Hindu Article

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Stages in spiritual evolution

31-12-1997 :: Pg: 24 :: Col: c

CHENNAI, Dec. 31.

A spiritual aspirant has to go through four distinct stages in his quest

of

Self-discovery. The first and foremost among them is the discovery that

life

in the world cannot be undiluted joy and that even those who lead an

apparently happy life will be visited by problems at some time. Those who

have had their share of problems in life are perhaps better attuned mentally

to spiritual life, but, even they rarely get to the root of their sorrows.

Disillusioned with their suffering such people generally blame external

factors for their troubles and take steps to rectify and control these

agents

which they presume are the cause of their suffering. It is a rare intelligent

person who discovers after much deliberation that the problem lies within

himself. Samsara (life in the world) is a mixed blessing. There is no way

one can lead a life of undiluted joy in the material world. Till a person

realises that the root of all his problems lies within himself he spends

all his

energy in rectifying the external factors.

In his lecture on the Bhagavad Gita Swami Paramarthananda said, after the

discovery that the problem was with himself the aspirant progressed to

the

next stage in which he realised his helplessness to overcome his problem.

The transition from this to the third stage takes place when the aspirant

realising that he will not be able to find a solution on his own, seeks

the

help of another who is equipped to help him.

This is referred to as surrender (Saranagati) and though it appears to

be

easy, it is not. It requires a tremendous amount of intellectual honesty

and

humility to take this step. However well- accomplished and educated one

may be, these do not equip one to tackle one's problems which belong to

another dimension altogether. The final stage is acquiring spiritual

knowledge from a Guru who is well-versed in the scriptures and is a

realised person.

Vyasacharya in the introductory chapter of the Gita portrays the transition

of a spiritual aspirant through these distinct stages through Arjuna's

predicament. Arjuna tries to avert the possibility of the death of his

kith and

kin in the war for which he would be instrumental by refusing to fight.

After Lord Krishna counselled him he was still doubtful for he was not

totally convinced. In the spiritual context this is considered better than

the

previous stage when he made a wrong decision of throwing away the arms

and refusing to fight. When an aspirant proceeds to the stage when he has

doubts it is a mark of spiritual evolution because his mind now becomes

receptive to advice and spiritual knowledge.