"There
but for the Grace of God go I":
The need for a Spiritual Transmission Master to liberate man
the machine
Are
we machines? — Certainly the signs of "man as machine"
are everywhere. We see "man as machine" on the individual level
in our habits, our addictions, our oedipal (and other archetypal)
patterns; much of our therapy is devoted to purchasing freedom
from such past-regimented patterns. We see "man as machine"
on the global level in centuries-old conflicts that are endlessly
re-ignited by the automatic reactivity of "an eye for an eye".
Only spiritualmaturity
moves us along the spectrum from the "machine" end
toward the "free being" end.
A
body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted on by an
outside force—
We often
learn Newton's first law of motion in the context of billiard
balls on pool tables. But
human beings are rather more complex than billiard balls.
A more apt
metaphor for "man as machine" than the passive billiard
ball is "man as homeostatic
system", a
pattern of egoic activity which, even
when acted on by an outside force, will exert a counter-force,
in order to perpetuate the present pattern.
The
need for Grace
—
An interesting aspect of many contemporary addiction treatment
programs (particularly twelve-step programs) are the steps in
which the addict acknowledges the powerlessness of "man as machine"
to relieve himself of his addiction, and accepts the need for
Grace, or the intervention of a Higher Power, in his life. Just
so, all the spiritual traditions of humankind are oriented around
the need for Grace, and the establishment of a genuine connection
with It, in order to grow not only humanly, but spiritually. But
once one intuits the need for Grace: Where to find It? How to
link up with It? How to benefit from It?
Grace
as the Spiritual Transmission of the Spiritual Master
—
In the traditions of the East, Grace is understood to be a tangible
Spiritual
Transmission from the
Greater Reality, accessible to anybody who is interested, and
willing to live the kind of life that supports its steady reception.
The living Spiritual Master (or Guru) is the means by which one
contacts that Spiritual Transmission. Unlike miraculous visitations,
which, by their nature, can only come and go, the human
Spiritual Master serves as a stable
bridge between the material world and the Greater Reality.
Human
and Spiritual Growth through Divine Distraction—
As Avatar Adi
Da Samraj once humorously put it, while His devotee is "away",
distracted by the ecstasy of His Spiritual Transmission, the Spiritual
Master enters the devotee spiritually, and cleans up the place
"like a little old lady cleaning out a bird cage." This
cleansing, or release of old patterns, is not something the devotee
does by effort; rather, the devotee allows the Master (who, unlike
the devotee, is in a position to know what he or she is doing)
to do the work.
Grace
for World-Blessing Work
—
Interestingly, the Grace of the Spiritual Master has always been
understood to not only serve the Spiritual liberation of individuals,
but also to have a beneficial effect on the world in ordinary
terms. The beneficial effect of Spiritual Transmission on the
world can take many forms. But positive benefits on the material
level are of limited spiritual value, because they pass, and because
we die. To the extent that Spiritual Transmission leads to a more
peaceful world and better life conditions, and thus, an
environment more greatly conducive to Spiritual life,
its use is truly spiritually valuable. But Grace invoked solely
for the sake of material gain has always been criticized by the
human sources of that Grace.
Maintaining
the Availability of Grace over
Time—
The
greatest gift for the world that a Spiritual Master can leave
the world is the establishment of a community of disciples capable
of preserving and even magnifying the Spiritual Master's Transmission
down through the ages. This is in fact one of the primary purposes
behind Avatar Adi Da Samraj's establishment of the Adidam spiritual
community. Such a community would communicate the existence and
availability of Grace to the world at large; and it would persist
in keeping Grace available in the world, until the last "separate
being" was Awakened out of the dream.
