Your Inner voice – How to Listen and Act

What is this thing called the inner voice ? Well it is quite personal, guiding, caring, clear voice that seem to guide you, give you assurance and take you toward your goals. When everything else seems gloomy, scary and confusing, that something speaks from within your heart, the Voice that gives Courage, assurance and faith to believe in yourself - I like to call that as The Inner Voice. The voice of your ever well-wisher, the Supremely merciful God.

As Mahatma Gandhi said " Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone." Everyone, Including the  President, Pope, a thief, a criminal ? Ok, I am not any of these but, still how do I know that whatever I am hearing which is supposedly an Inner voice is not my own imagination, hallucination or the mind playing the tricks.? 

I am bit hesitant to say, that a number of time in my life and I am sure many of you would have had the same experience of an hearing an inner voice speak. Please read on..

I simply, thought that I would write on something from Bhagavad Gita. I just thought of a random number in my mind, 10:11 and looked up in Bhagavad Gita and this is the verse that I found in Bhagavad-Gita As It Is and this verse inspired me to write about the Inner Voice.

“tesam evanukampartham

 aham ajñana-jamm tamah

 nasayamy atma-bhava-stho

 jñana-dipena bhasvata

TRANSLATION : To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

Inner voice and Bhagavad Gita :- Lord Krishna at number of places explains that how he as Paramatma (Supersoul) is residing in the heart of every living entity. This does not mean that whatever actions a living entity performs for example, a sinful person is approved by the Lord. The supreme Lord tries to speak to the soul and explain him not to do a wrong thing but, like a when a soul like a spoilt child refuses to listen to him, he will regretfully sanctions it. So an Inner voice in the context of Vedic literature  means the voice of the Supreme God.

Other Interpretations of Inner voice :- Its interesting to note the use of this Inner Voice by various authors in different contexts. According to some, it a Intuition that comes from Mind, an inspiration, a gut feeling, the Psycho somatic indications and responses of one’s body etc. Some people talk of developing your power of listening to your inner voice by emotional intelligence, by brain exercises etc. Then some people talk of Holy Angels, Guiding Angels – how to recognise them, how to attract them etc. As I said in the beginning, there are some problems with people claiming to hear this inner voice. Because one's perception of inner voice depends on, one's level of consciousness and what a person considers an Inner voice to be. For example, a man was questioned as why he killed someone. He told the police that his inner voice told him to do. Similarly, people can claim or blame the inner voice to be the cause of their actions. Of course, in Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says, “Yanti deva Vrata devan” in Chapter 9.25, people who worship, Demigods, Spirits, Ghosts, Ancestors take birth or go to them and one who worships him will come to him.

Conclusion :- As per the Holy scriptures of India, one’s consciousness  needs to be purified by practice of spirituality and devotional service. And, to the extent ones consciousness is purified, one starts perceiving the presence of Super Soul in his heart. But, generally it is advised that in the neophyte stages of one's practice of spirituality, when one gets or hears his inner voice speaking, he needs to check the instructions are in accordance with the scriptures and holy books. Furthermore, one is advised to take guidance of a senior devotee or a Spiritual Master on these matters. Because, who knows I might get an inner voice speak to me and say that, give up your job, renounce everything and go to Himalayas. But, that may not be the real inner voice but, a conscience or my Intellect that got tired of the busy, stressful, hectic life style. Then, what I have to do is to go to Bhagavad Gita and see what Lord Krishna spoke about renunciation, did he approve Arjuna to give up his responsibility and become a sanyasi or something else.? I also have an option of asking some seniors who would advise me about danger of giving up work, without our mind and senses getting completely purified.