For eons we've been taught that it's not good to be selfish and that the world is a better place when people are unselfish by being thoughtful, giving and civilized towards each other. Selfishness itself can be understood as an extreme focus on only one's limited self (body, mind, ego, senses) and all matters relating to and of interest or benefit only to one's self, instead of being focused on the unlimited Self (the whole world and all beyond it).
As a result we all attempt to be unselfish and we all fool ourselves into believing that we are in fact unselfish to varying degrees. For the average person though, the issue of being unselfish is often just a passing concern, but for anyone genuinely on a path of spiritual growth, this issue is a matter of spiritual life or death.
Those on the spiritual path striving to evolve and grow will often pursue various activities such as:
* Meditation
* Breathing exercises
* Reciting or chanting of sacred prayers or mantras
* Attending various spiritual retreats
* Singing of religious songs
* Various types of fasting
* Various types of physical spiritual disciplines (hatha yoga, etc)
* Visiting various religious figures or
* Making pilgrimages to various places, etc, etc
And as a result of pursuing these activities 'spiritual aspirants' often develop a very subtle yet real superiority complex, deeply believing that they are in fact better and more highly evolved people than those who do not pursue spiritual disciplines.
For example, often you find people who have meditated for 10 or 20 years who feel they are really spiritually evolved and superior to those that do not meditate, and yet if you look at their life, you will find that without exception almost every decision they ever make is primarily centered around benefit only to themselves and their quality of life !!
Unfortunately even on the spiritual path many being at heart mainly self centered individuals, get so attached to their meditation or any other spiritual discipline that they get completely caught up in.....
* THEIR OWN liberation alone…
* THEIR OWN enlightenment alone…
* THEIR OWN salvation alone…
* THEIR OWN progress alone ....
As a result they almost completely forget the rest of the world around them including all the ordinary day to day human beings who are at the atomic level - at the very source substance level - in essence nothing but a bubble of consciousness within the indivisible Infinite ocean of consciousness Itself - which is the true Self of all including the self-centered spiritual aspirant.
Because of this unhealthy self-preoccupation with the limited self (body, mind, ego, senses & matters related to the limited personality), so called spiritual aspirants are often not thoughtful for others, not giving to others and not civilized to others. Although they really believe that they are now less selfish due to their 'high minded' pursuits, they fail to see that their inherent selfishness is still there because they ignore the divinity within the rest of the world while they focus on only their own concerns.
They are unaware that their ego has fooled them into thinking of only their limited body and personality as the self. Whereas the goal of all spiritual disciplines is to overcome this false illusion and to expand one's consciousness out of the body. The whole purpose of evolution is for our consciousness and awareness of the self to become broader and more inclusive, to ultimately include not only the body and whatever is within it, but more importantly everything outside the body too until the whole Cosmos is seen and felt as none other than one's own Self.
It is the destiny of all for their consciousness to ultimately expand outwards and become all inclusive, and as preparation we go through the following patterns. First as children we feel we're the sole center of the universe, we only think of our needs and concerns and body as the self. Later as teens when we date, our romantic partner also becomes part of our feeling of our self, and as a result our perception of our 'self' expands.
Later still we may marry and have children of our own to the point that now the self in addition to our body also includes our partner and children too. Through the guise of relationships, the Infinite guides our consciousness and awareness of Self to broader and broader levels. Our family though is provided only as practice, so that gradually and ultimately at some point we may broaden our consciousness to also consider our neighbors as part of our self, then perhaps even one's local community and it's concerns, maybe later the whole country and perhaps later still even the whole world and ultimately the whole Cosmos and all beyond it.
The only difference between the average person and the saint is the depth and size of their awareness of their 'self.' For the average person usually they and their families alone are felt as an integral part of their self. However, for the Self realized saints who have seen and experienced that the whole Cosmos is in reality living within the body of one field of indivisible Infinite consciousness which is the real Self of all - for those mystics the whole Cosmos and all beyond it are felt intensely as part of their own Self. And this is why have such deep compassion for the whole world, and truly this is why they alone have the equal eye for all.
The whole purpose of the spiritual path is for one's consciousness to move out into the world, to reach out, to expand, to worship the Infinite also through the form of some service in some manner to the world - which is the none other than the Infinite indivisible consciousness merely appearing as so many other forms.
As far as spiritual progress, if one's consciousness remains contracted and fixated only on the small body and small circle around it, that is actually in reality nothing but spiritual regression. For genuine real spiritual growth, one's consciousness must move out and expand, until everything and everyone is seen as part of one's own indivisible Self.
However in many cases those on the spiritual path often become so preoccupied with only their progress and liberation that their whole consciousness remains dogmatically fixated only upon themselves and perhaps a few family members and close friends, going in completely the opposite direction of true spiritual progress which is again all about expanding one's consciousness of the self.
The harsh reality as a result is that their original selfishness is still there, only it's more subtle and therefore even more dangerous. The only difference between a spiritual devotee and the average person who are both not thoughtful, giving or civilized to the humanity around them is only that the so called spiritual have merely 'spiritualized' their selfishness.
In truth this can also be considered as adolescent, immature and small minded spirituality - whereas only when the consciousness expands outwards into the world in some beneficial form can one truly be embodying adult, mature and high minded spirituality. The path of true spiritual growth and evolution leads one to replace preoccupation with the small and limited self (mind, body, ego, senses, small circle of relatives & friends) with a preoccupation and focus instead upon our unlimited Self which as that infinite ocean of indivisible consciousness includes the whole Cosmos and all forms within and beyond it.
In reality then ......
'SPIRITUALIZED' SELFISHNESS IS EVERY BIT AS SELFISH, PETTY AND SELF-DEFEATING
AS THE REGULAR SELFISHNESS OF THE SO CALLED MATERIALISTIC WORLD
The supreme reality is that the Infinite indivisible consciousness alone is all that exists as the one Self in all beings. In light of this it is the highest truth that to be thoughtful, giving and civilized to the whole world and all the people within it is in fact a form of worship of and service to the Infinite - which alone is one's own Self and the real Self of all (just as one ocean alone is the sole reality within and the true Self of all surface waves). As a result….
To not give to others is in truth to not be giving to one's own unlimited Self
To not be thoughtful for others is in fact to not be thoughtful to one's own unlimited Self
To not be civilized to others is in truth to not be civilized to one's own unlimited Self
If this subtle yet supreme truth was grasped to the point that it lived within one's heart rather than the impermanent and ever-changing mind - who would not be giving, thoughtful and civilized to the best of their ability to their own Self ever-present in ALL people in the ordinary day to day world? Again, for spiritual progress, one's consciousness must move out, it must broaden and must expand and reach out and be of some benefit to the whole world in some manner until the whole of existence is seen and felt as none other than one's own Self.
Again, due to the indivisibility of the Infinite ocean of consciousness (the Self), thoughtfulness, civility and a sense of giving to others is really a form of worship of and service to the Infinite - because the outside world is in truth nothing but the very same unlimited Infinite consciousness in so many other forms that are in truth always very much an interconnected part of our own unlimited Self.
In the big picture and final analysis then…
TO BE TRULY SPIRITUAL, TO TRULY EVOLVE -
ONE MUST REACH OUT AND BE GOOD TO THE WORLD
by P. Singh
© Copyright Pardeep Singh 1998.
