Spiritual Growth Articles

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The play of the three Gunas is active at all times in the life we live here. We may believe that the aspiration, or an act of consecration overcomes this play, but if we examine closely we can see that, in actuality, even the quality of our sadhana, our spiritual effort, is very much controlled and governed by whichever guna is predominant at a particular time, and they continue to fluctuate, moving us from one ‘mood’ to another along with these fluctuations.

The way we respond to setbacks or difficulties is conditioned by how deeply we are embedded in the ego-consciousness. The individual ego judges everything from its own very limited viewpoint. What it interprets as a negative result or as an obstacle may actually be part of the larger process of change that human nature is undergoing. The pressure of the outer circumstances provides the impetus for change.

We go wherever we focus our attention. If we focus our attention on difficulties, we wallow in those difficulties. If we focus our attention on growth and development, then we draw to ourselves those opportunities that support that growth. There are examples. Certain traditions make the rooting out of what they consider to be ‘sins of the flesh’ through extremes of discipline or even self-punishment through use of whips, hair shirts and the cilice.

When the spiritual seeker begins to recognise all of the difficulties and obstacles in his own exte al being, and understands the need to reduce and remove these obstacles if there is to be any permanent and major progress, he may begin by struggling with the desires, the movements that arise, the thoughts that harass his mind. There is no end to these difficulties, so if he becomes fixated on them, he can distract himself from the transformational work of shifting his focus to the spiritual realms and the energy that they make available.

Most people simply “live” their lives and carry out whatever feeling, mood or impetus may be impacting them at the moment. They “become” that movement, whether it is happiness and joy, hunger, anger, ennui, fatigue, or some concentrated state of mind, etc. Their awareness, their conscious existence is totally wrapped up in those movements of energy in their being. Few are those who feel a degree of ‘separation’ such that they can actually observe these changes of moods with conscious awareness and recognise the causal links, the situational causes and their reactions.

We make resolutions to change certain behaviours. Our minds are made up. We are certain that we can make the needed change. Many people make ‘new year’s resolutions’ to change something, perhaps to lose weight, to discontinue some habit, to avoid expressing anger, or some other intention we have, such a to be a more forgiving person, to express love and good will towards others more often, etc.

What we see in others in many cases is a mirror to what we contain within ourselves. We understand what is taking place because we are able to receive the vibration and internalize it and translate it into something that resonates in our being. In Western psychology there is a concept called ‘projection’ whereby someone ‘projects’ onto another person those traits, qualities, motives or actions which one has within oneself, whether openly visible or latent.

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We spend most of our lives fixated on the exte al life we are living, including our internal reactions to that life, such as our feelings, desires, sense impressions, thoughts, ideas, motivations and physical comforts and discomforts (among other things). We focus on earning our livelihood, building relationships, raising families, dealing with various crises that arise in our lives, and dealing with the demands of the outer life generally. From morning to evening we are occupied with these things, and then we carry them with us into our times of rest, recreation and sleep.

Virtually everyone has had the experience, at some point or another of finally overcoming a particularly difficult internal issue, whether it is the force of desire, or not responding with anger to things that do not go as anticipated, or any number of other activities that take place in the physical, the vital or the mental elements of the being; and then, when one is feeling satisfied that a real progress has been made, there is a circumstance that demolishes that sense of accomplishment with a recognition that one has once again given in to the impulsion or the provocation and repeated what

When we are confronted with difficulties, we employ several different types of responses, mainly depending on instinct, habit, training and the play of the three Gunas, the qualities of Nature, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. Sometimes we respond with more effort, sometimes we lapse into depression and sometimes we take a longer-range view and accept the process and the necessary time.

As long as we identify ourselves with our exte al personality, the body-life-mind complex we inhabit and project into the world, we are subject to the responses, reactions and motivations that they express, based on the developments of the entire past evolutionary history of consciousness on the planet and specifically closely associated with the socialization we receive through family, friends, school, and the society at large. We internalize these things to such a degree that we believe we ARE these things!

