SUMMIT OF LIFE

Human life stands at the apex of creation because it is greater than that of all other creatures, nay, it bears a loftier significance than the life of the very gods. The possibilities which human life is capable of achieving are unique and colossal. Principally, it is made up of three main aspects, viz. physical, mental and spiritual. If this magnificent life is lived merely in the body without the cultivation of its finer and higher aspects, it assumes a position lower even than the animal life. The mental life, when it has risen above the physical, is of a more expanded sphere, partially awakened to the subtler depths of it. But, when life transcends both the lower planes, it ascends to a state which is of the Supreme Spirit in which all the narrowness and limitations of the lower aspects are dissolved into the infinite vastness of an exalted and all-embracing spiritual consciousness. In this supreme consciousness lies the root of the universal manifestation comprising the innumerable worlds of creatures and things. The nature of this infinite source is invincible power, illuminating wisdom, universal love and eternal joy. This is the basic truth towards which human life and all life in the universe is consciously or unconsciously progressing. All struggle and strife we witness around us is clearly a search for this fundamental truth, by the discovery of which alone the tumult on the physical and mental planes of life could cease. 

The splendour of the Spirit seeks on the other hand to pierce through the outer veils of gross and material nature and reveal itself through human life. The world with all its present day confusion and clash of lesser ideals, narrow and self-interested action and selfish ambitions, is seen to be inevitably striving to gain a vision and a realisation in which it can find true liberation, harmony and peace.

Now the process that should lead human life towards the attainment of the highest ideal which is universal and eternal, is to cross the limitations of the body and mind, and by entering deeper into the inherent realm of the great Spirit, realise the magnificent oneness of all life and existence. It must shine like the sun which embraces all creation and bathes it in the floods of its light. Verily, the great Spirit who is the basis of the universe pervades all things and illumines all life with His infinite power and splendour. Therefore, the true way of life and the sweetest consummation of it is to live the inner life of power, wisdom and bliss.

To live this life, the body and the mind have to be completely laid at the door of the great Truth as a loving sacrifice or offering. In other words, these two aspects of life must be consecrated in their entirety for the light of the Spirit to illumine, elevate and sanctify them. Hence an utter dedication of the lower life to the higher one is held to be the means for this supreme attainment.

When this Great Source of life is discovered and human life is allowed to be regulated in the light of it, it becomes a very torch of unquenchable love, illumined wisdom and almighty power. Life is indeed Truth itself revealed. A human being is a concrete image of Truth. There are, involved in him or her, the sublime potentialities that can convert all the surrounding life, bringing it nearer to the great origin. Hence, one enlightened human being can electrify the hearts of millions and awaken them to the consciousness of their immortal, all-pervading, ever-blissful nature. Man’s and world’s liberation from the bondage of the sense of diversity, and attainment of the resultant peace and harmony, can be possible only when they begin to live in the Spirit. Narrow and limited boundaries which have been ignorantly set up, the demarcations that divide humanity into camps of selfish aims and aspirations such as national, racial, sectarian and imperial, must be demolished by the power of true vision. The pride of power and authority and a spirit of domination, which are all the qualities of the lower life, must give place to a wider, divine and truer outlook founded upon the knowledge of the supreme Spirit who is the one great Truth that inspires all planes of existence.

The real joy born of the Eternal can be obtained by every individual when he or she would, in a spirit of undaunted adventure, enter into the mysterious but all-beneficent kingdom of his soul. Therein is the power and joy of Truth. Let the body be engaged in selfless service, the mind be purified of all gross desires and turned into a limpid pool of dazzling intelligence, and the soul be expanded and absorbed into the unlimited consciousness of the great Divinity dwelling within.