Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.

I thought of speaking about something very, very basic. We are using two words – the spirit and spiritual. Primarily it is the spirit. Spiritual, spirituality, spiritualistic etc. are all derivations from the root word. What exactly does it mean?

We have another word called matter, also energy. Then we have material, energial, materiality, energiality, materialistic etc. etc. But the root word is matter, then energy.

The word spirit refers to that which is different from both matter and energy. The entire world is an outcome of matter and energy – creation. And matter is getting converted into energy, energy is getting converted into matter, their inter-conversions are constantly going on. The entire world is an outcome of this interactional and interconversional processes. As different from these, we have something called the presence of spirit and the activities and outcomes which it produces.

So the word spirit and spiritual have to be understood as referring to something different from matter and energy and all that they do. In this context I say, every one of us is spiritual. Every one of us, means what? Every living organism is spiritual. If the spiritual content is not there, it would have been inert and merely matter and energy.

We have sun, we have moon, we have the earth, we have water, we have air, we have fire, we have space. These are the pancabhūtās and the entire creation is a combination, multiplication of these pancabhūtās. But none of these pancabhūtās alone or all of them together have what I would like to describe as sentience. They are not sentient, they are inert. They will not be able to grow. They will not be able to respond to, react to external stimuli. So the manifestations or symptoms or characteristics of life are not in them.

The question of life comes only when matter is animated. So the power and the presence that animate matter, that is different from matter. You cannot get hold of this power or presence of animation except in conjunction with matter. You cannot understand energy except in relation to the effect it produces in matter. In other words, in the absence of matter there could not be any energy coordinate at all.

That example is not fully true because all these examples are relating to the object hemisphere whereas when we discuss about the spirit, spirituality etc. it relates to the subject hemisphere. The object and subject are so mutually different like the circumference and centre of a circle. Every circle is an expanse of the centre. The centre is a point and the point when you study it well, it has no dimension. It can be microscopically and even still more small.

So, by the word spirit we are referring to what? Things other than matter and energy and effects and outcomes produced, not by matter and energy but something different. A living being, say every one of you is living, you are spiritual. Otherwise all of you would have become dead bodies, mere matter. Because we are living, that livingness is a symptom and outcome of the spirit or the spiritual presence in us.

How do we know this spiritual presence? Simply because you know you have a body and you are able to employ the bodily parts. I can open my eyes and see. I can focus my ears and hear. I understand that I see, I hear. I experience the whole process. And I have some knowledge, I have some memory. I can use the memory. I am an owner. I am a custodian. I can use my body, my bodily parts, my brain.

What are the expressions of this spirit? Certainly not the body or bodily parts. They are an outcome produced by the spirit. It is the spiritual presence in the ovum and the sperm, that spiritual presence alone has brought about all this creativity within as a result of which the cells were used. At one point they became the eyes, the power to see. At another point they became the ear with a power to hear. With a power to smell, touch and taste. All these are ramifications produced by the majesty, magnificence and potential of the spiritual presence within. I call it spiritual presence because it is not material.

There are three which are present in us – one is mind, another is intelligence, the third is ego. These are the only three inner, non-material or supra-material factors in the living human personality or any living personality - Mind, intelligence and ego.

Sri Krishna in the seventh chapter of Bhagavad Gita goes on explaining nature and creation and he refers to eight factors as constituting prakṛti, nature and five of them are the pancabhūtās. Bhūmir-āpo-analo-vāyuḥ-khaṁ. Earth, water, air, fire and space. Then he refers to the other three, mano buddhir-eva ca ahaṅkārah - mind, buddhi and ahaṅkārah, mind, intelligence and ego. See he has listed them with a five inert substances, they are inert, outside and perceptible to the senses. The mind, intelligence and ego are inside the body. They are not perceptible to the senses but nevertheless we feel and experience them.

So, all feelings, all experiences, all reactions, all responses, conscious responses, all of them are not due to the material or energial body, matter-energy aggregate called the body. They are all due to the inner factors, constituents namely mind, intelligence and ego. These are the three spiritual factors in our personality. By any token, by any analysis, they are not material or energial factors.

Spirituality is a science dealing with the nature of the mind, the potential of the mind, the properties of the mind, the possibilities before the mind. Similarly it deals with the capacity of the intelligence, the science of enhancing its potential, sharpening it. It tells you how ego also can be harnessed, enlightened and sublimated as a result of which it will never hinder your life performance and achievement. On the other hand, it will facilitate and take you to greater and greater heights.

Ego is very good provided it will help you. A good ego is one which will enable you to be humble wherever humility is called for, which will help you to be up and bold when that is called for. Krishna was asked to be a charioteer by Arjuna. Where was the glory and splendor of Krishna and where was Arjuna? Krishna did not speak a word! “Why are you asking me to be the charioteer?”

According to our tradition, a charioteer is not a small or a simple person. There is a beautiful science about charioting, qualities of a charioteer. He is the one who conducts the chariot of a fighter. And he has to take the chariot prudently to wherever, advantageously it has to be lead. And the charioteer will have to build up the enthusiasm and resolve in the fighter. The charioteer can make havoc during the war. He can make tremendous success also.

Yudhishtira was asking one crucial person saying that “Whenever you become the charioteer of Karna you should assassinate his character.” During the Mahabharata war he said. So charioteer means quite a lot.

And remaining as a charioteer, what did Krishna do first? When Arjuna’s spirits sank and he was not able to stand up, he sat on the chariot, left his bow and arrow and said “I will not fight.” suddenly the charioteer Krishna became a spiritual master, an instructor and he delivered the eternal philosophy of the soul for the use of the world forever. Just see?

He accepted the position as a charioteer and in a matter of moments or half an hour, he proved that he was the only help, guide and savior for Arjuna. Not only he enabled Arjuna to fight and win, he also enlightened Arjuna with the greatest spiritual instruction that could ever be thought of. So Krishna was very humble to accept the position and remaining in that position he proved his greatness and splendor in a very exemplary manner.

So, an ego has to become flexible as a result of which it has to be humble, amiable, friendly, interactable. It can also be very assertive. Remaining as the charioteer, Krishna also showed his universal form. He began as an instructor but at one point of time he stood as a universal figure. Can you imagine? So what should be the nature of Krishna’s ego? How humble it could be? And how unconquerable it could also be?

So to understand the mind, to understand the intelligence, to equally understand the ego, comprehending their potentials, properties, possibilities and make use of them. Our body completes its growth at the age of 21, latest. Then it starts declining. That is the time we become an adult. As an adult we have to exercise our choices, selections, options and achieve work. At that point, the body has started becoming weaker. Then what else will grow in us? It can only be the mind, intelligence and ego. They can continue to grow till the last breadth says spirituality.

So spirituality is a science which deals with, discusses the spiritual constituents of the human personality as well as the entire world. It gives you a right knowledge and enables you with the heart and process of dealing with them in a masterly manner so that you will never fail in this world. You will be a master while living in this world, in dealing with the sensory objects and your senses. You will not allow yourself to be enslaved or subdued by any episode, crisis or confrontation. Everything you must be able to assimilate inwardly and become enriched. Everyday should be a day of enrichment, elevation, expanse and enlightenment.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.