In a June 1895 letter, Swami Vivekananda wrote from Thousand Island Park in upstate New York to Mary Hale in Chicago (CW, 8. 344):
“The more the shades around deepen and the more the ends approach, the more one understands the true meaning of life, that it is a dream; and we begin to understand the failure of everyone to grasp it, for they only attempted to get meaning out of meaninglessness … Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage. Denial of the will to live, knowledge, and samesightedness is the trinity of liberation. Freedom is the goal of the universe.”
This profound passage from Swamiji’s letter provides a good starting point to reflect on the dimensions of inner freedom. “The shades around deepen” through age, but there’s no guarantee that, on its own, merely getting old will produce a deeper understanding of life. To understand “the true meaning of life,” what is needed is maturity. Only a mature person sees life for what it truly is. Without maturity, neither the “trinity of bondage” nor the “trinity of liberation” will make sense.
There are three kinds of maturity: physical, psychological, spiritual. The first two—physical and psychological maturity—generally occur with age, though not necessarily at the same speed and certainly the extent of maturity varies from person to person. But spiritual maturity is neither a function of age nor even of experience. It is possible to grow old physically and yet remain a baby spiritually. It is possible to have all sorts of experiences and yet never learn enough from them to grow spiritually. On the other hand, it is quite possible to see amazing spiritual maturity in someone who is young and “inexperienced” in the eyes of the world.
What is necessary for spiritual maturity? At least four factors come to mind readily.
Learning to observe without judging
The first factor is the ability to observe things without reacting immediately. It is easy to react, but difficult to withhold judgment and reaction. When we react to what is happening outside, we inevitably get involved in it. A detached witness sees things differently than someone who is involved in a situation. Sri Ramakrishna gave the example of people playing chess and others observing them. The observers can often see things that the players themselves do not. (Gospel, 439, 863)
Learning to let go of the ego
But the ability to oberve calmly and without reacting can be acquired only when there is a substantial reduction of the ego, which is the second factor essential for spiritual maturity. When the ego is strong, it wants to get involved in everything. With involvement comes the loss of capacity to be a neutral witness and the inability to put one’s experiences in the right context.
Learning to see the larger picture
The third requirement, then, is the ability to place one’s observations and experiences in a larger picture, and see how they relate to one’s own place in life. The ability to step back from the details does not come easily, but without it one cannot view a situation on a broader compass. Micro-management is not necessarily bad, but without a macro-view, it can lead to unintended and often unfortunate results.
Learning from experience
Finally, for spiritual maturity we need the ability to learn from our experiences. Swami Vivekananda used to say: “To learn is religion.” (See Swami Atulananda, With the Swamis in America and India, p. 290.) It is not enough to merely have different kinds of experiences in life, we need the ability to learn the lessons that every experience brings. This can be a lifelong process. Sri Ramakrishna’s words come to mind: “As long as I live, so long do I learn.”
These four factors, thus, are crucial for the development of spiritual maturity: observation without reacting, reduction of the ego, contextualizing one’s experiences, and learning from them. It is only a spiritually mature mind that can understand the significance of the “trinity of bondage” and the “trinity of freedom.”
Reflections on the two “trinity”-s will be attemped in upcoming blogs.