Man’s ultimate purpose is wisdom (2)
by Gregorian Bivolaru, yoga professor
You can read here the first part of this article
The perfect combination of theory and practice
Wisdom represented the supreme ideal of the yoga system and also of every superior and contemplative philosophy based on the idea of the critical antinomy: spirit – soul – body and on the principle of complete self-perfecting, thanks to the divine revelations of the human being, as the only way to constantly perfect oneself.
The ideal of wisdom came with an obvious profane charge, since it involved the attaining of the state of happiness and immortality, here and now, different from the idea of the religious transcendentalism.
The original meaning of the concept was lost. With the exception of the yoga system, wisdom today consists of as many aspects as there are philosophies. The ideal of wisdom, in yogi perspective, is represented by the live, continuous and creative conjunction of the higher, divine theory with practice.
Understanding the supreme necessity and attaining the ideal conscious creation; taking part in the realization of the ideal of spiritual liberation of every human being through the liberation of every being and of the liberation of every being through the spiritual liberation of every individual; surpassing the limits of all kinds and the objective and subjective conditioning which are slowing down the progress through the combined effort of the sages and through the individual effort of self-improvement and perfection, for triggering the leap from the condition of the selfish, mean and limited man to the man who is completely integrated into the Divine and complete.
In conclusion, wisdom is a quality and at the same time, an essential ability of the human being. This quality is the effect of the harmonious integration of some rich spiritual experiences, of clear, profound and superior reflection of the world, of God, under the majority of its material and spiritual aspects.
Wisdom represents a full attunement of the desires with one’s own possibilities. It comes naturally following a profound process of getting to know oneself, determining the objective assessment of the world, not just through affirmative or negative value judgment, but through hypothetical judgment as well. For the wise one, the issue is never about a kind of resignation or a form of indulging oneself into inertia, but it is about a clearly superior way, acquired, a form of knowledge and transformation of the reality.
This fact is especially based on the knowledge of the causes of a specific event, a situation or on the objective intuition of the reasons behind a certain type of behavior or choice. Wisdom implies a harmonious integrated existential way which is not dependent on the immediate requisitions and does not value these requisitions; it also implies humor, detachment, sense of relativity of the passed events (Jung, for example, speaks of the archetype of the Great Sage). Great Sages are generally endowed with some extraordinary trans-human characteristics. Wisdom, as an attribute of spiritual completion of the human being, can be attained through the assiduous practice of yoga.
Non-conformism and unlimited faith
The opposite of the state of wisdom is the state of foolishness or ignorance. While the state of wisdom generates happiness and harmony, ignorance creates suffering and unbalance. The great sage Buddha used to make a very suggestive comparison, associating the front wheels of a four wheeled chariot with ignorance and the back wheels with the suffering which comes with ignorance. Therefore, the state of stupidity is always, sooner or later, followed by states of suffering or pain.
The sage does not always follow and initiate a doctrine, on the contrary. Most often, wisdom does not follow a predetermined trajectory. However, it has some very clear, defining characteristics. Non-conformism, beneficial intelligence, common sense, freedom, audacity, a form of serenity that cannot be disturbed by anything, limitless faith in God, a certain astonishing state of attention, humbleness, logical coherence, and these aspects are most often present in their most extreme form, an almost flawless lucidity, a state of purity which might appear as gullibility, a disarming simplicity and sometimes, even an apparent dose of insanity.
The heart of the saint suffers, the heart of the sage laughs
Tales, histories, legends, encounters and memories which have been carefully selected from many traditions and from the lives of the sages, or synthesized from a sum of meaningful stories to get us closer to the state of wisdom, this quite rare supreme human quality.
It is said that a woman came to Buddha in a rush, while carrying her dead child in her arms, but the enlightened did not resurrect the child. “Go to the village”, he said, “and bring me a handful of rice from a house where no one ever died.” Of course the woman did not find such rice, but failure was both for her, and for the other people, a means of gaining some wisdom and lucidity. From this situation, she was able to learn that life is ephemeral, sooner or later, it will be inevitably interrupted by death.
A story which consists of wisdom is different from a fable or a myth, even though it might be based on an improbable, imaginary or exaggerated situation.
It does not necessarily end through a miracle and it cannot be solved through an act of magic or faerie, because these tricks stimulate faith instead of stimulating wisdom. It reclaims a self-evident ability of the story-teller from the reader – the reader must agree to enter a reality which is different from his own reality. The sage does not always try to overwhelm his audience by stimulating him to have faith. He does not try to replace the need for a miracle with criticism or channel his power of discrimination into figures of speech.
The sage sometimes manifests his wisdom through an amazing answer or an unexpected attitude, which is always perfectly lucid, which feeds the soul, the heart, the mind and intelligence, all at once.
And that which he reveals might sometimes make us say: “even if we came to this world to hear these words, this is enough for us.”
A story that is filled with wisdom does not necessarily seek to present or to illustrate a moral or an ethical value. On the contrary, it seeks to be immoral, iconoclast and even apparently desecrating. In such a story, one tries to attain an effect of spiritual enlightenment, which will be caused by the clairvoyance of the sage, by the audacity of his answer, by the strength of the truth of this answer, or simply by the astonishing serenity coming from answer he suggests.
Let us see know what is in fact the difference between a sage and a saint. Generally the saint is a man of the heart, often burdened by pain, suffering to please God and to redeem the sins of the world, or weeping the atrocious misery of his fellow humans. The sage does not suffer, most of the times. His truly special compassion does not manifest by multiplying suffering and distress but it generally expresses through a very efficient and fast teaching regarding the means of alleviating suffering or completely eliminate it.
The parables of Christ often incite to detachment
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: “Do not store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal for you must know that where your treasure lies, your heart also lies. That is why I tell you: do not worry too much about your life, do not think of what you will eat and what you will drink and do not think of your body, of what you will wear. Don’t you know that life is more than the food and the body is more than your clothing? Look closely at the birds of the sky: they do not sow anything and they do not gather anything and yet our heavenly Father feeds them.
And which one of you can add at least one ell to his height, by worrying? Why do you worry about your clothing? Look closely at the lilies in the fields, they do not spin and they do not weave and yet, I tell you, that not even Solomon, in all his glory, did not wear clothes more beautiful than any of the lilies. Do not worry by saying: what will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear? Our heavenly father will give you everything you need, if he thinks that you need it. First seek and find the kingdom of God and his Purity and then all this will be given to you hundredfold.”
Hidden in some symbols, the mysterious teachings of Jesus are clearly explained here. This parable is obviously referring to the significance of the things in our lives and their double descent, their two masters: God and Mammon or Satan. They are in reality, the spirit and the world, the soul and the body.
Jesus says here that all the things of the world, with no exception – either the clothing, or the food, or the money, or any other earthen object can be obtained in two ways. On one side, we have the way of the useless worrying, which mindlessly consumes our life and ultimately transforms us in the slaves of the things we need. On the other hand, there is the way that we can only walk by firmly believing in God. But faith is not similar to being passive, but it means acting properly with our soul, with our mind, to discover their mysteries – the terrible secrets of the perfect and divine purity.
Thus, the man who knows himself will receive, according to Jesus’ parable, the promise of finding God and being pure as a child. It is not only the outer world that needs to be permanently guarded, for it is the result of our work into the inner world, where the Holy Spirit is called upon to manifest. The birds of the sky and the lilies in the fields are there just so that we can see that which is symbolically liked by God. Immaculacy, purity, genuine faith, love of god, a peaceful soul without the worldly unrest.
This article was taken from the Yogamagazin website.
You can read here the third part of this article
yogaesoteric
december 2014
