TOWARDS PERFECTION

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Towards Perfection

By Swami Sivananda

It is the need for the coordination of our thoughts with the higher life, the

communion of our ideas with higher ideals, that is behind our love for

spiritual values, our interest in religious matters, our desire for holy

association and studies. This noble purpose consists in our aspiration for

moving towards a higher life which transcends and comprehends whatever we

normally experience in the material plane.

It is the aspiration to grow, to evolve, to direct oneself to a transcendent

ideal which is at once real at the time of its experience. It goes without

saying that we have a background of our thoughts which decided our motives, and

that background determines the nature of our aspiration. It determines the

nature of the goal to which our aspiration directs us.

To put it concisely, we have a consciousness of the difference between the

nature of our present condition and the nature of the ideal which we have

before us. This consciousness of the distinction between the two levels of life

has arisen in us on account of various factors. Purvapunya or the results of the

meritorious deeds which we have done in previous births is one of the factors

which has caused the rise of this consciousness in us, the consciousness of the

existence of a higher life and the inadequacy of the present life.

Discrimination and Dispassion

This we call in a technical term Viveka, a dissatisfaction with the superficial

experience that we have in the material level, and a glimpse, indistinct though

it may be, of the presence of the higher life. Together with this consciousness

of the presence of the higher ideal, this aspiration for living the higher

life, a distaste is created in us, however temporary or unsubstantial, for what

is incongruous with the nature of that higher ideal. We call this distaste

Vairagya or dispassion.

An intense passion for the Real, a burning aspiration to realize the ultimately

existent Being, includes the withdrawal of the natural consciousness of the

visible objects of this world. Viveka and Vairagya come together. The one is

the natural concomitant of the other. We have made an unconscious analysis of

experience within our minds which has caused the rise of Viveka. When this

analysis becomes conscious, it becomes a direct step in Sadhana.

An unconscious spiritual urge is felt as the result of conscious meritorious

deeds, which we have done in our past lives. We might have had some spiritual

awareness in our previous lives also, and we might have thought over the

problems of life and aspired for a solution. The present life is only a

continuation of the past life. It is not a new life that we are leading now

abruptly with a fresh beginning, but it is the continuation of a series. It is

just one rung in the ladder of evolution.

Conscious Analysis

The purpose of the spiritual aspirant, therefore, is to make this unconscious

analysis a conscious one. The conscious analysis begins with the perception and

experience of what is immediately presented to us. We understand what it is that

is immediately brought before our senses. We take for granted the reality of

what our senses perceive. We see this physical world. We see our own selves as

situated here as contents of this world. We are parts of this cosmos, this

universe, this world.

It does not require much time for you to understand that you are in the midst of

others, because that perception which you have of yourself is immediate,

non-relational. This knowledge does not stand in need of any external proof.

The proof of the existence of an object outside is direct sense perception. You

say, "Here is a person sitting before me", because you see him directly,

perceive him and observe him through your senses which carry great

authenticity.

Our present life is based on sense perception. We are said to live, therefore,

in a sense-world, a world that is presented to us by our senses. We do not

question the authenticity of the experience that is brought to us by the

senses, because we have identified to such an extent our consciousness with

form of the perception in which the objects in this world are presented to us

or with which they come to us, to our consciousness. This is the basis of all

philosophical and spiritual analysis, the analysis of the experiencing

consciousness.

The common man with is common sense takes for granted the validity of his

experience in this world. I see this world. Well; here is the object. The world

is here, and I have to make use of it. I have to live in the world by adjusting

and adapting myself to the environments, so that I may fulfill the purpose

which is in my mind, as the ideal to be realized. Different people have

different conceptions of the ideal of life. But this is gross perception which

takes the sense-world as ultimately real. It is the lowest form of perception

that we have, because it is the perception of the gross physical universe of

which our body is a part, a content.

Spiritual Aspiration

The spiritual aspirant is endowed with a special higher consciousness of the

existence of something absolutely real, which is above this experience which we

receive through our senses. This aspiration for the Real is ingrained in the

consciousness of the spiritual aspirant; only it gets intensified when he

approaches the Guru, a spiritual preceptor, and receives the higher initiation

from him, but it is present there in him even before he approaches the Guru.

Else, he would not have had the inclination to go to the spiritual Guru at all.

He feels the need for a higher knowledge. He feels the need for his being guided

by a spiritual teacher. That means he has already had within himself the rise of

this consciousness of a trans-empirical life. It is in the seed state. It has to

come to the state of a sprout, a plant and a tree later on, through the grace of

the spiritual teacher, and through the grace of God.