There is a dynamic that frequently occurs when an individual starts to actively take up the yogic path. At a certain stage of development, the need to bring peace into the being, and the need for a calm, quiet energy to support the practice of meditation may take center stage. At that point, the seeker may take steps to minimize exte al contacts, create a quiet space, and increase the time spent in meditation and study. The active impulse of participation in exte al affairs recedes.

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Modern day civilization emphasizes some kind of exte al 'result' that can be measured. Most frequently this is tied to a monetary value, but the world also appreciates and honors, in some cases, those who do humanitarian work, those who lead countries or fight wars, those who create new products, services or methodologies. Scientists are frequently honored for their groundbreaking discoveries. Religious leaders are frequently appreciated for their moral leadership.

It is one thing to adopt, in one’s mind, the idea that since the Divine is doing the work, we need simply accept the idea and let things take their course. It is an entirely different thing if we actually want to accomplish the transformation needed to bring about a change in human nature based on evolutionary growth and development. There is a long debate about whether we have ‘free will’ or whether everything is determined by fate, or destiny, dependent origination or karmic consequence. The mind wants to have a simple solution that tends to be either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, ‘black’ or ‘white’.

When an individual takes up the spiritual quest, he tends to accept certain principles of action which, by definition, contradict the values, principles and life-actions of his past experience. In many cases this causes a considerable amount of doubt and conce as he tries to overlay his present value-set onto the past, and judge the past based on his present understanding. Of course, in every person's past there are numerous actions which can be called up before the mind's eye which do not meet this test.

Whether we term it divine Will, synchronicity, coherence, quantum entanglement, cause and effect, dependent origination, karma, or the law of attraction (or any other terminology), there remains a truth that the specific time, place and circumstance we occupy in the world is due to a stream of energy interacting with other streams in a coordinated pattern that carries out the intention of the universal manifestation.

We spent a considerable amount of our time rehashing events and actions that are past, analyzing them, worrying about whether we have done things correctly or not, and reflecting on how we might deal with similar events in the future in a better way. We recount what happened during our day to our close companions. If we reflect for a moment on how much time, energy and focus is spent in looking back at what we have recently done, not to speak of circumstances long in our past, we can easily understand the amount of time and energy spent is enormous.

The spiritual aspirant necessarily has to change the way things have been historically and habitually done in the world if he is to make progress and move beyond the limitations imposed by the body-life-mind complex and all the traditions, rituals, habits, fixed ideas and vital-emotional responses that make up the current state of human life and society.

There are implications for anyone accepting the mission to work toward the evolutionary change of human nature, speeded up by the yogic process. We think we should somehow have amazing spiritual experiences, and live in a world of peace, sunshine and joy. The reality is likely to be far different.

People have an inner ‘commentary’ and ‘sound track’ going on virtually constantly in their heads. The ‘sound track’ may be a piece of music they heard which keeps repeating in their minds, what is colloquially called an ‘ear worm’. It may also be something of far less enjoyment such as a constant ringing in the ears, tinnitus, that can drive people eventually to distraction, disrupt sleep and rest, and make the individual tired and irritable.

Successful people, in whatever field, tend to highlight their ability to keep going. They indicate that no matter how many times one falls, one must get up, or in the local vernacular, ‘keep on keeping on’. Reactiveness, an inability to hold one’s peace under provocation, is considered to be a sign of vital weakness. People who have cultivated vital strength tend to be able to bear much without expressions of anger, without lashing out, without crying or otherwise evidencing signs of distress.

There are many methods that have been tried to shift ideas, thoughts, motives and actions in the world. Some of these methods involve subtle, or not so subtle, use of various forms of propagandizing, proselytizing, sermonizing, or dominating others through use of covert or overt force, including brute physical force, vital force, economic force or mental force. There are also those who harness what we may call a religious force or a patriotic force or a force of ‘belonging’ to a particular group, at a broader level.

