THE COMPLEMENTARY PATHWAYS TO LIBERATION The highest blessings are received by those who offer their all and ask for nothing in return, not by those who ask for all and offer nothing. True devotion is an act of offering not receiving. The highest offering to Guruji is to surrender to His grace by submitting to His will while renouncing all desires and the attachment to the ego-based illusory self. We do not need to acquire new skills or perform complex tasks to appease God. We do not need to perform elaborate rituals of worship to propitiate God. We do not need ostentatious displays or a show of exuberance to attain God. What we need is purity. Dissolution of ego is the necessary first step to attaining purity. Only pure devotion can lead to union with God and grant eternal communion with the ultimate divine consciousness. Pure devotion leads to intense divine love or Bhakti. Worldly devotion is based on the fulfillment of desires. It is contaminated with the impurities of pride, egoism, vanity, arrogance and greed. True devotion or bhakti is imbued with the goodness and purity of satva and leads to the development of divine traits in the bhakt or devotee. Bhakti is pure selfless love with a preponderance of satva. It is devoid of any desires or expectations. Bhakti Yoga is the most efficacious path of pure, perfect, blissful devotion that culminates in spiritual union with the Supreme Spiritual Being. The intense devotional relationship that is formed through bhakti is so potent that it ultimately transmutes the true bhakt or devotee into a divine being. Bhakti is the highest form of divine love and the Lord confers unconditional love, immediate attention and constant protection on His true bhakts or devotees. However, Bhakti Yoga is not feasible for those who still bear the impurities of rajas and tamas and have not been able to dissolve their ego or renounce their desires for material gain and attachments to worldly enjoyments. Karma Yoga is the ideal starting point for those who have not attained purity yet. Karma Yoga is the path of karmic purification. Karma Yoga is the performance of actions without desire or attachment to the fruits of the actions. It is the performance of enjoined actions for ones station in life. It is the performance of actions according to ones natural attributes and abilities, but without desire, attachment and impure motives. With the sustained practice of Karma Yoga, past sins are dissolved over time and purification is attained. Only then does one become eligible for Gyan Yoga or the attainment of transcendental knowledge of the Supreme Being. Once purity has been established and the consciousness has become pure, only then does the ultimate transcendental knowledge emanate. With the attainment of this knowledge, the ego-based false sense of individuality and all notions of separation and duality disappear from the consciousness. The realisation of the absolute truth is achieved. The absolute truth is that the indwelling Supreme Spirit that abides within us, is beginningless, eternal, omnipotent, all-pervading, all-encompassing, indestructible and imperishable.The entire created universe is an outward expansion of the Supreme Being Every object of creation whether animate or inanimate, is born out of the union of spirit and matter. Spirit is the higher energy of the Supreme Being, material nature is His lower energy and is completely subservient to Him. The Supreme Being abides in every unit of creation and all created beings and objects of creation abide in the Supreme Being. The Supreme Being, in its formless aspect, is ultimately pure consciousness or light. In this purest, most subtle form, the Supreme Being can only be described as Sat-Chit-Anand. Sat - the eternal absolute truth Chit - the ultimate consciousness Anand - the perfect divine bliss. The realisation of the Supreme Being imparts the eternal experience of Sat-Chit-Anand. Those of us who were lucky enough to have been in Gurujis divine presence, have experienced how He transmitted His spiritual energy to those who congregated before Him. His spiritual powers radiated out of Him and transformed those who were in close proximity, such that, purification ocurred spontaneously, dissolution of ego ocurred naturally and the veil of Maya was lifted, even if momentarily. But, unfortunately, the transformation that was induced, was not always permanent in the case of all individuals. How long it lasted would depend on the spiritual level of the person, their level of commitment to making spiritual progress and the degree to which they were under the influence of Maya, which would put them in a state of ignorance and delusion, once again. Only those with a preponderance of satva in their nature were able to renounce their ego-based false identity and overcome their desires and attachments to worldly pleasures. Only they were able to remain established in purity. On the other hand, those who were alienated from their true divine nature and entangled with the objects of their desires, succumbed easily to the deluding mechanism of Maya. Those who want to attain moksha or absolute liberation need to transform themselves permanently. However, permanent transformation can only occur when there is an abiding commitment to making spiritual progress through self-purification and self-effort. The divine principles of spiritual living need to be consciously and consistently practised and perfected. There has to be an intense yearning for the soul to be released from the captivity of phenomenal existence. These are essential requirements for those who want to transcend the influence of Maya permanently. Finally, the grace of Guruji is needed to attain ultimate liberation from the phenomenal world and the perpetual cycle of birth, death and relentless suffering. Thus, the complementary paths of Karma Yoga, Gyan Yoga and Bhakti Yoga all lead to liberation but in the end, divine help or the grace of a Sadguru is required to completely trancend the influence of Maya which acts as an insurmountable obstacle to liberation.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 09:21:11 +0000