The Monk IV -- Between Two Eyes, An Open Invitation to Vanish

In Part III, Shiva was not calling the Monk.

He was calling everyone who breathes.

The temple is not somewhere outside. It sits behind our two eyes. Quiet. Always open. It doesn't shout. It whispers -- Come. Die. Reboot. Become that which is not.

To be one with Him, you have to vanish. Not a glimpse. Not a spark. The whole ocean.

It sounds easy in books. It is not because the moment you step towards that door, the noises begin.

The Mind says -- Don't go. If you go there, you will become nothing. What will happen to your name, your story.

The Intellect says -- Don't go. You will forget everything you have learnt. All your degrees, your philosophies, your spiritual progress -- all will be erased.

And they are right. You will become nothing. You will forget everything.

That's the price.

Shiva stands there with open arms. No conditions. No judgment. Just -- Come and see who you actually are, not who they told you you are.

But no one moves.

He thought the last barrier was the Shadow. The fear buried inside the darkest chamber. 

No.

The last barrier is much more intimate. It is his own ego polishing the chains and calling it identity.

We all carry a painting on our chest. Society painted it -- good boy, bad boy, successful, failure, spiritual, modern.

And we spent our whole life protecting that painting, thinking it is our skin.

That is why we cannot enter the temple. Not because the door is closed.

But because we don't want to leave the painting outside.

We want to enter the temple wearing our masks and Shiva says -- come naked or don't come at all.

And so, every living being -- the ant, the man, the monk -- stands one step before freedom, listening to the voices, guarding a painting that was never theirs.