As long as an individual is rooted in his own ego-standpoint, he sees and interprets things from that standpoint and cannot, by definition, ‘see things as they are’ in the wider creation. There is the famous story of 5 different observers of a traffic accident, each one observing from a different standpoint. They came up with 5 different versions of what had happened.

Complete sincerity, inwardly and outwardly, is something that does not generally happen ove ight. There are too many habits, instncts and trained responses that control the way the exte al nature responds to expect that the mental, vital and physical elements of the being will not only accept the spiritual focus and aspiration, but be able to respond and integrate it into the actual events and circumstances of the outer life.

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A devotee by the name of Satyakama Jabala approached a respected Guru, in a story related in the Chhandogya Upanishad. He asked for teachings so he could achieve realisation on the spiritual path. The teacher asked him his name and family background, to which the young seeker replied that he did not know who his father was. The teacher was impressed with the truthfulness of the youth and gave him an opportunity.

The mind provides a filter to manage and control the vital forces to a certain degree. While it is not perfect, without it, an individual can become subject to whatever vital energy is active and rising up within him. At the same time, the mind acts as a limitation on the ability of the individual to shift the standpoint to the spiritual level of existence. Those who take up spiritual practices, thus, have to navigate the issue of how to move beyond the mind, while not simultaneously becoming a victim of the resurgence of vital energies no longer restrained by the mental control.

It is relatively easy to recognise that we are putting up a false front in our dealings with society. We greet people with a smile while in our minds, we may be having an opposite feeling about the person. We flatter people to get ahead in society, knowing that the flattery is not based on reality, but is meant to gain a certain position or end result. Similarly we mask our own feelings, intentions and thoughts in order to appear more successful, more important and more powerful than we really are.

We get prompted inwardly to do somethng. In some cases, we have conflicting impulses or reactions. We wonder how to distinguish the Divine Will from all of the other drives, motives, forces, and options that confront us. Add to this the complications of the vital nature, in i ts attempts to justify and fulfill its desires, having the ability to convince the mind about what it wants. We thus effectively paralyze the mental understanding through this vital interaction.

The human being receives vibrations from the universe. They are either accepted and allowed to act upon the individual, or rejected at some level of the being, with minimal impact other than the pressure on the sheath or aura that feels the vibration. If the vibration is accepted, it can not only effectuate changes in patterns of thoughts, emotions, feelings or physical sense of well-being, but it can be weakened or enhanced by the way the individual responds.

We tend to live under the illusion that we are one being and that what we think or feel represents ‘who we are’. We accept the idea that we are dedicated to a spiritual path, or we accept the sense of devotion that we feel as representing our surrender to the Divine Will. Yet, we have different aspects of our being that may not actually carry out this dedication or surrender in their day to day activities; rather, they may act from desire, or some egoistic impulsion.

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We tend to work from the outer to the inner consciousness. We treat the exte al world as more real and dominant to determine our physical body, our vital nature and our mental development. There is of course a certain amount of truth to this view, inasmuch as the outer and the inner are two sides of the same reality, inextricably intertwined and acting upon one another. What we tend to get wrong, however, is a failure to see that the gross forms of the exte al world are not the primary causal reality, but a result of subtler and more powerful levels of consciousness.

We frequently overlook the element of time in any inner review of progress toward spiritual fulfillment, surrender to the Divine, or any other aspect of our spiritual path. We want and expect instant results, and thus, when we once take up spiritual practice, we want it to be immediately fulfilled, and, indeed, we frequently overlook the weaknesses or failures of the exte al nature by simply believing that accepting the Divine in our hearts or minds means that we have accomplished the objective.

There was a young man who happened to be living at the same place during the 1970’s, who got into his head the idea that the Divine was watching out for him so he could not come to any harm. He walked out into traffic on a busy road and with cars honking and braking, he survived without a scratch. Was this a sign that, indeed, he needed not to worry about himself — that the Divine was looking out for him?

