IN QUEST OF SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
The dictionary meaning of ‘Awakening’ is ‘rousing’. It also means a revival, an
arousal of realization.
What do we mean when we discuss ‘Spiritual Awakening’? What is the
procedure? And where do we reach? What do we gain, when the Spirit is
awakened? More important is the basic question as to what ‘Spirit’ is? Is it
sleeping or dormant that we are to awaken it? All these questions need to be
considered and answered. In this process of consideration, we have to be logical
and scientific. After all, it is the age of science, and we should not mystify things.
Let us, address the basic question as to what ‘Spirit’ is. Does it exist or is a
mere product of our imagination, our intellectual accomplishment? If it is the
latter, then Spirit is an abstract something having no logical base. It is
unscientific to believe or deal with a thing which does not exist.
To awaken a thing that does not exist, is to live in a world of illusion or hallucination. So let us
be fully sure whether Spirit is an Existent and whether it can be understood,
realized or captured by human brain.
The dictionary meaning of the word ‘Spirit’ is the doctrine that reality is spiritual
rather than material, a type of idealism that defines ultimate reality as spirit and
the world as a realm of thoughts and ideas.
Spirit is believed to be a principle of conscious life and the vital principle in man;
the in-corporeal part in man, separable from body at death time. Spirit is the
base of human body and all the cosmic phenomena. It is the basic ultimate
energy. As it created Matter, it alone sustains it and shall dissolve it.
Coming down to metaphysics, we come across the concept of Supreme Spirit.
Spirit is said to be the base of human body. It is that unchanging base of human
organism which does not change with the evolution and development of the
physical portion. It is also the unchanging base of the cosmos. It is the basic
ultimate substance. It manifests matter, sustains it, and dissolves it. There two
unchanging bases correspond to each other. That way they not only exist but
prove each other.
First we start with the Cosmic Spirit. It has following salient features:-
i. Spirit is potential cosmic energy, cosmic and omnipresent.
ii. Spirit is the first original state of matter. Matter is its manifested form,
Spirit is formless, non-matter.
iii. Spirit is both consciousness and intelligence. That is why it regulates
and coordinates the entire cosmic phenomena.
iv. Spirit is one common denominator of the cosmos. All matter and
energy are ultimately Spirit in essence.
God is a Spirit
Whosoever shall worship God
Shall worship Him in Spirit
And in Truth
- St. John 4:24
The same Cosmic Spirit is called Jyoti. Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji says:
The One Spirit pervades the space
In between Earth and Sky
It neither increases nor decreases
The Adi Granth repeatedly refers to this Spirit as Formless God:
Neither it has form Nor colour,
Nor any lineament
God is devoid of all the three traits of matter
Prophet Mohammed also referes to the same Spirit as Allah which is nearer
than the Jugular Vein.
In Geeta, Lord Krishna revealed the same Cosmic Spirit. This Spirit is the
Virat-Swarup (universal form) of God which contains the entire material
phenomena. When Arjuna saw the Spirit he said:
This space between heaven
and earth and all the quarters
are filled by you alone. - Geeta 11-15
In the present age, the Nir-akar, (Nirankar or Formless), preached by the Sant
Nirankari Mission is the Cosmic Spirit. To quote:
Beyond form, colour and lineament
I salute Thee a million times
Beyond mind, intellect and intelligence
I salute Thee a million times - Avtar Bani -1
The Cosmic Spirit is ‘Sat’, ‘Chit’ and ‘Anand’. ‘Sat’ means that it is ‘Existent’.
‘Chit’ means that it is ‘Consciousness’ in itself. ‘Anand’ means that it is ‘bliss’
in itself. This Spirit is One, indivisible, omnipresent and is cognizable by a
human being.
The Organismic Spirit called ‘Soul’ is kindred to the Cosmic Spirit, called God
or Nirankar. Both being so, prove each other. To exemplify, the element of
water in our organism and the element of water outside prove each other
when after we are thirsty we take water and our thirst is quenched. This
process proves the existence of water as part and whole. Part is in the
organism, the whole of water is outside on the earth. Similar is the story of
other elements. Our organism is a part of cosmos. All its constituents are
part of the cosmic elements existing outside. On the same pattern, the spirit
in the organism is proven by the Spirit in the cosmos.
This process, when the Cosmic Spirit brings out the Spirit in the Organism, is
called Spiritual Awakening. The Spirit inside lies dormant and is in ignorance.
Owing to this, it is identified with one form of matter or the other. In such a
situation, it does not know itself. It feels it is matter alone and nothing else.
When by the grace of the True Master, the Cosmic Spirit is revealed as One
and Omnipresent, the organismic spirit (soul) at once catches it and gets
identified with it. This is a revolution, a spiritual awakening, a total change of
vision. It is said:
The Invisible (Cosmic Spirit)
Sovereign element, the unknowable
Is caught through the Word of the Master
I sacrifice my all unto the True Master. - Adi Grandh-114
Integration with Cosmos
When the cosmic Formless Spirit and the organismic spirit are conjoined, one
achieved integration with the Cosmos. This is the end purpose of spiritual
awakening. Avtar Bani – 189 says:
This Formless Cosmic Spirit
Is thine real Home
It is also thine Cosmic Form
The home of cosmic phenomena is the Formless Being (Spirit). Naturally, it
is the home of each self. All creation evolves and dissolves in this. So,
contemplation of and identification with this Substance is the basic
requirement. Proper connection with cosmic source (Spirit) is the aim of the
organism. The source should be real and within reach. The organism is not
to evolve the source, nor evolve itself into a source. Only knowing and
connecting with the source is desired.
Nature has fixed what action to take for replenishing the elements inside the
organism. Only one method is for eating food, drinking water, inhaling air,
etc., etc. No Karma Kand or ritual is required for taking water, inhaling air.
Similarly, Mind is the ‘organ’ for knowing and connecting with the Cosmic
Spirit. If we search the cosmos, there is no element which can bring out the
mind and dissolve its impurities lying in the shape of Sanskaras, (tendencies).
The mind is purified, and is raised to its original nature which is characterized
by cosmic vastness.
Each self and element is a part of Cosmos. It is a hard fact. So, to enter the
Cosmos and becoming integrated with it is the final destination. The entry
and integration is through the gate of the Cosmic Spirit. Once entry is made,
then one can have any thing lying in the Cosmic Chest.
This is Spiritual Awakening.
