I’ve been confused all my life and I’ve met confused people all my life. Frankly, if I try to remember even one person who was not confused, I get confused. What is the reason that we all so confused? Confused about life choices, confused about career, confused about relationships, confused about God and confused about what to eat or wear for supper!  

What is confusion? – Confusion is defined by Oxford learning dictionary as “a state of not being certain about what is happening, what you should do, what something means, etc.”, the “etc.” in their definition hints about their own confusion while defining confusion. Webster seems to be a lot more confused about it, as it defines confusion as “state of being confused” and then if you search “confused” ,it defines it as “being perplexed or disconcerted” and then you search “perplexed” ,  you come to “ state of being uncertain and a state of difficulty.”

In other words, confusion is a state that lacks clarity. To bring in another perspective lets look at confusion from an Indic perspective. The closest word for confusion in hindi / Sanskrit is “ Bhram” or  भ्रमः and it is defined simply as “ believing in false to be true !”  The overused example is that of mistaking a rope to be a snake in night. It’s a bhram of rope being snake. This bhram will then lead you to act in ways which are irrational and bizarre. Your mind will start imagining things, you will plan out a rescue plan or start looking out for a stick or start screaming …The only way out of Bhram is to see the truth as it is.

If we connect the two , it turns out that all our confusion are result of believing the false to be true.

What is false and what is true ? Fundamentally, as Shri Adi Shankaracharya declared ब्रह्म सत्यं जगत मिथ्या , or this entire world is nothing but a falsity and God alone is the truth.

If this world is false/maya, being confused is only then a natural outcome.  This perhaps, clarifies that why we are all so confused because frankly as you read this , your mind would be arguing that “ what kind of theory is this – world is unreal ! I know it for sure, its real. “ 

Further, if God alone is truth – how do we get out of falsity and thus get out of confusion ? Ancient scriptures have time and again declared that “अहं ब्रह्मास्मि” or I am the God, or God resides in each one of us.

Thus,  the obvious way out of confusion is to know oneself, to connect with oneself, to dive deep into the God within us.

No wonder, the least confused people we come across are the people who know themselves well or are deeply connected to their own self.

When we try to resolve confusion by any other tool or method, we will never be able to reach far because we may still be working in the domain of falsehood, maya. Our confusion is just a reflection of our disconnection with the God within, with the source within.

The more we situate ourselves in the God, the more we free ourselves from the confusion. Lesser confusion implies more celebration and meaning to life. Adhyatm (True Spirituality) is one way to connect to ourselves, to the the God within. Thus, unless we become deeply spiritual in true sense, we will be confused.

But then is there God ? Who is God ? Where is God ? Where is God inside of me ? Why don’t I see God ? Is it all a theory  ? May be it’s just a belief system ?

Aggrrrhhhh…..no not again ! 😉