JaneSmith105
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The process of reforming our consciousness is the real purpose of human life. At the present moment, the pure soul within the body has deeply identified itself with it's outer covering. This is called maya or illusion because the soul is eternal and the body is not. We should therefore be concerned with dissolving the illusion we are presently in and coming to normalized, eternal consciousness.
A human should inquire, " who am I ?" and " why do I suffer?". That is the beginning of self realization. At that time, a sincere individual is sent a bona fide spiritual master who imparts the complete science of self realization along with a practical daily lifestyle. It is by adhering strictly to the words of the spiritual master that one's consciousness is rectified or reformed. Reformation brings normalization to the self, shedding the self of inaccurate bodily misconceptions. The normalized and reformed conscious self is able to see the pure self and the Supreme Self as two separate and distinct entities, of which the former has an eternal relationship of servitude to the latter characterized by a specific type of spiritual service.
What characterizes a reformed and unreformed conscious entity is his awareness level of the supreme position of God. When the conscious entity is not aware of God, then he is affected by illusion, thinking himself the doer, the seer, the enjoyer and the overlord. Considering his body to be his self, he is subject to the influence of time and space and thinks in terms of birth, death, old age and disease. The unreformed self, due to his dismissal from the Lord's eternal association, executes his free will to separate from the Lord and performs self centered activities in the atmosphere of the material world. A reformed self is one who has given up the tendency that everything is life is going on by his direction and instead recognizes the supremacy of the Lord. He accepts the shelter of the Lord and performs all of his sensual and mental activities for the pleasure of the Lord. In this way, the Lord happily reveals Himself and the reformed self finds actual pleasure.
A reformed living being is no longer affected by the vicissitudes of time and the fluctuations of matter. He has let go of artificial control of the environment and taken shelter of the real proprietor of the material nature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri krishna. Situated in his original and constitutional position, a reformed being experiences boundless joy as a personal associate of the Lord. The greatest burdens of material bondage, namely birth, death, old age and disease, are removed, as though an insurmountable weight had been lifted from his shoulders. In reality, there is only the Lord and His pure devotees but under the influence of the lesser material nature, a conditioned soul is forced to accept illusion for reality. Complete reformation of the consciousness can only take place when the Lord has agreed to lift His veil of illusion in toto. Partial liberation is not sufficient. One must agree to come under the control of the Lord and become His unconditional servant. Then and only then does the material energy cease her control. When a living entity has been fully reformed, he does not intentionally commit sinful activities any longer. His sensual and mental activities are devoted to the Lord's pleasure and the Lord's work. Being situated in pure devotional service, the pure soul remains aloof from matter even while manifesting a material body.
The reformation process is a complete consciousness cleansing. It must by necessity involve complete and infallible information about the Lord. Since the Lord is complete and accurate information about Him is non-different from Him, one needs to hear from a perfect and reliable source. Anything less will not bring one directly into contact with the Lord. The best analogy of this fact is given by our spiritual master when he stated, " not all train tickets lead to the same destination". The Lord is the Lord but that is not apparent until a realized soul reveals the Truth. Then one can know what is God, what are His activities and who we are. Lesser information about the Lord can lead to a partial discovery of the Lord's energies. Only when the Lord is understood in His personal form, however, can one have complete information about the Lord and His diverse material and spiritual energies. Mental speculation will not help one in the least to escape the conditions of life. The process of receiving perfect information from the spiritual master is called the descending process. Without filtering that knowledge, the sincere student accepts the knowledge in submission. This reformatory process is called the hearing process. Hearing with rapt attention about the spectacular activities of the Lord is the bona fide method of consciousness cleansing. Not only does the sincere student find relief from material life but he also finds pleasure in the spiritual activities of the Lord. The Lord, being a person, is fond of pleasure. To increase His pleasure, He enjoys Himself with His pure devotees. These pleasurable activities are known as leela or pastimes. Our personal goal is the journey of discovering who we are in the Lord's leela. The soul is non-different from it's spiritual body and the shape of one's spiritual body is a function of the type of service one wants to render to the Lord. According to one's desire, a reformed conscious self attains an appropriate body for spiritual service.
