Purity
My dear fellow travelers in the Path,
1.
The showers of divine grace imperienced makes us
mute and we should with wisdom maintain the
silence and keep our communion with the Lord.
When I try to contemplate on the condition of
intimacy with the divine so kindly blessed to us
this day the thought of Purity overwhelms me.
Purity in the beginning, purity in the middle
and purity in the end if there is an end is all
that I can describe. Our Master Sri Ramchandraji
Maharaj has graphically described our normal
condition as being one in a spider’s web. Our
problem is how to come out of this web. Master
has suggested some methods for purifying
ourselves and be rid of the mesh into which we
got wired. As a rule we think that we are
walking, talking, sitting or interacting with
others. But the fact is that we are always in
the web physically and the prana sarira alone
provides all the power that we need for such a
supposed existence. It is to be clearly
understood that our thoughts and ideas are not
our real self and the reality is that we are
submerged in the mesh unable to wriggle out.
2.
The creation of God has purity of
intention and purity of expression as its warp
and woof. But human creation has self centered
intention and self centered expression as its
two coordinates. We think that the mesh or the
web is the reality; the moment we realise this
we have means to get out of the web and we
understand our true nature. Our individual
creation then starts getting destroyed and we
start living in the creation of God and our
intentions and expressions become purer and
simpler by the day. When develop perfect purity
in our intentions and expressions we are said to
be enlightened.
3.
The web into which we got entangled it is
obvious covers a wide range of planes from the
Annamaya kosa to Anandamaya kosa. Within this
web are the countless thoughts and emotions
based on lack of security and fear which we are
conditioned to accept as limitations that are
formidable. Our entire period of schooling
taught us that we have very little power. Even
that little power that we become aware of, we
are advised to delegate to such persons and
institutions who somehow claim to know more
about us than we do! In short we are swimming in
a negative environment and make our web more
dark and wriggled.
4.
Anyone who blindly accepts these
prevalent, negative thoughts will have his or
her life path dictated by the web. But those who
recognize that it is our collective thoughts and
beliefs that power the web will recognize the
way out. This principle alone governs the logic
of purification in this system of sadhana. When
we are born, we temporarily forget the higher
truth of who we are. Our life mission is to
remember and to connect with our innermost self,
so that we may transcend the web. Master has
made a very positive statement when he said that
we are all sailing towards our Homeland. Many of
us who may not be specifically focused on the
Homeland however recognize the need for a change
in the manner in which we live.
5.
There is a general awareness that the
reality we perceive with our senses is not the
true reality, but merely a small portion of
reality, masquerading as the whole. But, there
is no alternative reality to which we can run
and in fact there is no need to rebel against
this reality. Our goal should be to "be in this
world, but not of it." Those who are sensitive
understand that the outer world is a reflection
of our inner thoughts and beliefs, whether
individual or collective, which have been
conditioned by our experience in the web.
Consequently, the web is a learning environment
where we get feedback on how our thoughts
manifest. The grace of God is such that as a
rule our negative thoughts do not manifest
instantaneously. Otherwise, we would risk the
spontaneous destruction of our world by our
unfortunate habit of thinking negative thoughts.
However this does not permit any one to breed
scorpions and snakes of thoughts. We should
invariably and if possible incessantly think in
such a way that some good happens due to our
thoughts. That is we need to breed pure, pious
and divine thoughts always.
6.
Cleaning or purifying ourselves of
negative energies through daily meditation and
purificatory sessions can provide a direct link
to the "ultimate reality," i.e., the pure
consciousness residing within each of us. As our
negative beliefs are purified through regular
contact with the "light" of our divine nature,
unhealthy emotions, such as fear, hate and
anger, will naturally begin to diminish, and we
will be free to transcend to higher states of
consciousness. We will have the descending grace
of the Master more and more such that our true
self start vibrating in the higher planes of
consciousness, while simultaneously and
automatically attracting others of similar
vibration. Our world will become more
synchronistic with the divine. We will naturally
repel angry, fearful people, and those who stick
around will become calmer and more centered. We
will radiate love. By simply being in
consciousness governed by purity, we will have a
greater effect on the world than the most gifted
orators and political leaders.
7.
The higher and purer the consciousness in
which we live and our energies vibrate the
quicker and sooner our thoughts will manifest.
