22nd June 2016
By Rohil Jethmalani
Guest writer for Wake Up World
For the initiate, spiritual growth is unceasing, non-linear, limitless and not pegged to time. One cannot actually decipher clear stages to spiritual growth; each person’s lessons and karmic debts vary substantially enough not to be able to make overarching claims. Similarly, trends within our own life are never brought into complete clarity for us; we are always one step behind understanding the magical unfolding that is this precious life.
Nevertheless, at an energetic level everyone is challenged and rubbed through similar feelings albeit in different settings. We must all learn to flow through the river of thought, down towards the ocean of silence. Everyone will be presented with the invitation to ignite the heart; the sparks coming off of our painful human disjointedness. One has to pierce through the illusion and ground oneself through feelings of lack, in the quest to manifest abundance. And, when we are ready for strengthening, we must take a huge leap of faith into the abyss of uncertain insecurities.
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Keeping these things in mind, the first step on the path is an initial encounter with potential; a temporarily drowned being, with an emerging soul gasping for light. This awakening stage is beautiful, and never truly ends. Our relationship with potential keeps deepening, while our quest for light matures.
The next stage overlaps onto the first stage (assigning time stamps between the stages is meaningless), is a far more gruelling process of energetic alignment. Once we comprehend the extent of largess that life has to offer, we are invited to replicate that largess within ourselves. Our choices, lifestyle patterns, emotional patterns, relationships, and most importantly how we treat our body temple all come up for review. We begin to see with clarity, the karmic threads that we have been weaving around us; constricting wild freedom into tamed density. This step on the path beckons our attention throughout life, but as we mature spiritually, the energetic alignment is accomplished effortlessly. If we wish to delay becoming spiritually mature, we become obsessed in loving our ego selves; indulging in simply feeling the breeze of sensory pleasures, when with some more work, and strengthened deepening, we can learn to fly in the tempest of spirit.
While we are setting up the foundation stone of the energetic alignment, we are hit with the next stage that requires us to find equanimity in suffering. This stage is highly uncomfortable; outwardly forcing us to retreat to our comfortable cocoons, while secretly hoping for us to masterfully rise after each plummet. Feelings of loneliness, feelings of lack, fissures between ourselves and the reality that surrounds us, characterize this stage. There is no true way out of this stage except through learning to be present with the pain, riding it out through the lowest of lows until the pain can’t stand your presence further. Bouts of intense pain will keep arising, just to make sure that we have been working on cultivating presence. This stage is hardest at the onset, but gets easier with practice. The period of time required to get through the onset phase of this stage is linked to how much soul presence we cultivate as opposed to ego self-love.
Ego self-love allows us a window to escape the pain; it makes us believe, and dangerously so, that life is not meant to be so intense. Alongside the internal processes of this stage, we also begin to see the pain in the world around us; the various types of pain and unjustness manifesting from the harsh, deepening suffering of Mother Earth. We feel a deep inner calling to do something that benefits the greater whole, and many a times the martyr arrives alongside this calling; here to save humanity and the planet.
Soon the next stage arrives, interspersed with hiccups of fear and wild freedom, asking us to do the most dangerous things. It usually arrives as a layer upon the other stages; for most, while the structural foundations of the 2nd and 3rd stages are still weak. This stage carries a blessing. The blessing while it can implode the entire process if rejected, can also provide strengthening if accepted. This is the stage of spiritual strengthening. We begin to hear the voice within clearly, we do the inner work diligently and are rewarded exponentially; we understand clearly what is meant for us and what isn’t. During this stage on the path, we will be presented with a primal yearning for wild freedom that will embrace us on one condition: that we take the leap.
Regardless of individual circumstance there will come a point where we must drastically alter the course of our lives, we must leap into an abyss of uncertainty, forgoing all stability that has for so long been sucking us dry. Many choose not to accept the strengthening, and there are a thousand ways to come up with the perfect reasons as to why this strengthening is not worth it. We believe there are numerous other things that would help us grow more than what we otherwise would by taking the leap. Taking the leap is a permanent trap, trapping all within us that is contracting, expelling all limiting presence within us, while making the final offering of all our presence to the master; the soul.
The strengthening that blossoms after the leap is what allows us to start the long blissful journey of soul retrieval. We must go far and wide within, to pick up all the shattered pieces of ourselves. Each piece found, an indescribable treasure. One makes the shift from the martyr trying to save humanity and the planet, to the messiah trying to collect pieces of the soul. The pieces of the soul contain the secrets for igniting the sacred fires that will restore Shambhala on Earth.
About the author:
My name is Rohil Jethmalani, and I live in Pune, India. I currently work with Prayas (energy group) whom are a research and advocacy organization working under the ambit of the energy sector. I am actually making a transition in my career path as we speak, working on one last project. I wish to devote myself completely to the sacred path of spirit, helping other souls that I meet to also partake in the magnificent light the emanates from within. The article I have written above, is largely reflective of my own inner process. I don’t currently have a website, but if you’d like to get in touch my email address is: [email protected]
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