However when it comes to spiritual laws, this murder is committed not when this person dies; not when you injure him; not when you plan to kill him; but when you think of killing him for the first time. This first feeling or thought of killing him is the seed of this murder and as soon as this seed is planted, the tree and the fruits of this seed are mere formalities. Hence if this feeling or thought has corrupted your mind through your ego; the crime has been committed and sooner or later; you’re bound to kill.
It doesn’t mean you’ll end up killing the same person and it simply means that you’ll certainly end up engaging in an act of violence against a species; where the quantum of such violence may be equal to murder. For instance, if this person is much more powerful than you; you may not be able to kill him directly and this murder may happen in a number of different ways; depending on your overall personality and depending on some other variables.
For instance; if you like hunting; you may kill an animal; each time the thought of killing this person gains strength. It means that though you’re physically killing an animal during each one of such acts; in your mind; you’re killing this person. Though the law of the land may hold you responsible for killing this animal, if there is one such law; the spiritual law will hold you responsible for killing this person. This is because you’re killing all these animals in order to take out your anger against this person. Hence you’re killing this person deep down; each time you kill an animal after the thought of killing this person troubles your mind.
It means that your true intention behind an act is what matters the most in case of spiritual laws; and the effect of such act is secondary. Since your deepest intention while killing such animals is to kill this person; though even you may not know it consciously as it may happen subconsciously; you’re killing this person and not these animals.
During an encounter between a law enforcing agency and a criminal or a number of criminals; sometimes; innocent people are killed in cross fire and some of them may be killed by the bullets fired by the law enforcing agencies. Why is it so that these agencies are not punished for doing so? This is because their intention is to kill criminals and innocent people get killed by accident. Likewise, your intention is to kill this person and the animals are killed by accident. We’ll discuss more about this topic; later on.
Kindly understand that your spiritual growth is all about what is happening inside and it has got nothing to do with what is happening outside. In the deepest sense; any desire or wish once born inside you; is bound to come true one day or another; and it is only a matter of time. It means if you keep thinking of hurting a specific person or you keep thinking about killing him; you’ll eventually end up hurting or killing; though it may happen in this life or in the next life. Hence the law of the land can only judge you guilty when you injure or kill him physically, since the law doesn’t go deeper than the body in most cases.
However when it comes to the spiritual law; which means the law of your soul as well as that of the universe; you’re guilty as soon as you start killing this person inside your mind. This is because the corruption has already been caused; it’ll keep affecting your mind in a negative way due to which, your spiritual growth will be hindered; and that is what matters the most in the domain of spiritual laws. When it comes to the spiritual laws; their biggest concern is your own spiritual growth, and not other people.
Accordingly, whatever hinders your spiritual growth or whatever makes you travel in a direction opposite to that of spiritual advancement; is a crime. As a rule; more is this shift away from spiritual advancement, more is the quantum of crime committed through such thought or act. This is because the most precious thing in this universe is your spiritual growth and accordingly; any act that hurts your spiritual growth is the most serious type of act. More such an act hurts your spiritual growth; more is the quantum of crime. This is because more corruption means less harmony and less harmony means less spiritual growth.
In the deepest sense, the journey of spiritual growth is the journey of your mind and it is not the journey of your soul. This is because no changes can be made to the soul and all the changes are made to the mind only. If it is your mind which experiences all the good and bad changes; and if it is your mind which has to overcome all the problems which come your way; it is indeed the journey of your mind. It has already been mentioned that the ultimate stage of spiritual growth called sainthood is reached when your conscious and subconscious mind form perfect harmony on permanent basis.
It once again means this journey is indeed the journey of your mind and not that of your soul. Since your subconscious mind and soul are so closely attached; it becomes difficult to differentiate between them and that is why we use the word soul instead of using the word mind; or to be precise; the subconscious mind. As already mentioned; the same subconscious mind stays with your soul from beginning till the end, though some other entities may keep changing; like your body and conscious mind which change in each life. It is your subconscious mind which records all the experiences whether good or bad; through your conscious minds in different lives, throughout the journey of your soul.
