Humans are uniquely gifted with the capacity to seek enlightenment, to understand unity consciousness… so what are we to do with that gift?
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In the Vedic literature, it is said that one attains a human body only after 84 million births as a lower species, and to get a human body is a rare boon which even the angels in heaven desire. Why? Because only in the human body can one attain enlightenment — a state of total Self-knowledge. According to the Veda, the individual is cosmic. In the Yajur Veda, it is written in Sanskrit:
Tatha Pinde, Yatha Brahmande
“As is the individual, so is the universe; as is the universe, so is the individual.”
“As is the human body, so is the cosmic body; as is the cosmic body, so is the human body.”
Individual intelligence contains the potential to reflect cosmic intelligence.
The purpose of human life is to expand, to progress, to evolve and to actualize the full potential of the human nervous system. The aim of human life can be summed up in the words of the Delphic oracle: KNOW THYSELF. To know oneself fully is to unfold one’s cosmic potential.
The great saint Sri Anandamayi Ma has said:
“To strive to know Himself, to find Himself is man’s duty as a human being. Of all creatures, man alone has been endowed with the potential capacity to realize God. Thus, the search after Truth is his bounden duty. Let every man advance along the path which is most congenial to him.”
The human being holds a unique place among living beings on this planet because other animals and birds have no desire for self-knowledge. The aspiration to attain enlightenment is only found in the human species. The human nervous system is a rare boon that holds the key to the treasure house of all-knowledge, infinite bliss and eternal peace.
Life is a sacred gift. Human life is designed for the acquisition of the supreme attainment. A great saint expressed this idea when he said that if we, as human beings, don’t attain the state of enlightenment in our life time, we will have sold a diamond for the price of spinach!
It is as if each one of us holds the key to a palace in our pocket but we are confined to living in a hut! We have forgotten all about the key which is in our pocket.
Meher Baba, a great spiritual teacher, explained this concept in his own words:
“The incident of birth is common to all life on earth. Unlike other living creatures which are born insignificantly, which live an involuntary life and which die an uncertain death, physical birth of human beings connotes an important and if they are extra-circumspect about it, perhaps a final stage of their evolutionary process. Here onwards, they are no longer automatons but masters of their destiny, which they can shape and mold according to will. And this means that human beings, having passed through all the travails of lower evolutionary processes, should insist upon the reward thereof, which is ‘Spiritual Birth’ in this very life…”
However, when one is faced with great challenges, trials and tribulations in life, one may lose sight of the grand goal of human life, especially when one is forced to face experiences of disease, rejection and disappointment. Such experiences may be the result of losing someone we love when a relationship ends or when there is a death in the family. In times like this, the best remedy to help us recover our balance is spiritual knowledge.
There is a famous story in Buddhism about a woman named Kisa Gotami, who was the wife of a wealthy man. When her only son died, she was devastated. Carrying him in her arms, she wandered from house to house, asking her neighbours to give her some medicine to bring him back to life. The people thought she had lost her senses. Finally, an old man advised her to go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha. She went to the Buddha and cried: “Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy!” The Buddha told her that he could bring her child back to life if she could find white mustard seeds from a house where no one had ever died. Gotami desperately went from house to house, but to her disappointment, there was not a single house where a death of a family member had not occurred. Finally, the realization dawned in her awareness that death is common to all living beings. She realized that she had to accept the loss and continue undaunted in her journey of life. Buddha taught her that the cycle of life and death is a universal reality endured by all. Buddha’s teaching about death comforted her and through his wisdom, she was awakened to the eternal truth of life. Afterwards, she entered the first stage of enlightenment, and eventually she became an Arahat, a fully awakened being.
This story helps us to understand that suffering is a process which is common to all human beings. It is part and parcel of human life.
The process of evolution is bumpy. There are hurdles and obstacles to overcome. These hurdles come in order to strengthen our resolve and endurance so that we can progress with greater speed on the path to ultimate fulfillment. There are inevitable separations in life which one must accept with courage, faith and fortitude. Meetings and partings between individuals in the journey of life have been compared to logs floating downstream in a fast-flowing river. We come together for short intervals and then are parted by the waves of time. These movements in the river of life are natural, universal and unavoidable.
No matter how challenging one’s circumstances become, one should never contemplate ending one’s life. Committing suicide is a grievous mistake and a spiritual loss.
In the words of Sri Anandamayi Ma:
“Suicide is a most heinous sin. Man is born in order to reap the consequences of his actions of former births. To try and escape from this by suicide is extremely foolish: it only prolongs the agony indefinitely. No one in his senses can possibly take his life; at the moment of doing so a person is invariably disturbed in his reason. Suicide does not solve anything; on the contrary, it creates endless complications and prevents one from paying off his karmic debts.”
Gain and loss, pleasure and pain are the pairs of opposites which characterize the ever-changing realm of life.
It is only by transcending the ever-shifting sands of duality and experiencing the unchanging silent source of pure Being at the depths of life that peace can be gained. Every experience contains within it the seed of further growth and evolution. We gain mastery by patiently facing the ever-changing situations of life. Gradually, we gain the stability and flexibility to scale the highest peaks of human experience and emerge at the summit of the Mount Everest of human development: ENLIGHTENMENT — a state of consciousness in which we live the ultimate truth of life: Satchidananda, immortal, infinite, eternal bliss consciousness.
Papa Ramdas, the founder of Anandashram in Kerala, explains this sacred gift of life:
“This life is a splendid gift from God. It is not meant to be wasted away and torn to shreds by our dwelling upon unreal sorrows. God is indeed kind and all-loving. There is absolutely no doubt about this. Else, why should he give us blows and shocks in the shape of losses and calamities that wake us up from the dream of a fool’s paradise to the great Reality?”
Only human beings can attain the highest state of human evolution: Unity Consciousness, a state of life in which one cognizes the whole universe in terms of the unbounded wholeness of the Self. In the state of Unity Consciousness, the unbroken wholeness of life as a field of pure Being is primary and differences are secondary; whereas in the state of ignorance, differences and disharmony dominate life. In the state of full enlightenment, the surface differences in creation are unable to hide the transcendental infinite level of pure Being which is the basis of every object of perception.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation technique, says:
“The reward of bringing the mind to this state is that the small individual mind grows to the status of the cosmic mind, rising above all its individual shortcomings and limitations. It is like a small businessman becoming wealthy and reaching the status of a multimillionaire. The losses and gains of the market, which before used to influence him, now have no effect upon him and he rises quite naturally above their influence… The effects of the enlightened man’s actions spread out in the world and everything benefits from them…”
How does one reach such an exalted state of consciousness? By practices such as meditation, prayer and a heartfelt yearning to attain it.
Whatever we put our attention on grows stronger in our life.
Attention to our inner development through practices as well as the study of spiritual literature which elevates both mind and heart can hasten our progress toward enlightenment. There is actually no hindrance on the path to ultimate fulfilment because it is a pathless path. The goal of life is omnipresent. The goal is where we are. There is no distance to traverse. The Self reveals itself to Itself from within itself. When the veil of ignorance, like a cloud on the horizon, is removed, the radiant light of the ever-luminous Self, the transcendental wholeness of life, is spontaneously revealed. The sacred aim of human life is gained in silence and serenity.
You may also enjoy reading The Mechanics of the Mind: How Transcendental Meditation Creates a State of Bliss by Barbara Ann Briggs
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