the spiritual journey

Most of our actions have some habit or emotional impulse at their source and could be better classified as reactions.

However, conscious action is determined and directed by our thought and this has two aspects at work. The lower mind or Manomaya Kosha deals with material and concrete issues and is most active in Concentration on a material focus. The higher mind or Vijnanomaya Kosha deals with abstract principles and is more involved in Meditation.

We need a clear thinking, a rational lower mind or a concrete mind that considers black and white as very definite tools to measure right and wrong, good and bad, to evaluate and make decisions before any action.

We need the higher mind to help our understanding of ideologies and help our dreams, ideals, plans and promises of better things and equip us for self-discipline, spiritual aspiration and free access to our intuition.

Both aspects of the mind must be integrated before much can be experienced satisfactorily in meditation. And fruitful meditation inevitably leads to right action. Action is the material testing ground of the spirit. So from the heights and delights of extended and expanded higher psychic awareness in meditation, we must return to the physical or lower plane of consciousness to demonstrate our spiritual strength and skill in practical matters through our actions.

Sowing and reaping seeds of our actions, we go from incarnation to incarnation. It is only through conscious, spiritualized action that we can graduate from the school of birth, death, and rebirth with its repeated negative cyclical experiences, and move confidently into the early stages of the journey along the beaten path that others have trodden to achieve it. reach spiritual fulfillment and freedom.

The term “The Spiritual Journey” implies that we are going somewhere. We don’t sit back and become wise human beings. We must walk forward and strive and we must see that there is a goal in both spiritual and material achievement.

Amidst the many life experiences encountered along what could be considered a mountain climb, we seek regular glimpses of the pinnacle that represents Power for Supreme Good and the height of our aspiration. In Yoga is to fully develop as a creative and intelligent human being. This can be understood as the general goal, but it requires the embellishment of our imagination to awaken in us an intense desire for the highest level that a human being can reach. What can help us is our quiet consideration of our heroes, gurus, and teachers until we come to our own concept of what constitutes the ideal human being.

The lower mind requires a strong and clear image or picture of ourselves, as we would like to become, if it is to serve as a beacon amid practical disciplines and provide a reference for our actions. It also helps us hold back when we are about to react. The liberation of the soul from the limitations of the personality comes with the liberation of the habitual reaction to allow the conscious will to direct a course of action that the individual considers suitable.

A sound mind is required before consciously attempting the spiritual journey and a degree of independence of thought and feeling. We are also reminded in all the teachings that we must use the fundamental faculty of discrimination. Discrimination is the ability of a cunning personality to use the black and white square of reasoning to assess the true nature of things: being able to assess good and evil, constructive and destructive influences, and other pairs of opposing qualities.

But the most important thing is the need for a Loving Heart, without which the first step into the future cannot be taken with confidence.

Then, properly equipped, we can begin that journey full of adventures. It is then, too, that we begin to experience the most serious trials and tribulations of life. These trials are experienced in the midst of everyday life and circumstances, as well as in the recesses of one’s own consciousness. It is better never to wish to escape or avoid these trials. Face them with courage and honesty having absolute faith that the Law of life is fair and just and take refuge in that Law.

Along the way we know that the landscapes of our circumstances will change, that there will be hills and valleys, rivers to cross, unexpected situations around a corner, new companions, new adventures and new delights. We will have unknown challenges to face, as well as those already on our path, and we face the ever-present enemy of our own fatigue and limited stamina.

One is tested for courage and love of life, strength, abilities and talents, love and compassion, sense of responsibility, loyalty, application to hard work, sense of justice, determination in the face of obstacles, awareness of the Laws of Nature applied to man, independence, kindness and service to others, leadership, sense of brotherhood, generosity and, lastly, the capacity for sacrifice.

Each of us must go through each of these tests, through which we come to realize our own abilities and spiritual potential. We must overcome all temptations to abuse, waste or waste our energies and talents and be tested to the fullest until we are truly free on the mountaintop, free from the need to incarnate to polish our nature and free to choose to graduate. from the terrestrial school of life or remain to teach others by our own direct experience.

Spiritual growth is like the journey of the prodigal son back home to the Father. It is like the child returning to its Father, but as a miniature or microscopic energy reflection of our Source, the macrocosm. We discover our place in the grand scheme of things.

In each life or incarnation we take 7 years to equip the body so that the karmic law is fulfilled, so at 7 years we are responsible for our actions of the body. In the next 7 year period we develop the emotional nature and at 14 we are responsible for the emotional expression of the soul. From the 14th to the 21st we are developing full control of the mind and intellect to complete our equipment for the expression of life and we are responsible to the lords of Karma for our thoughts. At 21, the soul is fully equipped, should it choose to embark on its spiritual journey fully clothed in its sheaths or garments of consciousness, alone and self-assured.

One can only know life or come to know God through direct experience. And so each soul seeks more experience to learn the meaning of life for itself and thus relate to others. The aspirant eagerly advances down a path to a future knowing that he will ultimately lead him to death when the time is right for the next stage of the spirit’s journey.

When the final earthly attainment and liberation is reached, when the goal is reached and the individual throws off the garments of his many lives, what happens to the soul, where does it go? These and many more questions remain to be answered.

But what would you ultimately seek on your spiritual journey beyond ‘graduation’ from this earthly school?

From a short speech at a National Yoga Convention Vision Valley, NSW 1975 by Sally E. Janssen