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Spiritual Disciplines

In document Letters to Gail Two (Page 147-151)

Dear Gail:

The challenge of aggressive good is that which can overcome the challenge of aggressive evil only! The transformation of greed, lust for power and sensuality — is possible only through spiritual disciplines and the knowledge of God, Jivatma and the other worlds.

It is said in the Bhagavad-Gita that whenever virtue subsides and vice prevails in the lower world, that the spirit of God incarnates itself for the vindication of righteousness and destruction of iniquity. The situation in the beginning of the Gita fits our times, but it also gives a magnificent discourse on the immortality, the non-duality, and the eternity of the Jivatma — that which I am going to give in this letter.

I quote Krishna’s words to Arjuna: “Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these kings of men. Never will there be a time hereafter when any of us shall cease to be.

“Even as the embodied Self passes, in his body, through the stages of childhood, youth and old age, so does It pass into another body. Calm souls are not bewildered by this.

“Notions of heat and cold, of pain and pleasure, arise, O son of Kunti, only from the contact of the senses with their objects. They come and go; they are impermanent. Endure them, O Bharata!

“That calm man who remains unchanged in pain and pleasure, whom these cannot disturb, alone is able, O greatest of men, to attain immortality.

“The unreal never is. The Real never ceases to be. The conclusion about these two is truly perceived by the seers of Truth.

“That by which all this pervades, know to be imperishable. None can cause the destruction of That which is immutable.

“Only the bodies of which this eternal, imperishable, incomprehensible Self is the indweller, are said to have an end. Fight, therefore O Bharata!

“He who looks on the Self as the slayer, and he who looks on the Self as the slain — neither of these apprehend aright.

The Self slays not nor is slain.

“It is never born, nor does It ever die, nor, having once been does It cease to be. Unborn, eternal, permanent, and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain.

“He who knows the Self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable — how can that man, O son of Pritha, slay or cause another to slay?

“Even as a person casts off worn-out clothes and puts on others that are new, so the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters into others that are new.

“Weapons cut It not; fire burns It not; water wets It not;

the wind does not wither It.

“This Self cannot be cut nor burnt nor wetted nor withered. Eternal, all-pervading, unchanging, immovable, the Self is the same forever.”

The root cause of a man’s grief and delusion is the identification of the Jivatma with the body. Fear of death paralyzes him because he is ignorant of the Jivatma’s true nature. The wise perform their duties in the world, cherishing always the knowledge of the Jivatma’s deathlessness. The ignorant man regards himself as the body, endowed with a Jivatma. The illuminated sage knows that he is the Jivatma, possessed of a body. There lies all the difference between the materialistic and the spiritual view of life.

Socrates, rightly called the wisest, the noblest, and the

most just man of his time, lived, worked and died under the spell of immortality. Cheerfully he died, giving a discourse on the Jivatma’s immortal nature. The meat of philosophy which tells that a man can be sustained in his hour of weakness is vividly described in The Book of Job. When that righteous man bemoaned the loss of his property, and death of his children, and when, suffering from an excruciating physical ailment, he longed for death, the Lord told him about the creation, explaining how insignificant a man is as a physical entity, and asked Job to gird up his loins like a real man. However, in the Gita, Krishna explained the meaning of various yogas or spiritual disciplines by means of which a man attains to the highest goal. They are suited to different temperaments. The active mind pursues the discipline of selfless work. The philosophical mind discriminates between the Real and unreal and renounces the unreal. The introspective aspirant practices self-control and analyzes various states of the mind with a view to ascertaining what lies in the inmost depth of consciousness. The emotional person cultivates an all-absorbing love for God and thereby sublimates his lower passions and desires.

The inner controller of man, God, walks through all feet, sees through all eyes, hears through all ears, eats through all mouths, thinks through all minds, etc. By Its own inscrutable power, the Godhead appears as the personal God, the creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe, man’s redeemer, and worshipped as Father-in-Heaven, Jehovah, Allah, etc.

He manifests Himself through divine incarnations. God becomes man so that man may become God. And there is the harmony of religions spoken of in the Gita; the different faiths are like so many pearls in a necklace, and God runs through them like the string. God accepts man’s worship, without regard to its form, provided it is whole— and

sincere. His knowledge is everlasting.

The special message of the Gita is that of Karma-Yoga, the discipline of right activity, by which a man can attain to the highest good. Karma or work covers all actions of man:

physical, verbal or mental. No embodied Soul can live without action, even for a moment. A man’s survival demands action; inactivity brings stagnation and death. An action can be a fetter or a liberator, depending on the worker’s inner attitude. An egocentric action, performed for a selfish purpose, acts as a chain, for it creates attachment to the result and binds the worker to the phenomenal world, while at the same time if performed in a detached spirit for the whole it acts as a liberator. When the worker works as God’s instrument, surrendering to Him the results, good or evil, pleasant or painful, this is the secret of right activity. It is man’s lower self that is affected by good and evil and clamors for the results of actions. But there is the Higher Self in man who is the witness and not the doer, the spectator and not the actor. When the Higher Self can rise above the pair of opposites, good and bad, and see the non-action in action, then the secret of right activity is known. All action, if performed in right spirit, enables one to commune with God.

Both contemplation and work are effective spiritual disciplines which will bring most problems under control and give one peace and awareness.

More later.

Paul

84. Beyond God

In document Letters to Gail Two (Page 147-151)