“Make no mistake about it – enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.”
– Adyashanti
Neelam at Shamanic Vision chooses to call this process, “The Art of Unbecoming.”
When our soul chooses to embark on this journey, all that we hold so dearly and attach ourselves to, begins to be scraped off.
The journey of our spiritual evolution or rather the journey of our unbecoming is similar to that of the snake that sheds its skin.
We are called to unbecome/shed all the skins /masks that have become an intrinsic part of our identity.
Over several lifetimes and generations, we pick up imprints, samskaras, ways, attitudes, beliefs, attributes that begin to define who we are and we unconsciously keep operating out of those imprints quite involuntarily over and over and over again.
Neelam may feel she is aggressive or behaves in an aggressive way, but is being aggressive her true nature or is that a defense she learnt in her childhood to feel safe?
- Is that a coping mechanism she learnt from her mother?
- Is that how women in her lineage were?
- Is that the story she picked up in her mother’s womb?
- Is that the way of being she learnt in her upbringing years as a consequence of certain events which unfolded in her life?
If Neelam is not all that happened to her which now constitutes an integral part of her identity, who is she?
Can Neelam really become her authentic self and HER TRUE NATURE until she involuntarily keeps operating out of old programs?
A point may come in the journey of Neelam’s soul, where she may begin to question everything that she is or has become.
Is that her true nature? What masks has she worn upon herself to protect her wounded inner child? Where is her true self hiding?
If Neelam has to come into her true nature, a samudra manthan within her BEING has to happen. The churn has to bring forth the reality of all the unpleasant truths (the poison) which Neelam has chosen to believe or enact about herself.
Until this process of Samudra Manthan happens or keeps happening, the aspects buried deeply in Neelam’s unconscious will keep surfacing until she finally acknowledges, accepts and lets them go.
Once the process of this deep churning is over, the true gems (gifts, medicine, treasure) buried deeply within the ocean of her unconscious will rise and come to the surface.
All the buried stuff that comes to the surface cannot be bypassed or be overlooked by distraction. And there is no choice but to accept and embrace the vish (poison) rising in the process.
Samudra Manthan is indeed a huge metaphor for each one of our lives. And it can be a pain inducing process indeed. It can bring up conflicts and more chaos before it finally brings up peace and treasures.
Samudra Manthan is a journey similar to that of the journey of the underworld. The journey of the underworld is depicted and narrated in so many different ways where the seeker is often challenged to dive into the underworld, is lost, betrayed or killed only to be rescued, revived, re-birthed or resurrected again, to come back with new gifts and treasures.
Samudra manthan is a journey which goes on individually and collectively within all of our lives. Some are mildly affected by it while some have been given no choice but to ferociously jump into the process.
What kind of manthan/churn is happening in your lives? How has it impacted you positively or negatively?
Do share with us in the comments below.
Header Photo source.