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The Re-Awakening of Soul
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Editorial
“The mind is only an instrument for the Atma (Soul) to use within this world of matter.”
The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, Pg. 69
“Spiritual liberation comes when one finds himself established in the Atma Sarup (Soul body).”
– The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad Pg.71
Recently, one morning while holding my cell-phone in my hand, it went dead for no apparent reason. I have been using one of the most recent phones in the market – The Motorola V70. A very portable and nice looking phone that has the uniqueness of a rotator face not seen with any other phone. Within the few months I had it, I developed such comfort with it that I decided to make use of its phonebook memory as my general phonebook. I got rid of my phone notebook and programmed all my numbers in the phone. I stopped dialing in the numbers when I wanted to make calls, rather I simply pushed a button or two to make my calls.
I have always been an advocate of the theory that man should not always depend on technology to survive. I have always argued that although technology offers some “comfort” and “convenience,” too much dependence on technology takes away man’s ability to make use of his natural creativity, survival instinct, and ability to do things in a way that would keep him closer to who he is – Soul, a spark of God.
Incidentally, the sudden death of my phone brought me to the reality that I had become a
subject of my above concern. After I retrieved the memory card and slotted it in a new phone, I realized that the numbers were all gone, lost, and nowhere to be found. The numbers did not store on the card as I had thought all along. All of a sudden I was incommunicado because I could not make calls that I needed to make. I could not remember any of the numbers including the ones I dialed everyday since I had them all programmed.
After trying in vain to retrieve the numbers, I gave up and decided to start afresh in accumulating over 300 numbers that I had in my kitty just days ago. I. I am now waiting for each person to call me and I will then take down his or her numbers (some numbers are gone forever because their owners may never call). It is going to be a long and tedious task
but I have learnt my lesson. I had trusted too much in my phone’s phonebook and in that process, I had reduced the use of my own memory to redundancy in that regard. Now, I am learning to dial numbers the old way so I could remember them again. With each new phone
number I re-collect and re-record, my memory (brain) goes through a discipline of staying awake and less dependent on the technology of cell-phone, a process of detachment.
So it is with the play of Soul and the mind. When Soul cultivates the habit of depending on the mind and becoming attached to the ways of the mind, it forgets or diminishes Its (Soul’s) ability to express itself as Soul, a Spark of God. It becomes of greater concern when the mind becomes the master. As the saying goes, “fire is a good servant but a bad master.”
It goes for the mind just like my phone.
The same way it took the death of my phone for me to be reminded not to depend so much on the phone, a mechanical object, so also would jolts and events of life shake us and wake us up to reexamine our over-dependence on our minds. But do we take note of the waking calls, or do we simply see them as mere passing events? The mind ought to serve as an instrument for Soul during Soul’s sojourn in this world of matter. Soul has to awaken from Its slumber and take control or the mind could go wild like an uncontrollable wildfire. This is why the masters always urge the spiritual student to recognize his identity as Soul. To be, see, and know as Soul, for that is the path of true spiritual liberation. This is only my understanding, and I am still learning.
THE RE-AWAKENING OF SOUL
Soul is mired in the matter game,
Conceding Its nature Divine
To the frivolities of the mind
Guided by pleasures of materiality
Ignoring the signs of the waking calls,
Soul rides the cycle of attachment,
Becoming the slave to the mind,
A contrary state of affairs.
But then the day finally comes
When Soul through the illusion breaks
Free from shackles that never were,
But Awakened again to Its reality.
EPILOGUE
As some would conclude that it is odd for a man not to take advantage of the leisure of technology such as my cell-phone’s phonebook memory in this 21st century, so would many surmise that a man is weird for ignoring the pleasures of life and rather choosing the path of love and spiritual liberation.
It is part of human nature for man to distance himself from what he cannot fathom, or even ignore or condemn it as unorthodox, but man can do better if he can honestly confront himself.
©Oliver O.
Mbamara, 2003
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Oliver Mbamara is an Administrative Law
Judge with the State of New York. He is also a filmmaker and a Published
Poet and playwright. For more on Oliver, please visit
www.olivermbamara.com
For background/research reference on this
piece, click on this link
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