By Viloo Homi Adajania

 

There are spiritual teachings on how to cultivate, for instance, the virtues of patience and tolerance, but ultimately, we learn by trial and error. We can refer to books and read everything there is to learn about religions, philosophies and spiritual practices. But learning alone is of no help. Even if we possess all the knowledge, we can make fundamental mistakes. One can learn only by trials and tribulations. The idea is to make a man realize that it is tragedy that ennobles him, chastens him, makes him accept reality, and in the process, betters him increasingly, as he progresses in his soul’s journey.

Madame H P Blavatsky (Co-Founder of the Theosophical Society) has very wisely said, “The power to know does not come from book-study nor from philosophy, but mostly from the actual practice of altruism in deed, word and thought”. There’s a wealth of wisdom in these words. Those who sincerely practice altruism, or deeds arising out of unselfish concern for others, gain the ‘power to know’. They may not be academically advanced, or possessing various degrees, but by dint of the practice of altruism in their ways of daily living and behaviour (humility, modesty, patience, tolerance, readiness to be helpful to others, truthfulness, etc.), they have moved towards the growth of their spiritual selves faster than the rest who are more self-centred, egoistic, arrogant and intolerant. The progress of the latter is naturally at a much slower pace.

Of course, all good qualities cannot come all at one time. These come gradually, as one progresses on one’s soul’s journey and the spiritual awareness keeps increasing slowly. This brings about psycho-spiritual growth with the resultant changes in one’s consciousness. One makes the best efforts to live within the moral framework of good thoughts, good words and good deeds and treads the Right Path always. Man becomes worthy of God’s Higher Blessings for his sincere efforts. These Blessings are akin to premonitions – bringing flashes of foretelling and forewarning of coming events of importance. Others experience flashes of inner enlightenment and clarity of thought.

Despite much goodness and blessings, spiritual perfection can still remain an incomplete process of becoming, because a soul’s true purification could take many births. During the inter-birth period a soul is given the required time to recoup. It then incarnates in a suitable environment to get enough chances to excel in qualities and virtues which it needs to develop. Man undergoes this long process till such time as he is fully worthy of being ‘liberated’ from his physical finite self.

After the long and arduous journey that a soul undertakes, the good and bad experiences that he goes through with patience and tolerance, the hard lessons of life that he learns and imbibes during the course of his journey – all these efforts are for the hidden desire of the Final Great Fulfilment, that is, ‘True Spiritual Perfection and Knowledge’, so that thereby he would be liberated from the cycle of birth and death and would reach the divine realm above – the world of the ‘Great All’! Madame Blavatsky has said, “True spiritual perfection and knowledge is the complete identification of our finite selves with the Great All.”

When a soul reaches the world of the Great All, it works along with other souls for the sake of the whole world. As need arises in the world for help, requiring prompt divine attendance, as invisible helpers, they reach out to help in their own way. In some cases, they even manifest in physical bodies. Such liberated souls take birth on earth to fulfill a special worldly mission assigned to them. These live a ‘soul-conscious’ life in the divine realm. They consider themselves ‘Spiritual Creations of Light’, with the spiritual world as their original home and final destination. They are a part of and will once again be one in friendship with the Supreme Divine.

This makes us all aware of the final goal of our lives. We have to work towards this goal. This work must be taken up on a large scale as part of the education of humanity. In the words of Smt. Radha Burnier, Past International President of the Theosophical Society (Madras): “Although it is necessary to bring about reforms to all areas of social structure, most of all, change is needed in the human heart. This is not as difficult as it may appear. It can be achieved by a new thrust in education which inculcates respect and sensitivity to the needs of others. The future world culture must necessarily embody an ethos of compassion and a concern for peace.”