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SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE
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within us and whatever values exist outside us are only a few drops thrown out by the inner sea. The essence of our experiences and of that which gives value to them lies within us and that is the Supreme Being. It illumines the entire universe. If this being were to go to sleep, the entire universe will be changed into a meaningless mass of darkness.
While performing our journey we will go on reciting : "Let the soul see itself; do not encumbre it with a medium of perception." It means that the soul will perceive itself, by itself and not through any medium of perception.
Those who take this journey as freshers will find it difficult. They might be beset with difficulties. They might naturally ask whether there are two souls, one which perceives and the other which is the object of perception. When we say, “Seet he soul," does it not mean that the soul which is the object of perception is different from the soul which perceives it ? This question is quite natural. It is the nature of man to divide. There are divisions in the field of business, and commerce, in religion and in politics. The tendency to divide brought about a division in the spiritual world also. We cannot but see the soul divided. We are dualists. This dualism troubles and confuses us only until we have begun our spiritual pilgrimage. It will disappear once we have started on our journey. Once we have completed the journey, it will disappear once for all.
We usually look at what is outside us. We have become so much enamoured of things outside us that even the soul has become an extrovert. It has assumed an outward form with the result that our entire attitude has become inclined towards the world outside us. The soul which had hitherto remained within us has begun to identify itself with the world outside it. It has begun to superimpose itself on the world of objects other than itself.
Logicians tell us that if we want to see a lamp, we do not need another lamp. In order to see a shining object we do not need another shining object. Light is self-revealing. It would be stupid of us if we burnt a lamp to see the sun. The soul which shines like the sun needs no material medium
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