Miscellaneous - Religion   

Spiritual evolution

CHENNAI : The spirit of renunciation is the basis of Bhakti, Jnana and Karma yogas expounded by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. The arduousness of the path of renunciation itself is a big hurdle to seekers of the highest knowledge and only those who are determined can qualify for this.

A spiritual seeker cannot be content with mere knowledge but has to understand this knowledge in terms of one's experience, so that it is experientially realised, said Sri N. Veezhinathan in a lecture. In the process of spiritual evolution it becomes clear that any knowledge from any source is useless if it does not help one to realise the ultimate truth. Once this transcendental knowledge is attained, one remains steady in one's convictions.

One who possesses transcendental knowledge is a realised soul steeped in God and remains absolutely self-controlled. To such a person, mundane scholarship or academic knowledge has no value. He is not drawn to anything worldly for the mind no longer delights in the objects of the world. He regards a stone or a jewel with the same eye. He remains unaffected with the changes — good and evil, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, honour and dishonour, etc. This is because he understands the transient nature of the world.

A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all — well-wisher, friend, enemy, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial — with an equal mind. He who understands that while in embodied form the soul is part of the universal self, and remains devoted to the Lord and works for the welfare of the people is a perfect Sanyasi.

When Sage Vasishta taught young Lord Rama the essentials of the highest knowledge — the nature of existence, the relationship of the individual soul and God, the value of pious company, etc., — he stressed that engaging in Karma Yoga in the proper spirit is the process by which the mental maturity of renunciation can be cultivated.

Performance of one's ordained duties in a detached attitude and dedicating all to God is required.

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