ARE YOU BECOMING A BETTER PERSON?

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

107. ARE YOU BECOMING A BETTER PERSON?
Spiritual perfection and divine perfection follow ethical perfection. Where there is dharma
(righteousness) there is adhyatma (spirituality). Where there is true adhyatma, there is bound to be
true dharma. If there is adhyatma and true dharma is lacking, then the adhyatma is imperfect; it is
not complete.
These truths must be very clearly understood and grasped. They should be made the basis of
our spiritual life. Dharma is the foundation, sadhana is the structure, adhyatma is the completion.
Even if the structure is all complete but no roof has been put on it, no one can live in it. Adhyatma,
therefore, is that which completes. But, both the structure of sadhana as well as the completing roof
of adhyatma can only be raised upon the foundation of dharma.
God alone is perfect, eternally perfect. No one is perfect in this created phenomenal world,
but all have the potential for perfection. And life is a means, a chance for rising beyond
imperfection, of shedding one’s imperfection and gradually making the incomplete complete, of
rising into a state of perfection. That is why life has been given. And sadhana is the method; it is the
technique. Sadhana is the scientific system of attaining that perfection.
An unripe fruit in a garden is imperfect. It is neither sweet nor satisfying. It is hard and sour
and may be bitter also. One cannot enjoy it because it is imperfect. An unripe fruit has to utilise all
nature around it in order to gradually rise above its state of imperfection and become a perfect,
delicious, juicy, sweet, tasty, ripe fruit which gives satisfaction and nourishment, which gives great
joy to one and all—birds and beasts as well as man.

So, the whole process is a gradual transformation from imperfection to perfection, from
incompleteness to completeness, from a defective human nature into a beautiful, all-perfect divine
nature. And the potential for this transformation is within each human individual. God dwells in all
beings, but all beings cannot become aware of His indwelling divinity. It is only given to man who
can think, reason, reflect, introspect, read, listen, understand, gain knowledge and expand his
understanding of himself. To this unique being alone is open the ability, the scope and the
possibility of recognising this mission and engaging in purposeful, meaningful endeavour—and
thus become perfect.
Therefore, one of the unfailing touchstones and one of the necessary tests of a truly spiritual
life and a rightly oriented sadhana is: “What is my sadhana doing to me? What is my spiritual life
doing to me?” Quite apart from its connection with God or our eternal Reality, spiritual life and
sadhana have also to be tested upon the basis and factor of your relationship to God’s creation.
As you are proceeding in your spiritual life, are you becoming a more and more
compassionate person towards God’s creatures? Are you becoming a more and more truthful
person in your dealing with other persons? Are you becoming more and more a person of sublime,
noble and pure thoughts, sentiments, motivations and actions? Is this taking place? Is the
unripeness of an imperfect human nature gradually giving place to a maturity, to a ripeness of a
spiritual nature? And is it ultimately moving towards a perfection, a divine perfection in a divine
manner?
Day by day, one should test oneself upon this touchstone: “What is my sadhana and my
spiritual life doing to me? What process is taking place within me, within my mind, my heart, my
gaze, my attitude and approach to life, within the inner hidden motives behind my activity which
only God, the indwelling Reality, knows and I know—perhaps.”
This is the touchstone. Are you becoming a better neighbour to your neighbour? Are you
becoming a better disciple to your guru, a better fellow seeker to other fellow seekers? Are you
becoming a positive, creative factor of inspiration and adoration in your contemporary human
society? What is happening to you?
It is very, very important that you keep a tab on what is happening to you, what you are
becoming. Because they say that sadhana is a sort of alchemy, a process of alchemy. Alchemy is
that hidden, mysterious science by which base metal is turned into gold, the royal metal. And that
alchemy must take place within your personality—within your thoughts and feelings, your
objectives and motivations, your conduct and character. Any real, authentic sadhana and spiritual
life, any genuine yoga, must inevitably, invariably bring about this inner transformation.
An orchard is valuable because fruits ripen. If there were only green and sour fruit in the
orchard, no one would go near it. In the garden of spiritual living, this inner process of becoming
ripe, of becoming mature, must invariably follow all sadhana that is rightly engaged in, all sadhana
that is correctly oriented, all sadhana that is being done with an in-depth understanding of what it is
supposed to do to one’s life, to one’s nature and personality.

Therefore, this touchstone is a method of testing yourself, of ascertaining the nature of your
sadhana, whether it is going upon correct lines, whether it is being done with understanding,
whether it is bringing about an inner transformation. This here and now inner transformation is as
equally important as the ultimate brahma-jnana. I want to say it is even more important. It is a
precursor to that. If it is taking place it will ultimately lead you to brahma-jnana, to total perfection
in God-experience. If it is not taking place, you will have to wait long, because there is something
blocking the needed inner transformation.
Sadhana makes a person a good person. Sadhana makes a person a truthful, tolerant,
compassionate person. Sadhana creates a person of noble character, pure conduct, holy life, of
sanctity in all one’s activities. Thus it becomes the gradual process of the ascent of the spirit towards
God-consciousness.
Imperfection is not to be kept forever. Though we may be born imperfect, it is not to be
tolerated, not to be maintained. It is to be got rid of, transcended, to be made to give place to
perfection. That is life. That is the meaning of life, the value of life.
Therefore, with this goal in view, one should work upon oneself upon all levels of one’s
being, becoming better and better, day by day, until one becomes godly, divine, full and totally
perfect. This, indeed, is each one’s responsibility, each one’s mission in life, each one’s great duty.