Likewise, it is your mind which is responsible for each and every act, thought and feeling of yours. Hence it is indeed the journey of your mind. This is why it’s been mentioned many times that hell, heaven and liberation are the states of your mind and nothing else. Since it is your mind which reaches and experiences these states; it is the journey of your mind in the deepest sense. The soul on the other hand is more like a witness and it keeps watching each and everything which happens on the way to this journey.
Suppose you own a car and you have a driver also. Suppose you’re in a specific mood today, you ask your driver to drive to any place or places he wants; you don’t intend to interfere at all and you just want to be a witness to this drive or journey. As the journey starts; though you’re the owner of this car and you have the right to change the course of this journey anytime; this journey is indeed your driver’s journey in the deepest sense; since he’s the one who’s in charge of this journey and you’re merely a witness, until you choose to interfere.
The same happens in case of the soul also and it never interferes directly in this journey of your mind; though it does interfere indirectly through the conscience, which is the purest product produced by it. We’ll discuss this topic in details; in one of the coming parts of this book.
Let’s now look at these variables which are considered in case of spiritual law. Any entity which hinders or restricts the spiritual growth of your soul or so to say that of your mind at any point in time; is guilty and the crime is considered committed, as soon as such hindrance appears. Such acts of hindrances may be committed by your intellect or your heart at times; though they’re mostly committed by your ego.
Your body and your conscience don’t commit such crimes as your body is simply a tool and it can’t do anything on its own; and your conscience means the crime fighting agency in case of spiritual law. It means it is the job of your conscience to fight these crimes and help you achieve more and more spiritual growth. Since the conscience comes through soul; the soul does become indirectly involved in this journey.
When it comes to your conscious and subconscious mind; they can’t commit such crimes on their own and they’re used more like the weapons in the hands of your heart, intellect and ego at different times. Since the weapon is not considered guilty of a crime and the person using the weapon is considered guilty; the mind can’t be considered guilty in the deepest sense; and the entity using your mind at any time; for one such act of crime or corruption is guilty. Hence when you look at the bottom; all the corruptions are initiated from your intellect, heart or ego. Since heart and intellect can initiate corruptions only when they’re corrupted by ego; ego is in the root of all corruptions. We’ll discuss this topic in details; later on.
Coming back to the conditions which corrupt your love for this woman; as soon as you tell or expect her to wear long skirts; it is about your choice and it is not about her choice. Hence it is corruption and not love. Always remember the basic rule of love; as long as your lover is primary; it’s love. On the other hand, the moment you or your wish becomes primary; your love is corrupted. This is because in order for you or your wish to be primary; ego has to be there within you as this job is done only by the ego and by no other entity in most cases. Moving on, as long as there is ego; there can never be pure love because the percentage of ego means the percentage of corruption in your love.
Technically it means that only a liberated soul is able to practice pure love since the moment ego drops to 0% which means the moment it disappears; you’re liberated. However, since a soul can reach a stage as high as having 1% ego or even less; before achieving liberation as every soul has to cross this point at one point in time or another; as the journey of spiritual growth is progressive; all of us can engage in love; which is almost pure.
Since spiritual journey is progressive as well as continuous; the best thing about it is that we can make progress with each and every passing second, even if such progress is small. However, small or big progress is secondary and what is primary is the fact that progress is happening; and that too in the right direction. For instance, if you’re supposed to go to distant city, you’re supposed to go on foot; this city is about 1000 kms from the point of start of your journey; this is what may happen. Though 1000 kms means 1 million steps approximately, and when you compare the first step taken by you to complete this journey or any step for that matter; it may look like nothing in comparison to 1 million steps.
In reality; the first step and any other step on the way to this destination is equally important and equally relevant as the last step and hence they’re all the same. It should be noted that though you officially reach this destination when you take your step number 1 million which is the last step of this journey; this step is dependent on each one of the steps which comes before it. Can you imagine taking your last step without taking your first step, your step number 100, your step number 1000 or any other step for that matter?