was so emotionally hurt or seeing my Father on drugs, I constantly thought “Why do people suffer?” “Why is life so painful?” “What is the point in living if we are to live it in this way?” “What happens when we die?” Also, I wondered how I could live in the right way.
Fast forwarding to my early 20’s. I went to a good college, had an amazing girlfriend, and wasn’t lacking money. Yet, I wasn’t even close to being fulfilled. I would save money to go on vacation and come back feeling the same way after a few days had passed. I wasn’t excited to live the rest of my life empty inside.
Since I questioned a lot of things since I was young, over the years I read and watched a lot of things that tried to explain life. I graduated from business school but ironically almost every elective course I took was about religion and philosophy. I got to read the Bible, Koran, Buddhist Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita amongst many others. Furthermore, on my own I started intensely watching, listening closely, and carefully reading self help material such as The Secret and Tony Robbins. I started hearing a lot about meditation, so I started exploring it. I went to yoga studios that offered meditation with my girlfriend and I started practicing it through youtube as well.
My girlfriend then started doing this meditation that was focused on ‘Finding your True Self’ at her University. She also starting going to a meditation center close by that was practicing the same kind of meditation. I saw a huge change in her. She was not complaining as much like she had in the past and overall she looked much happier! Because of her changes, I decided to give it a try and have been practicing for 9 years now.
All of the books I read all talked about how all the answers lie within you. It made sense but I never knew how I could find those answers. “How?” When I visited the meditation center they also told me that the answers were inside of me and that God, Buddha, Allah, the Universe (which all ultimately mean the same thing) also exists within me. The difference with this meditation was they had an actual method on how to achieve it. The method involved throwing away the “false self” and the “false world” that was inside me. It made so much sense!! As much as I meditated and cleared my mind, that much joy and wisdom was revealed within me. Also, questions about my life and answers became clearer, the more I meditated. It wasn’t “easy” but the method was very simple and concrete. It just took learned patience and perseverance. The meditation guides and meditators at the center were such beautiful people and incredibly helpful. The biggest difference with this place was for sure the method. I had always heard one should find the Truth, but this was a place where people were actually becoming it! The Founders weren’t just saying they achieved the Truth. They were actually providing a road map for anyone to get there.
After completing all of the levels and finding my True self, it feels like an unimaginable dreamlike story. I wake up happy and fulfilled and go to sleep that way also. I found the answers to all of my lifelong questions by just cleansing my mind. Anyone can find paradise within them now! When the proper technology exists for something, it can be utilized, right? This place has the technology meaning the meditation “method” on how to find your True self. You can actually find God, Buddha, Allah, and the Universe within you now. You will also get to know how to live truly happy and with the best health. I hope for everyone to find their True self and find true happiness. We came to this world to live, truly.
