Social Gatheka Number 36

One sees that there is an awakening from childhood to youth, and from youth to a mature age; and in this development one's point of view is changing, one's outlook on life is changing. And then one sees that sometimes in one's life one has gone through an illness or through a great suffering, and at the end of it the whole outlook on life has changed. One also sees that a person has taken a long journey, after having come from that journey the person is quite changed. Also one sees that after a friendship, after a pupilship, after a marriage, a sudden change in the outlook of a person comes. When we look at this we find that there are some cases where the change is so great that one can say that the person is an entirely new person. And then we see that we can class such changes which may be called a development into three classes.

One class is pertaining to the physical development, another class is connected with the development of mind; and the third class with the development of the soul. There are instances in the lives of many, who will rarely say or admit it, but at the same time they can recollect experiences in their childhood, that after one moment's time their whole outlook on life changed. As ripening is the desired result, it is the result of every object in life to ripen and develop. Therefore the fulfillment of life's purpose is to be expected in the wakening of the soul.

And now one might ask, what are the signs of the soul's awakening? The first sign of the soul's awakening is just like the birth of an infant. That the infant from the time of its birth is interested to hear something – any sound that comes; and to see something – if it is a color or light, whatever it be, attracts. And therefore, a person whose soul has wakened becomes awake to everything that he sees and to everything that he hears. Compared to that person, everyone else seems to be with open eyes and yet not to see, seems to be with open ears and yet not to hear.

And therefore though there are many with open ears yet rarely there is one who hears, and many with open eyes yet hardly one who sees. It is therefore that the natural seeing of the wakened soul is called clairvoyance, that the natural hearing of the wakened soul called clairaudience. Therefore in English there is a simple word, that word is 'the seer;' and that word explains that he has eyes, but together with the eyes a sight. The moment the soul has wakened, to that soul music makes an appeal, poetry touches it, words move it, art has an influence upon it. It no longer is a sleeping soul, it is awake and begins to enjoy life to a fuller extent.

It is this wakening of the soul which is mentioned in the Bible, that: unless the soul is born again it will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. The soul being born again is that the soul is wakened after once having come on earth. And entering into the kingdom of Heaven is the same kingdom, this world in which we are just now standing, the same kingdom turns into Heaven as soon as the point of view has changed. Is it not interesting, and is it not most wonderful to think that the same earth that we walk on is earth to one person, and Heaven to another? And it still is more interesting to notice that it is we who change it, we change it from earth to Heaven, if we change it otherwise.

And this change comes, not by a study, not by anything else, but only by one thing, and that is the changing of our point of view. I have seen people seeking after Truth, people studying in books about it, people having written hundreds of books on theology, and in the end they are in the same place where they have been standing before. That shows that all outward efforts, they are excuses, they are outward; there is only one thing that brings one before reality, and that is the awakening of the soul.

All tragedy of life, all miseries, all inharmony and misunderstanding is caused by one thing, and that is the lack of understanding, and lack of understanding comes from lack of penetration. When one who does not see from the point of view that one ought to see, then one becomes disappointed, because one cannot understand. It is not that the outward world must help us understand it better, it is we ourselves who should help ourselves to understand life better.

And then there is a further awakening; and that further awakening is a continuation of this same awakening which I have called the awakening of the soul. And the sign of that awakening is that upon every person and upon every object the wakened person throws a light, a light of his soul, and sees that object, that condition, in that light. It is his own soul that becomes a torch in his hand, it is his own light that illuminates his path. It is just like throwing a searchlight upon dark corners which one did not see before, and the corners become clear and illuminated again. It is like throwing light upon problems that one did not understand first, it is like seeing with x-rays persons who were a riddle before.

Since life becomes clear to the awakened soul, it shows another manifestation, and that manifestation is that every aspect of life becomes communicative with him. The idea is that life is communicative, the soul is communicative, but they do not communicate till a person is wakened. Once a soul is wakened, it becomes communicative with life. I had as a young man, a great desire to visit the shrines of saints, of great teachers. And with every desire of hearing of them something, of asking them something, I always held my tongue back, and sat quietly in their presence. And I had a greater satisfaction, and I felt a greater blessing by sitting quiet there, than if I had discussed with them and argued and talked with them. Because I felt in the end that there was a communication, a communication which was much more satisfactory than these outer discussions and arguments of people who know not what they discuss. For it was enlightening, it was refreshing, and it was giving that power and inspiration with which one can see life in a better light.

Those who are wakened, they become lights, not only lights for themselves, but also lights for the others. And in their light – a person may not know it – but their presence itself helps to make problems which are most difficult, easy. This brings us to realize the fact that, as the scriptures have said, 'man is light,' a light whose origin, whose source is divine. And when this light is raised, then life becomes quite different. When the soul is wakened, furthermore, the condition is then as a person sitting in the midst of night among hundreds and thousands of people fast asleep.