Source :- krsnaconsciousness.org
A human should inquire, " who am I ?" and " why do I suffer?". That is the beginning of self realization. At that time, a sincere individual is sent a bona fide spiritual master who imparts the complete science of self realization along with a practical daily lifestyle. It is by adhering strictly to the words of the spiritual master that one's consciousness is rectified or reformed. Reformation brings normalization to the self, shedding the self of inaccurate bodily misconceptions. The normalized and reformed conscious self is able to see the pure self and the Supreme Self as two separate and distinct entities, of which the former has an eternal relationship of servitude to the latter characterized by a specific type of spiritual service.
What characterizes a reformed and unreformed conscious entity is his awareness level of the supreme position of God. When the conscious entity is not aware of God, then he is affected by illusion, thinking himself the doer, the seer, the enjoyer and the overlord. Considering his body to be his self, he is subject to the influence of time and space and thinks in terms of birth, death, old age and disease. The unreformed self, due to his dismissal from the Lord's eternal association, executes his free will to separate from the Lord and performs self centered activities in the atmosphere of the material world. A reformed self is one who has given up the tendency that everything is life is going on by his direction and instead recognizes the supremacy of the Lord. He accepts the shelter of the Lord and performs all of his sensual and mental activities for the pleasure of the Lord. In this way, the Lord happily reveals Himself and the reformed self finds actual pleasure.
A reformed living being is no longer affected by the vicissitudes of time and the fluctuations of matter. He has let go of artificial control of the environment and taken shelter of the real proprietor of the material nature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri krishna. Situated in his original and constitutional position, a reformed being experiences boundless joy as a personal associate of the Lord. The greatest burdens of material bondage, namely birth, death, old age and disease, are removed, as though an insurmountable weight had been lifted from his shoulders. In reality, there is only the Lord and His pure devotees but under the influence of the lesser material nature, a conditioned soul is forced to accept illusion for reality. Complete reformation of the consciousness can only take place when the Lord has agreed to lift His veil of illusion in toto. Partial liberation is not sufficient. One must agree to come under the control of the Lord and become His unconditional servant. Then and only then does the material energy cease her control. When a living entity has been fully reformed, he does not intentionally commit sinful activities any longer. His sensual and mental activities are devoted to the Lord's pleasure and the Lord's work. Being situated in pure devotional service, the pure soul remains aloof from matter even while manifesting a material body.
The reformation process is a complete consciousness cleansing. It must by necessity involve complete and infallible information about the Lord. Since the Lord is complete and accurate information about Him is non-different from Him, one needs to hear from a perfect and reliable source. Anything less will not bring one directly into contact with the Lord. The best analogy of this fact is given by our spiritual master when he stated, " not all train tickets lead to the same destination". The Lord is the Lord but that is not apparent until a realized soul reveals the Truth. Then one can know what is God, what are His activities and who we are. Lesser information about the Lord can lead to a partial discovery of the Lord's energies. Only when the Lord is understood in His personal form, however, can one have complete information about the Lord and His diverse material and spiritual energies. Mental speculation will not help one in the least to escape the conditions of life. The process of receiving perfect information from the spiritual master is called the descending process. Without filtering that knowledge, the sincere student accepts the knowledge in submission. This reformatory process is called the hearing process. Hearing with rapt attention about the spectacular activities of the Lord is the bona fide method of consciousness cleansing. Not only does the sincere student find relief from material life but he also finds pleasure in the spiritual activities of the Lord. The Lord, being a person, is fond of pleasure. To increase His pleasure, He enjoys Himself with His pure devotees. These pleasurable activities are known as leela or pastimes. Our personal goal is the journey of discovering who we are in the Lord's leela. The soul is non-different from it's spiritual body and the shape of one's spiritual body is a function of the type of service one wants to render to the Lord. According to one's desire, a reformed conscious self attains an appropriate body for spiritual service.
Source :- krsnaconsciousness.org