Now with this aspiration, with this consciousness of the existence of a higher

spiritual ideal, the aspirant begins his analysis in the light of the teachings

of the Guru. It is the spiritual teacher who guides him in the process of this

analysis. What is the form which this analysis takes? It is the analysis of his

own self because the one object which is said to have doubtless existence is

one’s own self.

One may doubt anything in this world, but one cannot doubt one’s existence. All

philosophical speculation, all aspiration, all endeavor, begin with this

consciousness of the existence of one’s self. But here comes the distinction

between the awareness which a spiritual aspirant has in regard to his existence

and the one which the ordinary man has in regard to himself.

Perception

The objects which are seen in the world are considered by the common man to be

existing outside his body and senses, and he feels that a copy, as it were, of

the objects is experienced by him in his mind. The object itself does not enter

his eye or the ear, but there is a transmission of vibration from that object,

which his consciousness becomes aware of, which becomes a content of his

consciousness, and on account of which he happens to know the existence of the

physical object.

It is only the spiritual aspirant endowed with a higher discrimination that can

question the validity of this form of experience. You see a person. But how do

you do this? You may say that because you have got eyes. An aspirant will not

be satisfied with that answer, if only he has that higher intellect, because he

wishes to know what actually is the process by which he is enabled to be aware

of another’s existence. One may say that there is a vibration, as it were,

emanating from the object outside and becoming a content of one’s

consciousness, but one must go deeper into these problems, for even the

possibility of such a vibration has to be explained.

You see so many objects in the world, so many forms, but how are you to be sure

of their existence? No one puts this question to himself, because he is already

certain as to the nature of experience. It is only the spiritual aspirant who

doubts this situation. Is it true that one has a consciousness of real

existence?

Subject-Object Relation

Now, take for granted that you are having a consciousness of real things. How do

you know these to be real things? The obvious answer is: through the senses.

What is the connection that the senses have with the objects outside? Nobody

seems to know this, because there appears to be no relation at all, no contact

between the sense organs and the objects outside.

If there is no sense-contact at all, how can you be aware of your existence

here? You may see a person several feet apart from you, and you are aware of

his existence, without your coming in contact with him in any way. You may say

that light waves travel from you and contact the retina of the other person’s

eyes. That is true, but the object is not brought and kept in your eyes. The

object is outside. Even to have an image of the object in your consciousness,

you must have some kind of intrinsic relation with that object.

No one will think for a moment that it is possible to have contact with an

external object without involving in that contact a subtle relation, whatever

the nature of that relation be. It is true that we have some kind of contact

with external world, though it may not always be a physical contact. There is a

kind of relation which is intelligible in its nature. Otherwise the object

cannot become a content of your intelligent nature.

You know that objects which have dissimilar characteristics cannot commingle

each other and become one. For example, a rod of steel cannot be mixed with

milk, for the two are possessed of dissimilar characteristics. Water and milk

get mixed with each other, because they have a similar character. What is the

nature of your consciousness which becomes aware of the presence of objects

outside? It is spiritual.

It appears to be ethereal, pervasive; otherwise it cannot comprehend the object

outside; and if your spiritual nature, the intelligent nature, should be aware

of the existence of the object outside, there should be something in that

object which is similar to the consciousness that you have in you. In other

words, there should be a spiritual element in the object that you see outside.

Connecting Link

If you deny the existence of any spiritual element in the object perceived, you

must admit that your consciousness, too, is physical in nature. That means your

physical being is coming in contact with the physical object. You are not

physically in contact with whom you see at all, and yet your are aware of his

presence. It is a non-physical relation that enables you to be aware of the

other’s existence. It has to be accepted that there is a non-physical relation

in knowledge. This non-physical relation is psychological, empirically, but

ultimately spiritual.

Even from the empirical viewpoint, we have to define the word ‘psychological.’

What is meant by ‘psychological relation’? You may say: ‘mental relation.’ And

what is the nature of the mind? Is it physical? If it is physical, it should be

inert, and it cannot be then conscious of the existence of the world outside.

The mind should be endowed with an intelligent nature.

Here we are concerned only with the intelligent nature of the person, for all

perception refers to an intelligence. This intelligence is responsible for the

perception of the world outside. The intelligent nature should be present in

the object also; else your intelligent nature cannot be in contact with it and

you may not be aware of the existence of the outside world.

Now the question would arise: Taking for granted that there is a spiritual or

intelligent element in the outside object also, where is the need for positing

a relation between the seer and the seen? The need is felt when we become aware

of the fact that perception is impossible without a relation, and if perception

is a fact, relation is a fact, and if relation is a fact, it must be

intelligent, spiritual.

(This article appeared in the February 2002 issue of 'The Divine Life' magazine)

 

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