126 - Spiritual Sameness| Swami Tattwamayananda

13th Chapter: Verses 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29<br /><br />Verses 19-21 deal with the two fundamental categories of Samkhya philosophy. (1) Purusha, which is self-effulgent, eternal and inactive. (2) Prakriti, which is active, non-effulgent, and impermanent. The entire universe comes from Prakriti and exists in Prakriti.<br /><br />The problems that we face in our lives are due to our false identification with the impermanent psycho-physical mechanism. The moment we understand that we are higher than this psycho-physical mechanism, that our true nature is Purusha, we can approach life with wisdom and level-headedness.<br /><br />28th verse: “A spiritually enlightened person sees the same divine spark in all beings. He looks upon the whole creation as one entity. He recognizes the impermanent as impermanent and goes beyond the happiness and unhappiness equation – he achieves equanimity. Such a person cannot harm anyone.”<br /><br />Sri Ramakrishna felt this sameness, so it was natural for him to accept all faiths. From what standpoint did he see all religions as the same? It was from the realm of spiritual experience, not from the realm of the empirical. True non-violence, as described in the 28th verse, is also only possible at the spiritual level, when we see everyone as the same.<br /><br />Swami Vivekananda said: “The infinite oneness of soul is the only ethical foundation behind all morality, all good actions and thoughts.”<br /><br />Equanimity of mind is a recognizable characteristic of a spiritually enlightened person. His mind is Prasanna – means it is healthy and does not remind of its existence as an unhealthy mind would. The reference to Prasanna comes from this ayurvedic verse: “sama dosha sama agnischa sama dhatu mala kriyaaha| Prasanna atma indriya manaha swastha iti abhidheeyate”. It means that a man is in perfect health when he is physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally healthy. This verse emphasizes that physical health needs to be complemented with a pleasantly disposed and content