Question::
How to help others, spiritually?
(or)
What is “spiritual work”? What is the task of spiritual workers? Who can do “spiritual work”?
(or)
Why spiritual workers should not ignore “time”?
(or)
What sort of life can be attained through “spiritual work”?
(or)
How come we are all UNCONSCIOUS of our true nature as God?
(or)
Who created “differences” or “divisions” between people? How are these ‘divisions’ perpetuated?
Answer:
(Extracted from Meher Baba’s literature, which is a copyright of Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust(©AMBPPCT), Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, Bharat/India)
On the path, the most important condition of discipleship is– readiness to work for the spiritual cause of bringing humanity closer and closer to the realization of God.
Enough has been done to make people “food-minded”, now they must be made “God-minded”. The down-trodden and the poor must understand that– from the spiritual point of view, their ‘misfortunes’ and ‘miseries’ can be made into weapons in the struggle for truth. They should be helped to see that these ‘miseries’ can be counted as gifts from God and, if bravely and cheerfully faced, become the gateway to ‘eternal happiness’.
Because of its paramount importance in promoting the true well-being of humanity, “spiritual work” has a natural claim on all who love humanity. It is very necessary to be quite clear about its nature.
To review briefly the problem of the redemption of mankind as it has been set forth in the preceding parts of this work, the root-cause of the illusion of manyness lies in the soul’s identification with its ‘bodies’ or with the ‘ego-mind’. Both the gross and subtle bodies, as well as the ego-mind of the mental body are only media for experiencing the world of duality. They are not the media for knowing the true nature of the soul, which is above them all.
By identification with the ‘bodies’ or the ‘ego-mind’, the soul gets trapped in the delusion of manyness.
On the other hand, those very few who have cast off the ‘veil of duality’, experience the soul itself without confusing it with any medium or vehicle, and in this experience the soul consciously knows itself to be identical with God. In the realization of the truth of this oneness, life finds freedom from all limitation and suffering for it is the self-affirmation of the Infinite as infinity.
In this state of spiritual perfection, the ego-life has been finally and completely surrendered in the experiencing of the divine truth. God is known and affirmed as the only reality.
To realize God is to dwell in eternity. It is a timeless experience. But ‘spiritual work’ concerns itself with the souls who are caught in the complexity of a creation which is knit by time. Therefore, spiritual workers cannot afford to ignore the element of time and the importance of its flow in creation. To ignore it would be to ignore the spiritual work itself.
The task for spiritual workers is to help in the universal dispensation of truth to a suffering humanity. They have both to prepare humanity to receive this truth and become established in it, themselves.
The spiritual worker will be working for others who are inclined to create “divisions” where they do not exist and who will allow him no respite to recoup himself.
The minds of people have to be purged completely of all forms of ‘selfishness’ and ‘narrowness if they are to inherit life in eternity. It is by no means an easy task to persuade people to give up these traits. It is not by accident that people are divided into
- the rich and the poor,
- the pampered and the neglected,
- the rulers and the ruled,
- the leaders and the masses,
- the oppressors and the oppressed,
- the high and the low,
- the winners and the laurels and the recipients of ignominy.
These differences are created and sustained by the spiritually ignorant, who are so attached to difference that they are not even conscious of its perversity. They are accustomed to look upon life as divided into separate, watertight compartments and are unwilling to give up this ‘separative attitude’.
When the worker launches upon his ‘spiritual work’, he enters a field of divisions to which people cling desperately, which they accentuate and fortify, and which they strive CONSCIOUSLY or UNCONSCIOUSLY to perpetuate.
Mere condemnation of these divisions will not enable the worker to destroy them.
People must be won to the life of truth; they cannot be coerced into spirituality.
It is not enough for the worker to have ‘unimpaired friendliness’ and ‘untarnished good-will’ in his own heart. If he is to succeed in his work, he must give people the conviction that he is helping them to redeem themselves from ‘bondage’ and ‘suffering’, and to realize their rightful heritage of the highest. There is no other way to help them attain spiritual freedom and enlightenment.
To render spiritual help one should understand clearly the following four points::
1. Apparent descent to a lower level:
It may often be necessary to descend apparently to the level of those whom one is trying to help. Though one’s purpose is to raise people to a higher level of consciousness, they may fail to profit by what is said unless talk is in terms they understand. What is conveyed through “thought-feeling” should not go over their heads. They are bound to miss it unless it is adapted to their ‘capacity’ and ‘experience’.
However, while doing this, it is equally important not to lose one’s own level of understanding. “Approach” and “technique” will be changed gradually as those being aided– arrive at deeper and deeper understanding, and one’s own apparent descent to the lower level will be only temporary.
2. Spiritual understanding ensures well-rounded progress:
Life must not be divided into departments, which are then dealt with separately and successively. Departmental thinking is often an obstacle to integral vision. If one divides life into
- politics,
- education,
- morality,
- material advancement,
- science,
- art,
- religion,
- mysticism and
- culture,
and then thinks exclusively of only one of these aspects, the answers that are brought to life can be neither ‘satisfactory’ nor ‘final.’
If one succeeds however in awakening spiritual ‘inspiration’ and ‘understanding’, then progress in all these departments of life is bound to follow automatically. Spiritual workers will have to aim at providing a complete and real solution to all the personal and social problems of life.
3. Spiritual progress consists in the spontaneous growth of understanding from within:
Spiritual workers have also to remember that the spiritual wisdom which they wish to convey to others is already present in latent form and that it is only necessary to assist in unveiling that spiritual wisdom in them.
A Master is necessary for anyone to arrive at self-knowledge, but the true significance of the help given by the Master rests in his ability to enable another to come into the full possession of his own latent possibilities.
4. Some questions are more important than answers:
Spiritual workers must not lose sight of the real work which should be accomplished. When it is clearly understood that spiritual wisdom is latent in all, the worker will no longer be anxious to provide others with ready-made answers. In many cases, he will be content to set up a new problem or to clarify the nature of a problem already faced.
He may have done his duty if he asks someone a question in a practical situation which that person would not have asked himself. In some cases, the worker will have done his duty if he succeeds in putting another person in a ‘searching attitude’ so that he begins to understand and attack his problems along some more fruitful line.
The questions the worker may help to formulate should be neither theoretical nor unnecessarily complicated. If they are simple, direct, and fundamental, these questions will answer themselves and people will find their own solutions. Nevertheless, indispensable service will have been rendered for, without tactful intervention, the individual would not have arrived at the solution of his various problems from a spiritual point of view.
The spiritual workers necessarily is confronted by many obstacles, but obstacles are meant to be overcome. Even if some of them seem insuperable, he must do his best to help others, irrespective of ‘results’ or ‘consequences’.
Work must be performed without worrying about consequences, regardless of ‘success’ or ‘failure’. One may be sure that work done in this spirit and with this understanding yields inevitable results.
Through the untiring activities of spiritual workers, humanity will be initiated into the new life of
- abiding peace and dynamic harmony,
- unconquerable faith and unfading bliss,
- immortal sweetness and incorruptible purity,
- creative love and infinite understanding.
– Meher Baba
Source::
Listen Humanity, Pg:: 192- 196
© AMBPPCT, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India/Bharat