This is the basis of Pranahuti. Pranahuti
offered with purity of intention and ‘Will’
enables the recipient to move out of darker
spheres of consciousness in which he happens to
be. It is to be noted that when we align with
our innermost self, which is simple purity, we
get aligned more closely with the Master. At the
apex of our individual consciousness, we then
get connected with Master. We then have at our
disposal the entire universe to help us manifest
the highest good for all. That is what we call
living in Brahmand mandal.
8.
The purity of intention and ‘Will’ has a
direct bearing on our capacity to distinguish
between our thought and the thought of the inner
self or conscience. It is a well known fact that
the ability to think is a God-given gift to the
human beings. During our meditations in the
beginning and as we progress later in-day-to-day
life we learn to tap the inner core of our being
or Master and also learn to interpret the
intuitions that arise. However the tricky part
of this feature is our capacity to distinguish
between the voice of the Master and the voice of
our ego. As persons practicing PAM we do not
fall into the pit of confusing our ego with our
conscience; yet we may falter often. We many
times err thinking that our problems and enemies
are outside ourselves and vow to overcome them.
But the truth is everything we perceive in the
world is just the outer reflection of our inner
thoughts. The ultimate war is within us.
9.
The ego is an insulation we have created
for ourselves and a close knit thought pattern
resembling the thick weaving inside the web near
the core center and is essentially designed to
protect us from potential harm to our awareness
of being. As our focus increases towards it, it
grows and our attention span is entirely covered
by it. It is not necessarily an enemy to know
our true nature; but it can be compared to the
unruly child who wants what it likes when it
likes. The ego which liked to encircle itself
with so many strands of various colors and hues
tries always to stick to them and any harm to
them it considers is dangerous to its existence.
But that is precisely what we seek in the path
of liberation. Yet the demand for purification
that is willed by our conscience tends to get
ignored by it and it resorts to all gimmicks of
the child to avoid purification. Our individual
efforts many times we find are not sufficient
and the need for external help becomes
paramount.
10.
Even as an undisciplined child, our ego
needs to be guided by a competent person in this
effort. This is a necessary step in the
spiritual path at the stage of surrender where
we learn to hear the inner voice of the Master.
To talk of surrender without such a capacity to
hear the inner-voice of Master is not proper.
When we learn to distinguish between the voice
of our ego and the voice of the inner Master we
have moved considerable length in the path of
spirituality. For this purity in body and mind
in all aspects is the minimum requirement.
Without such a purity we cannot hear the Master
within. As a suggestion I may say that when we
are busy convincing ourselves that we are right,
we should know we are using our mind as a
debater. It may be logical but we should know
that it is not our highest source of wisdom.
11.
We can know the difference between our
voice and that of the Master by noting that the
voice of our ego is characterized by being
self-centered, self-aggrandizing, based on fear,
angry, rationalizing, complaining and reactive.
The voice of the Master is always humble,
loving, compassionate, peace promoting,
trusting, tolerant, merciful, forgiving and
grateful. Every day because of our meditational
practices and purification procedures we tend to
be purer and nearer to the Master and are
capable of living according to his directions.
When spiritual perfection happens in a person,
he cannot think or do anything without the
explicit sanction of the Master. Our Master has
lived such a life as we all know.
12.
The extent of purification we have been
able to achieve can be easily measured by the
serious aspirant. Every moment of every day, we
make a choice to listen to either our ego or our
Master. The more we identify with our Master,
the greater
our spiritual power and the faster things
manifest and we experience greater
synchronicities. Ultimately, we merge with our
higher self or Master. But it is not all that
simple. The game of life is rigged to give our
ego the edge. It demands clarity of purpose and
total dedication to the Master to change the
default setting and listen to the Master within.
It is obvious that the best time to be oriented
to the subtle and clear voice of the Master is
during meditation when our external
senses are shut down. I have never considered
making an important decision without meditating.
It is not wisdom to go the Supermarket without
checking our purse. As we learn to hear the
voice of the Master and intercommune with him we
do not solely rely on our intellect and are
capable of the wisdom to make a perfect
decision. Another sign that we are listening to
the Master within is that the answer we get
makes sense in more than one level of
understanding. The example of the market that I
suggested above is relevant to all the problems
we face in life and mutatis mutandis can be
applied to all situations and feel the intimate
presence of the Master. But I repeat it is
purity that matters; purity of intention and
purity of expression.
13.
Pranam
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