Spiritual knowledge is the most complicated path

[dattaswami]

Spiritual knowledge is the most complicated path


Brahma Vidya or Brahma Jnanam or spiritual knowledge is the most complicated path and even to achieve the correct knowledge is hectic affair (Kashinmamvetti…. Gita). Correct knowledge is the first step and even in this first step, lot of complications exist and people are mislead even in this first step. The whole complication lies only in one point i.e., you must conquer your ego and jealousy completely and recognize the contemporary human incarnation existing before your eyes acting as an ordinary human being and some times acting as worst human being. You have to recognize God beyond good and bad. God is possessor of the world in which both good and bad exist. God is not touched by the world and therefore good and bad do not touch Him. He can expose good or bad but He is not touched by both.

The world is like a shirt, which cannot be His characteristic like His skin. The good and bad are like the different colors of His shirt and they are not the colors of His skin. The white color of His shirt is not the white color of His skin. He is in the white shirt and He is beyond the white shirt. Seeing the color of white shirt, you will decide that He is white and approach Him as a good person. In the case of the individual soul, your analysis is correct because the individual soul is a bundle of qualities. The individual soul is the shirt itself. Therefore, the individual soul is white or good. Similarly, the individual soul is black or bad. But in the case of the human incarnation, God is beyond white and black colors, who is unimaginable. When you approach Him, He will change His white shirt and puts on black shirt. You will think that He is black and you will run away. All your spiritual knowledge must be used to distinguish a really black man and a colorless person wearing black shirt.

This is a test for your knowledge of discrimination and your faith about your identification of God. It is also a practical test for your value of God over the other worldly values including the value of your life. Thus, your identification of God in a human being who looks like ordinary human being is the first step. The faith in such identification is tested on exhibition of bad qualities. If your faith remains, the extent of faith is tested through the extent of value given to God over other worldly values.