अज्ञानतिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जनशालाकया ।
चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः
Ajnyaana-Timira-Andhasya Jnyaana-[Aa]n.jana-Shaalaakayaa |
Cakssur-Unmiilitam Yena Tasmai Shrii-Gurave Namah [Guru Suktham; Verse 3]
The one Who Removes the Darkness of Ignorance from our Blind (Inner) Eyes by applying the Collyrium of the Light of Knowledge. By Whom our (Inner) Eyes are Opened; Salutations to that Guru.
There are different stages of human excellence. Each human being is born into one stage or the other. One must act according to the stage / level / class to which one belongs to and move upwards from there. From one stage to another, there is no written examination conducted by an examiner. The life itself is the examiner and the challenges we face are the question paper and therefore it is a continuous process. Crossing from the initial stage to the last stage might happen all in the same life or each stage taking an entire lifetime in achieving the goal of the respective stage alone. All this depends on various factors which itself becomes an ocean of learning and is out of scope of our discussion here. This article is meant to just present the various stages in human excellence. Only for our easy
- reference,
- understanding,
- remembering or even for a
- comparative study of various subjects involving human excellence from a broader perspective,
this article presents the various stages of human excellence in terms of different classes just like our schooling system. Following is a presentation of classes - class sub-zero (like the kindergarten in schools ) and class one to class seven. With the ocean of knowledge available at our disposal, we often get lost in pursuit of the eternal truth. This article may be used as a very high level, rough yard stick to understand where we are and where we need to head towards, both as individuals as well as a society. So, to make it simple, I have referred to only meditation (part of Raja yoga) as the means and omitted other types of yoga paths such as Bhakthi yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga. This yard stick doesn't deal the good vs bad in terms of personalities. For example, don't make the mistake of assuming that the all the bad people belong to sub-sero and all good people belong to class 1 to 7. These stages have nothing to do with good vs bad. For ex., Ravana might have belonged somewhere around class 4 or 5.
class sub-zero: Just as the babies need care and affection by the elders, people who cannot help themselves belong to this class. Those who are in the asylum, bed-ridden, deeply dipressed, etc. are the examples of such people who require external help to improve their well-being and become a better human beings.
class zero: People belonging to this class will have obstacles that they need to be tackling before they can get into the mode of Sadhana. The obstacles might be within them or external. That doesn't mean the obstacles doesn't exist in other classes. However, the obstacles are so high that the primary qualification for any saadhana of being consistent in the efforts is not met. In all other classes, the person is capable of practicing consistently at least. The obstacles here are such as
- Serious illnesses,
- Physiological, psychological and other forms of defectiveness my birth,
- Tendencies that drags them down and away from the path of sadhana in-spite of best of the efforts,
- Addictions of all kinds,
- Strong afflictions towards materialistic possessions,
- Strong belief in the wrong ideas away from the reality.
So, getting out of the obstacles itself becomes the goal of such people.
class one: People in this category and the previous forms the major chunk of the society today. Such people are capable of doing sadhana with a bit of guidance and motivation who can contribute to the progress of the society. It is also these people who often get mislead or those who lead the life of laziness or who become the burden ( causes dis-harmony ) of the society. These are also the people with false beliefs and laziness who take the society to deterioration. In other words, they are the ones who make or break the society.
And there are some in this class, who are too enthusiastic about their sadhana (either being bothered by the cercumstances within or outside of themselves. Or due to too much of influence from their surroundings). As far as sadhana or human excellence is concerned, one should not concern themselves much about achieving moksha, god/self realization as far as goal is concerned. Likewise, should also not get into the mode of giving up their duties with the intention of doing "severe" meditation, etc. Nor should they concern or debate too much on whether god exists, or not. This doesn't mean you should not believe in god's existence at all. If you believe in a god, do what is necessary that deems fit for that belief. But that should not be the only occupation. One should always remember this - blind faith has its sharp limitations no matter to which community one belongs to. It can lead the individual and the society astray. Anywhere from five minutes to an hour a day of one's involvement of any form of yogic practices should be good enough - whether doing bhajans or sit in meditation. As far as one's occupation is concerned, one should act according to one's own swadharma. Be good and do good - to oneself, one's own family, the society to which one belongs to and to the nation.
