Spiritual Quest: The Forgotten Knowledge

Spirituality has many shades, but the spiritual quest is different from other forms of spiritual pursuit. Spiritual quest is not commercialized feel-good-pseudo-spirituality. It is neither spiritual perversion of sexual orientation nor is it Perennialism. It is not esoteric sciences, asceticism, mysticism and ritualism. It is not table-turning, telepathy, tele-'vision', seeing colorful lights of auras or energies, gaining access to secret information, development of will power, creating miracles nor enhancing psychic powers even though such psychic powers do occur in the course of the journey, due to touching the power of the soul. Spiritual quest is an experiential knowledge that cannot be grasped by reading books, by learning from the internet or even from listening to discourses. It is to work on proper lines aimed at purifying the heart, mind and soul so that one can attain realization of the ultimate questions of life regarding man, cosmos and God. It is to achieve unshakable faith without a tincture of doubt.  

Spiritual quest is also a covenant. Spiritual aspirants take an oath to serve mankind, animals, plants and the rest of God’s creation. But this cannot be actualized unless one’s heart is awakened and their higher consciousness further developed. There must be strong passion for God like a coal burning, ready to be consumed and annihilated into ashes. This passion will soon be reflected as mercy and love towards God’s creations. It will make us act responsibly towards them.

Different spiritual institutions adopt different methods and techniques to reach the Divine or awaken to the Self. The cardinal technique administered by each institution becomes associated with their overall movement. The techniques administered by different spiritual institutions are according to our different bodies or sheaths.  Our body consists of at least five sheaths/shells or koshas. Purifying these shells will uncover the spirit within. These according to Vedanta and Yogis are;

Yogis/Taoism

Annamaya Kosha – the physical shell

Pranamaya Kosha – the pranic shell

Manomaya Kosha – the mental shell

Vijnanamaya Kosha – the wisdom shell

Anandamaya Kosha – the bliss shell and then, the Atma, the soul.

In Taoism, the meridian system associated with the different elements are administered. But fundamentally lies in the Yin and Yang balance of energy. The Taoist system is nearly similar to the Yogic system.

Kabbalah

The same philosophy can be found in Kabbalah Jewish mysticism;

Nefesh - the physical body

Ruach - is emotional energy and is the equivalent of Pranamaya in the Indian system.

Neshamah - is the mental body. The mental body is the story mind, the mind that creates thoughts. This is the Judaic equivalent of Manomaya.

Chaya - is the Judaic equivalent of the wisdom mind or Vijnanamaya. Chaya encompasses the awareness mind and the veil of the will which makes us aware of ourselves as separate beings.

Yechida - is the bliss state or Anandamaya aspect. The Bliss body is the state of oneness within ourselves.  This is the beingness aspect of the higher soul.

Buddhism

Likewise, in Buddhism, these are encapsulated into Trikaya (The Doctrine of the Three Bodies) We can sum up the three bodies as;

Rupakaya – the Body of Forms which encompasses nirmanakaya- body of emanation, and sambhogakaya- bliss body.

Dharmakaya -  the Body of the Mind. It also consists of two forms; jnanakaya, or wisdom truth body and consciousness.

Swabhavikakaya - the Body of Pure Suchness, which is the emptiness of consciousness.

Sufism

While in Sufism these are bifurcated into Khalaq (world of creation) and Amr (world of command).

And other Sufic schools combined these two as:

Nasut - physical realm

Malakut - intelligence/wisdom

Jabrut - power and will

Lahut - similar to Khafi

Hahut - similar to Ikhfa

Different schools take different routes to achieve realization. The physical element being the most difficult to purify will be the last to be purified, after purifying the rest of the subtle bodies which are easier to tackle. Hence, Yogis take the route through the pranic sheath in order to unlock the primordial energy known as kundalini or Ch’i in Taoism. Thus, their techniques are centered on breathwork while Buddhism takes the route through the mind to still its vibrations in order to uncover the wisdom shell and move beyond.

Sufis on the hand, take the route through the heart or the bliss center, connected closely to the spirit within. They aim to awaken the dead heart through love because love is the most powerful force created by God in the universe. Sufis do not fight to still their mind because concentration is natural when you are in love. But love is not an end by itself; it is a means to achieve higher, profound and perfect states of being, a true servant to the Beloved, enabling us to attain peace within ourselves and help us to permanently establish God’s Presence in our hearts and improve our relationship with God such that we move, think, speak, see and hear by the impact of God’s light without vacillating between obedience and disobedience.

These methodologies are soul moving experiences that will make us surmount our weakness, facilitate good deeds and set us on to the road to fulfilling our destiny.