The physical body and the sense of separateness that it creates for us acts both as a limitation and as a protection from the action of the energies and forces that are constantly moving in the universal creation and setting up vibrational patterns to which we may respond. The physical body itself has developed an immune system to ward off various forces that try to invade and break down the body itself.

We seem to be always second guessing ourselves. Are we doing the sadhana in the right way? Is there another method or technique i should be employing? Why am I not seeing the results I expect and desire? Am I even cut out for doing sadhana? Maybe this was all just a big mistake and I should get on with my life, my career, my family and my enjoyment….

People who reside in communities adjacent to the beach regularly see visitors stretched out on the sand, ostensibly sleeping while ‘working on their tan’, in some cases for the entire stay of a vacation. When asked, these people indicate that they are taking a well-ea ed vacation and just want to have an opportunity to rest, shut down their mental faculties and absorb the sun’s rays.

In the exte al life we are trained to desire visible signs of forward movement, progress, constant development. We believe if we are not moving forward, then we must be retrogressing. We value action over quiet times. When we are relieved from action, such as during a vacation, or at the stage of retirement from the working life, we frequently find that there is a complete cessation from involvement in almost any form of activity.

The 3 Gunas, qualities of Nature, are active in all beings, including those who are undertaking an active process of spiritual development. The physical being is very much subject to the action of Tamas, generally, because of its dense and somewhat inert material characteristics. It thus may fall into a kind of torpor or inertia. This helps create the sense of dryness or dullness the being experiences during assimilation periods for the spiritual force.

The vital nature, in particular, is addicted to ‘drama’. It seeks attention and excitement. An added complication is that in modern society, with our fixation on all types of electronic stimulation, internet, mobile phones, radio, television, cinema, along with neon signs, blaring ads and loudspeakers, etc., we find that the nervous being and the vital nature are kept in a constant state of agitation. This type of energetic status makes it hard, if not virtually impossible, to open and be receptive to the higher forces that are trying to manifest.

Aspiration is frequently confused with a form of vital desire that ‘wants’ some kind of spiritual development, experience or result. Aspiration, however, originates in the psychic being, while desire stems from the vital being. The characteristics of the two are therefore dramatically different from one another.

If we examine the times and phases of our lives, we find that when things seem to be going smoothly forward and we feel great, we want to enjoy and appreciate the good times. We thus tend to slacken our efforts so that we can get the most out of the positive energies we are experiencing. This is a quite natural tendency, which tends to lull us into a state of quiescence. Real progress, on the other hand, involves focus and attention. In order to get a violin to make music, we need to put the strings under the right amount of tension. Too much and the strings will snap.

The three Gunas of Nature control the actions and reactions of the exte al nature and the response to the dualities that present themselves in Nature. As long as we remain fixated at the level of the surface personality, we remain subject to this action of the Gunas.

The vital nature wants to continue its old ways and achieve fulfillment of its desires. It is also very effective at finding ways to convince the mind to carry out its impulses and desires. When an individual takes up the spiritual path, the vital being does not get discouraged, it simply tries to find ways to carry on while paying ‘lip service’ to the spiritual seeking. One of the ways it does that is to latch onto the idea, true in an ultimate sense, that it is the Divine Force which is carrying out the sadhana.

Restlessness, impatience and disturbance of the vital nature are signs of weakness in the vital, an inability to hold the energy that is available to the vital. A strong vital nature will have the ability to remain calm and hold the energy without spilling it.

Someone says or does something we do not like or which we find offensive. They may do things to harm our reputation or our relationships, or they may affect our financial well being, possibly cheat us or interfere with our lives in some other way. The natural reaction is one of anger, even “righteous anger, ” In some cases we feel that our stomach knots up, we lose our peace of mind, we cannot sleep, or we experience other symptoms of anxiety or nervous tension.