<1>As he started to reach a higher
consciousness, he became a more sentient (satvic)
being. Not only did his happiness, feeling of belonging to the
universe and surroundings, increase, but also he started to realize
more about himself and the forces which were within.
<2>He realized the spiritual power (raja
guna,
prana), the
intelligence (satva
guna), and the
crudifying force (tama
guna) within, and through meditating on them, he realized them
on an even deeper level.
<3>He also realized the dual nature of his being
as "positive and negative" (
).
<4>These two polarities can be found universally in all of
nature.
<5>Also because
God
has both polarities as positive and negative, they balance each
other and He becomes neutral. <6>However,
God in Its purest form -- beyond the influence of the
creative forces
(gunas) -- is
Pure Consciousness. In this state He just "IS" - Formless,
Nameless, Invisible, and Eternal, neither
male nor
female.
<7>However, this
unit
consciousness had not yet mastered the power of the
tama guna
completely. So still there were times when he would feel its
influence and would go from happiness to helplessness, up and down.
<8>Through these struggles he also realized how
his surrounding environment affected him. When there is a
greater amount of the tama force (impure) present in the
environment, the unhappiness, fear, and all bad propensities because
of the tama guna
(lower nature) increase. So he avoided such an environment and
tried to keep himself away from such influences. <9>He
realized how necessary a sentient (proper) environment is for
spiritual progress.
<10>In this state he realized how many other
unit
consciousnesses around him were lost and needed help, and if he
could aid others to reach higher consciousness, it would be possible
to create a better environment.
<11>Therefore, he tried to help them. With this,
he realized that even a greater happiness was created in him,
because in the process of helping others (sacrifice,
not being self-centered), he would forget about himself. <12>This
resulted in negation of his ego
and the flow of
God's Spirit (Grace)
through him.
<13>That is the key to happiness and joy, to forget
the self for a great task. It is to help others to reach higher
consciousness and create an environment (
)
that allows all to reach the highest level of realization possible.
So the feeling of
self-centeredness
is forgotten and the cause of unhappiness will vanish.
<14>The source of happiness is not to think
about the self all the time but to forget it by sacrificing to help
others to grow.
<15>So again, he started even a greater struggle
in overcoming the egotism and
self-centeredness
(mastering the power of the
tama guna). With this process, by gaining wisdom to do
sacrifice
(from knowledge but not from
ignorance or passion) and by helping others through more
intensity and
sacrifice, he came to
a higher consciousness. Then even a greater desire to help
others was created. <16>Eventually by becoming
other-centered instead of being self-centered, he overcame the
selfishness and
self-centeredness,
and with this he overcame his lower nature and entered the
higher self
(was born
again).
<17>Although he had overcome his lower nature
and eagerly was sacrificing to help others, still he had not
mastered the power of the
tama guna completely.
There were times that the discouragement would come to him and he
would wonder why, with all his sacrificing for others, they were not
progressing and there was not a great result. <18>Or he might
have thought how wonderful he was in sacrificing so much for others.
<19>However, later on a greater realization came
to him, that being attached to the result of one's action is a
hindrance in spiritual progress. He offered the result of his
actions to
God.
<20>Therefore, he shattered all bondages which
would stand in his way, slow down his progress, and bind him. Now he
would do the actions with the highest possible efficiency but would
throw the result away (to the universe).
<21>With this, there would be no attachment to the result.
<22>Therefore, first of all there would be no
anxiety if the result did not turn out to be the best, because he
had tried his utmost but if the result was not ideal, he was not
attached to it. <23>Secondly, there would be no
ego built up of "How great
I am that
I am doing so much good."
<24>He realized also, that
submission to
God is even greater than
surrendering. In
submission,
God is the One doing the
actions through him. He is only a
channel for those
Divine
actions.
<25>In this case no "I" is left but "He." So he would radiate
God's
Grace
as a channel.
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