Message 2-July

Spiritual Practice Is to Become the Spirit

The true purpose of spiritual practice is not merely to become peaceful or religious. Its highest purpose is to become the Spirit itself.

The Spirit belongs to the spiritual dimension, not to the materialistic world. It does not seek possessions, relationships, achievements, or worldly identity. Its natural state is freedom. Therefore, it has no desire to remain bound to the material world for longer than necessary.

Human suffering at the time of death is not caused by death itself. It is caused by attachment. The mind, the "I", identifies itself with the body, family, wealth, status, memories, and countless desires. When death approaches, the mind resists leaving everything it has accumulated. This resistance creates fear, anxiety, and pain.

If the "I" is transformed into the Spirit during one's lifetime, death is no longer painful. The Spirit has no attachment to the material world. It simply leaves the body as one leaves an old garment, without fear or sorrow.

This is the purpose of Chivality.

Chivality prepares the seeker to go beyond the mind. Through Silentation and continuous remembrance of the Master, the mind gradually dissolves. When the "I" dies before the physical body dies, what remains is pure intellectual energy, called Chivam.

In Chivality:

- Energy associated with both the mind and the intellect is called a human being.

- Energy associated only with the intellect, free from the mind, is called Chivam.

The mind creates individuality, desires, expectations, emotions, and attachments. The intellect, when freed from the mind, remains pure, silent, and free from all bondage. This is the natural state of Chivam.

Human beings fear death because they believe they are leaving behind everything they own. They fear losing their identity and their relationships. Chivam has no such fear because it possesses nothing. Where there is no possession, there is nothing to lose. Where there is no attachment, there is no suffering.

Most people are concerned only with how they live. They strive for comfort, wealth, recognition, and success. But from the spiritual point of view, how one leaves the world is far more important than how one lives in it.

The state of consciousness at the moment of death determines what follows after death. If the mind remains with its desires and attachments, its journey continues according to those impressions. As long as the mind exists, life continues in one form or another.

Wherever there is life, there is mind. The body may perish, but the mind carries its tendencies forward. Therefore, merely leaving the physical body does not end the cycle of life.

Chivam is different. Chivam is not a living individual. It is pure intellectual energy without the mind. It is beyond the cycle of birth and death. Since there is no mind, there is no individual life to continue.

People often think they are maintaining life by preserving the body. In reality, the body is only a material instrument. Preserving the body is not the same as preserving life. Life continues because of the mind, not because of the body.

The real spiritual journey is therefore not to preserve life indefinitely, but to transcend it by dissolving the mind.

To attain the lifeless condition is not to become dead. It is to become free from the mind while still living. It is to become Chivam—pure intellectual energy, free from individuality, free from fear, free from attachment, and free from the endless cycle of birth and death.

This is the ultimate goal of Chivality.

Namachivayam