Friday, May 20, 2022

Sathya Sai Vahni - Post 38

 


 Self-liberation and fulfillment

 

It is the inescapable destiny of everyone to fulfill themself. Every living being has to attain fullness in the end. Each one is at present at a particular stage of this march, as a result of the activities engaged in during previous lives and the feelings entertained in the past. The future is being built by the activities being engaged in now and the feelings that urge and shape them. That is to say, what one does, feels, or thinks about at present are the basic reasons for the good or bad fortune that is in store.

The prompting to save oneself and the power to pull oneself up into liberation cannot be derived from books. This strength has to come from the individual himself. One can spend an entire lifetime scanning profoundly written books; one might earn the highest rank among intellectuals. 

But at the end of it all, one might not have attained even some little progress in the spiritual field. To conclude that a scholar who has reached the topmost height can therefore be considered ripe in spiritual wisdom will prove to be a great mistake. 

Scholars themselves might imagine, as they learn more and more from books, that they are progressing more and more on the spiritual path, but when they examine the fruit of their studies, they will recognize that though their intellects have become sharper and heavier, they have not been acquiring awareness of the Atma to the slightest degree.

Character: the core of spirituality

Many people have the skill to deliver wonderful discourses on spiritual subjects; but, really speaking, everyone has failed in living the life of the spirit, the highest Atmic life. What exactly is the reason for this sad state of affairs? 

 

Now, spiritual texts are studied to equip oneself with scholarship in the competitive race for superiority, to earn a livelihood, to pose oneself as an undefeatable upholder of some specific point of view, and generally to earn a reputation as a pundit. The scholar might write elaborate commentaries on the Gita. But, as a result of all that study, if in their character, behavior, and conduct the scholar does not prove that the Gita has soaked in, all that scholarly level  is but a burden to be carrying around. This is the lesson that Indian (Bharathiya) culture tries to impress.

The source from which this lesson emerges is the Guru, the soul (purusha) latent in you. The study of the scriptures and other texts can reinforce the spiritual urges already in you and induce you to practise the precepts. 

Don’t treat the learning you derive from them as so much fodder for the brain. It must be sublimated into bliss (ananda) for the individual. Envy, pompousness, egotism — such evil traits have to be driven out of the individual.

 

Love.

 

 



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