REALISATION OR DELUSION ... 5
How are we to distinguish between the man of spiritual authority to guide and the unqualified person of mere pretence who wishes to make a profession out of preaching for pecuniary and other ends? It is very simple. First we must ourselves be sincere in life and true to others. If we are ourselves insincere and false, we will naturally tend to lodge where insincerity and falsity abides. But if we are sincere and true ourselves, then we will gravitate to the right place where spirituality, true and pure, abides.
The next step is to be adequately intelligent in our dealings in life. We ought not to trust anybody and everybody who claims realisation simply at face value. We must judge their actions, their status in life, their level of attachment to material things, their level of purity with regard to the opposite gender, their behaviour in general, their language, modes and manners, their associates and comrades-in-arms, their knowledge of the scriptures and their attitudes and attires.
The next step is to equip ourselves with sufficient scriptural knowledge learnt from qualified teachers who are neither quacks nor frauds. An easy way will be to read the Bhagavad Geeta, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. It may take time but it will be an enriching experience far better than getting second-hand knowledge from a pretender.
Finally, it will be better to trust a reputed organisation such as the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission or the Bharat Sevashram Sangha to receive spiritual initiation from rather than from any and everyone who claims qualification as a Guru. But before receiving initiation one must watch the actions of the Guru long enough so as not to regret later even as the Guru requires to read the prospective disciple for his qualification to receive the spiritual life in the Ishtamantra (sacred spiritual verbal formulation).
Finally, it is best to repose faith in an Avatar as God rather than in an ordinary human being who poses to be one. Rama, Seeta, Krishna, Sri Radhika, Mahavira, Buddha, Christ, Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, Guru Nanak, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda provide a sufficient number of worship-worthy incarnations of God for us to feel despondent about. Any one of these, if worshipped ardently, can lead us to freedom. So, let us do so instead of pursuing perverted godmen and getting so perverted ourselves into believing fanciful flights of the mind to be actual realisation of the highest spiritual Truth.
...to be continued...
Written by Sugata Bose
How are we to distinguish between the man of spiritual authority to guide and the unqualified person of mere pretence who wishes to make a profession out of preaching for pecuniary and other ends? It is very simple. First we must ourselves be sincere in life and true to others. If we are ourselves insincere and false, we will naturally tend to lodge where insincerity and falsity abides. But if we are sincere and true ourselves, then we will gravitate to the right place where spirituality, true and pure, abides.
The next step is to be adequately intelligent in our dealings in life. We ought not to trust anybody and everybody who claims realisation simply at face value. We must judge their actions, their status in life, their level of attachment to material things, their level of purity with regard to the opposite gender, their behaviour in general, their language, modes and manners, their associates and comrades-in-arms, their knowledge of the scriptures and their attitudes and attires.
The next step is to equip ourselves with sufficient scriptural knowledge learnt from qualified teachers who are neither quacks nor frauds. An easy way will be to read the Bhagavad Geeta, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. It may take time but it will be an enriching experience far better than getting second-hand knowledge from a pretender.
Finally, it will be better to trust a reputed organisation such as the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission or the Bharat Sevashram Sangha to receive spiritual initiation from rather than from any and everyone who claims qualification as a Guru. But before receiving initiation one must watch the actions of the Guru long enough so as not to regret later even as the Guru requires to read the prospective disciple for his qualification to receive the spiritual life in the Ishtamantra (sacred spiritual verbal formulation).
Finally, it is best to repose faith in an Avatar as God rather than in an ordinary human being who poses to be one. Rama, Seeta, Krishna, Sri Radhika, Mahavira, Buddha, Christ, Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, Guru Nanak, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda provide a sufficient number of worship-worthy incarnations of God for us to feel despondent about. Any one of these, if worshipped ardently, can lead us to freedom. So, let us do so instead of pursuing perverted godmen and getting so perverted ourselves into believing fanciful flights of the mind to be actual realisation of the highest spiritual Truth.
...to be continued...
Written by Sugata Bose
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