The key learning, in this class is to achive consistency and being joyfull through out their journey of sadhana. And the goal should be to do their actions efficiently.
class two: Having well established with your actions with efficiency, now learn the art of giving up the fruits of actions. However, its not easy to give up the fruits of action just like that. So, have faith that God exist (presence of something called 'God' - Because, still at this stage, one has not experienced or realized anything about God yet). And (like Arjuna) offer all your actions to Me. Thus your mind becomes purified. Purification of the mind is the final Goal at this stage.
class three: Having purified your mind, you are now eligible to practice meditation in silence. This doesn't mean that in earlier classes, you should never meditate. but it will only be one of the activities like you eat, drink and recreation - anywhere from ten minutes to one hour each day depending on one's capacity. Whereas in this stage, it means meditation can be the only occupation of the person giving up all other mundane activities - that is, one can sit in meditations for hours or even days at a stretch. That's because, its easier for your mind to just remain one pointed without much distractions. Here, there is no external distractions, however, one's own mind and body are the distractions when attempted to remain one pointed for a long period of time. Giving up the attachment to one's own body is the hardest. Many disciples of Sri Ramakrishna paramahansa, several saints, even Brother Lawrence are the examples of this class. The goal here is to tame your body and mind only to just remain in one state, one pointed respectively.
class four: Having practiced such an extent that you can giveup the attachment to the body also, one is now eligible to attain the elightment of the object of meditation. Here, one has completely forgotton the presence of one's own body. Only the experience of the mind remains. May be, Narendranath Datta ( who later became Swami Vivekananda ) was of this class when he came to Sri Ramakrishna. He was a dhyana (meditation) siddha by birth. While Sri Ramakrishna asked his disciples to practice devotion to the God, and gave certain mantras to certain aspirants / disciples based on their innert nature, upon seeing Narendra, he was eager to make him experience the higest realization. Here, one can no doubt forget the body such that only the mind remains, however, it is still having variety of experiences, the goal is to make the mind experience the oneness with the object of meditation - That is only one experience of the mind - That is called God realization. Samadhi
class five: Having realized the God with form - the experience of just one form just once, now one is eligible to (a) experience the presence of God whenever one wishes, (b) communicate with not just one form, but with different forms of God. Sri Ramakrishna used to walk and talk along with Goddess Kali when he used to go out to pluck flowers in the garden, early morning. He could commune with Her whenever he wished so. He made Narendranath experience the presence of goddess with form. Such people are called saints and acharyas.
class six: Having thoroughly established with experiencing the God with form, now one is ready to experience the formless. Where one not only forgets the body, even the mind is stopped, disappears. Even the form doesn't exist. What remains is the Atman. Self realization. It is here that one will know the answer to the question 'who am I'. Nirvikalpa Samadhi, The ultimate Knowledge. Such people are called the acharyas. It is also in the culmination of this stage, that the ego is completely dissolved.
class
seven: Having reazlized that I am neither the body nor the mind, one
will now becomes eligible to see the same Atman everywhere. This is
called Vignana. The application of the knowledge. Sri Ramakrishna
Paramahansa used to be in this state all the time. He used to give an
example of the straircase leading to the terrace. Having climbed to the
terrace, one will then know that the same meterial with which terrace is
made, the same is used to make the ground and stairs too. Such people
are called Jeenvan Mukta - Liberated in the very life itself ( as against to those who attain liberation through giving up the body. )
~ ~ ~ O ~ ~ ~
Some notes:
Un-touchability, religious dominance and other evils of society are all the possessions of classes zero and
one; at most a few exceptions in class two. Those who belong to the
rest of the classes have always did their best to unite the people and
lead the life of harmony. When we realize where we stand against the
remaining stages of human existence, we will become humble. Don't we?
The
same principle applies to every stage - of silencing and narrowing the
focus of the mind. Higher the class, more the silence of the mind. The activity naturally reduces as one
progresses from one class to another. The most important (effortful) learning of class one to maintain consistency and joy becomes the very nature of the person from class five and above. 😊
Also, an important aspect to remember is that there is certainly a possibility that a person might come down from a higher to a lower class, more than once in the lifetime depending on various circumstances. One needs to handle the situation to which one belongs to any given time.
Last but not the least, there is another class of persons who are referred to as avatharas who are beyond all these stages. May be class eight 😀 There is enough for us to consider for our own growth anyway.
~ ~ ~ ~ 🙏 ~ ~ ~ ~
