Get Spiritual

After years of observing the suffering in myself and those around me, it has become abundantly clear that that which causes this unending calamity is a fundamental lack of spiritual perspective. When one mistakes the difference observed in the physical manifestation between I and that as an all-encompassing separation, the spiritual life is severed and thus begins suffering.

On the contrary, when one can, while still acknowledging this physical difference, appreciate the underlying unity, the spiritual process is re-engaged. In the study of Vedanta, and in particular through the wisdom unsheathed in the renowned spiritual text the Bhagavad Gita, this underlying unity is referred to as awareness, or consciousness of which Krishna is the prime representative figure.

You and I likely have our 5 senses in-tact, and yet we perceive the same world differently. This is a consequence of our mind, with its cloudy nature derived from both past experience and reactions, standing between the outside world and our awareness of it.

As the input fed from the outside world travels through our senses, the mind taints it and generates a reaction-response. The fashion in which the mind taints the sensory input is that differential element amongst humans. Thus is the reason why you would weep at the sight of a photo of a recently deceased love one, while I could look and feel it merely to be a stranger.

Thus for two people to be diametrically opposed in their reactions-to-perceptions, or to be exact copies in their reactions-to-perceptions is neither unfortunate in the former, or a blessing in the latter. It is merely a consequence of existence. 

However, the uniting force amongst all the various human-flavours of reactivity and thought is their very ability to perceive the world. This ability is not better nor worse in one or the other, it exists in all humans alike; much like the same electricity that powers all the various electronic devices of the world. Just as your power outlet can energize a blow-drier, so can it brighten a television. Similarly, so is awareness/consciousness the backbone permitting the multitude perceptions in humans. Awareness is that which allows knowledge stored in memory to be perceived, and for the input of the senses to be observed. Until this concept is studied, contemplated, and understood, the life of delivering suffering in others and yourself is unending.

Here I quote Krishna, who represents consciousness, explaining himself as:

And I am seated in the hearts of all, from Me are memory, knowledge, as well as their absence.

Krishna, Bhagavad Gita, XV-15

When one lives life by the metaphysical qualities of the “heart”; by love, kindness, service, compassion – that is when awareness is fully exposed to oneself, as the one who lives by these qualities must do it consciously. And to do something consciously is the leveraging of the uniting reality; consciousness. Since consciousness is also the unborn source of existence (according to the Vedas), from it comes the physical world and its manifestations such as memory, knowledge, and forgetfulness. In a beautiful, almost paradox-like exclamation, Krishna tells us that the thing that causes us to see each other differently (memory – that which permits the mind to accrue its murkiness through experience) is sourced by the thing which unites us; consciousness. 

Imagine showing an amazonian tribe two wireless electronic devices; a smartphone and a camera. To them, it would seem that both are distinct artifacts. To us, we know it is simply an illusion they are experiencing as a consequence of a misapprehension of reality. They have mistaken the physical to be separate from that which powers it. In truth, both devices have been charged by the same power source. To the wise, the ignorant experience the illusion. And here please note that ignorant is taken to signify “un-knowing” and not “stupid” or “dull-minded”. 

In much the same way we are the ignorant tribesmen when we think the physical world is all there is; this is merely an illusion produced by the physical world which veils the reality that enlivens each human (awareness itself). A gold watch costs more than a plastic one, but both have its origins in the creative force of consciousness which have permitted both to exist. It is only us humans who have superimposed differential value upon them, causing an implicit veiling of their true nature which is one and the same.

To properly strive in spirituality, one must be made aware of the qualities achieved through it. One who achieves the state of spiritual perfection, according to Krishna, is defined by the following qualities;

Fearlessness, purity of the heart, steadfastness in spiritual knowledge, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of the sacred books, and straightforwardness. Harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, modesty, absence of fickleness. Vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of pride – these belong to the one born for the Divine Estate.

Krishna, Bhagavad Gita, XVI/1-3

Please see here that “harmlessness” does not mean “do not stand up for yourself when harm is being done to you” (a facile argument some make about the undue suggestions of non-violence in such a philosophy); but rather it means “avoid injuring others mentally or physically”, and take that as far as possible.

It is very clear here that “study of the sacred books” is the great suggestion to take up constant spiritual practice as part of one’s life. It need not be the Gita, but it need be. To get spiritual is crucial for discovering these divine qualities, understanding their value, and learning how to achieve them.

But to know the signs of a great spiritual being is insufficient; one must be able to spot the unspiritual nature in ourselves and others in order to identify the pain points needing adjustment. Here, Krishna proclaims the qualities of demoniac beings.

Hypocrisy, arrogance and self-conceit, anger and also harshness and ignorance, belong to one who is born for a demoniac-Estate… Filled with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride and arrogance, holding evil ideas through delusion, they work with impure resolves

Krishna, Bhagavad Gita, XVI/4, 10

Again here please do not confound the word “demoniac” with some superstitious, outlandish concept whose intent is to belittle the unspiritual. It merely represents the opposite term for the divine qualities. For those who have had first hand experience of people with such demoniac qualities, I beg of you to ascribe a more suiting adjective. When, for example, as a child, you sit weeping in your home terrified by the poisonous anger spat between parents, fearing for your future and well being, what other characterizer should we use?

Between the divine and the unspiritual, there is that hard choice to get spiritual. The philosophy of the Gita is not for the good, it is for those who struggle with bringing about peace in and around themselves. Perhaps through it the good can become good-er, but the intent of this text is to bring the disheveled and problematic among us to higher levels where tranquility, equipoise, and peacefulness reign.

For the sake and respect to this time-bound existence where we bear constant witness to the rude and futile reactivity in ourselves and those around us, take up the highest and get spiritual.