His picture is that he is sitting among them, he is standing among them, he is looking at them, hearing their sorrows and miseries, and of their conditions – hundreds of them moving about in their sleep, in their own dream, not wakened to the condition of the other one, who is next to them; they may be friends or relations, or acquaintances or enemies, whatever be their relation, little they know about them, each one absorbed in his own trouble. This wakened soul, standing among them all, will listen to everyone, will see everyone, will recognize and realize all that they think and feel, but his language no one understands, his thought he cannot explain to everyone, his feeling he cannot expect everyone to feel. He feels lonely, and nothing else can be felt. No doubt in this loneliness there is a sense of perfection, because perfection is loneliness.

When they say that the apostles knew all languages at the descent of the spirit, this knowing of all languages is not like knowing the languages of all countries. They knew the language of the soul. For there are several languages which are spoken in different lands, but numberless languages which are spoken by each individual as his particular language. And that brings us to realize another idea of very great importance, and that is that the outer language can convey only outward things and feelings, but there is an inner language, a language which can be understood by souls who are wakened.

It is a universal language, a language of vibrations, a language of a feeling, a language which touches the innermost sense. In order to support this argument I shall say that the heat and cold are different feelings which are called by different names in different countries, but, at the same time inwardly it is the same feeling. And then there is love and hate, kindness and unkindness, harmony and inharmony, all these words are spoken differently in different countries, but the feeling is the same experience to all men. When in order to know the thought of another we depend upon his outer word, then no doubt we fail to understand, because we perhaps don't know that person's language, but if we can communicate with another person soul to soul, we certainly can understand his meaning. For before he says one word, he has said it within himself; and that word reaches before the word reaches outwardly.

Before the word comes the expression says it; before the thought has formed, the feeling speaks about it. And this shows that a feeling forms a thought, a thought comes as a speech; that, before even, there was a feeling existing and even there it can be caught when a person can communicate with the soul. It is this which is called communication – to communicate with the innermost being of a person. But who can communicate? The one who knows how to communicate with himself, the one who is wakened, in other words. And what becomes the personality of an awakened soul? The personality of an awakened soul becomes different from every personality. It becomes more magnetic, because it is a living person who has magnetism, the dead corpse has not magnetism; it is the living who brings joy, and therefore it is the awakened soul who is joyous.

And never for one moment think, as many imagine, that a spiritual person must mean a most sorrowful, a dried up, long-faced person. Spirit is joy, spirit is life; and when that spirit has wakened there is all the joy and pleasure that exists there. As the sun takes away all darkness, so spiritual light takes away all worries and anxieties, doubts. If a spiritual wakening is not so precious, then what is the use of seeking it in life? A treasure that nobody can take away from you, a light that will always keep and never will be extinguished, that is called spiritual awakening, which is the fulfillment of life's purpose. Certainly, the things once a person had valued and considered them more important become less important, things lose their value, and things which are beautiful lose their color. It is just like seeing the stage in the light of the sun – all the big palaces and decorations on the stage mean nothing. No doubt this takes away that slavery to which everyone is put, because things of this world a person becomes a master of but, at the same time, he need not give them up. Optimism naturally develops, but an optimism with open eyes; a power becomes increased, a power of accomplishing things, and until the person has accomplished it, he will go after it till it is accomplished, however small it is.

It is very difficult, as they say in the Eastern language, to judge an awakened soul. For there is nothing outwardly that can prove to you that this person is an awakened soul. The best way of seeing an awakened soul is to wake oneself. And no one in the world can pretend to be awake when he is still asleep; for a little child if he puts on moustaches on his face, he will not prove to be a grownup man. All other pretenses will be taken, but not this one of the awakened soul, for it is a living light, and no one can pretend to be it. For if there is any Truth, the Truth is in the awakening of the soul, for Truth is born in the awakening of the soul.

The Truth is not taught, the Truth is discovered. Very often people make an effort, but that effort is in vain, to try to wake one's friend or one's near relation whom one loves. For, in the first place, we know not if the person is more awakened than we, we may be trying in vain. And the other thing is that it is possible that the person is asleep and needs a sleep. Wakening, therefore, would be a sin instead of a virtue. We are allowed only to give our hand to the one who is changing his side, who desires awakening, only then a hand is given.

And this giving of the hand is what we call initiation, in an esoteric word. No doubt, outwardly a teacher who is acquainted with this path may give a hand to the one who wishes to journey, but inwardly there is the Teacher who gives a hand who has always given and always gives a hand to awakening souls. The same hand which has received the sages and Masters of all time in a higher initiation. Verily, the seeker will find sooner or later, if only he keeps steadily on the path till he arrives at his destination