Spiritual development in the human is a matter of slow growth and gradual evolution and those who are unwilling to pay the price of patient self-discipline can never hope to reach enlightenment and liberation from the illusions and suffering of the physical world. Today most people lean towards quick methods and are disinclined to accept patience and perseverance as the way to success, let alone accept the fact that the path of purification may require more than one lifetime of effort. It is very hard for many to adapt an attitude of determination to pursue the goal relentlessly, never daunted by failures, never too elated by temporary successes, and in knowing what is necessary as the qualification for treading the spiritual path. Anyone starting on this path for less than pure reasons and full determination is doomed to disappointment and failure from the onset.

Before one can embark upon the spiritual path one needs to lay the foundation for this path. This means developing strength, unselfishness and a high order of purity. We need a strong character in order to handle the descent of higher consciousness into the lower vehicles, because this throws a very severe stress on the vehicles. Unless strength of character has been developed we open ourselves to a break down of a more or less serious nature. The testing of our strength comes in the form of daily temptations, trials and difficulties in life. As a result of this training and applied self-discipline, the aspirant slowly develops strength like steel which can stand tremendous strains without breaking.

Another very important qualification on the path is an unselfish outlook upon all things. For the greater the strength, the greater the need for safeguards, so that strength may be used only for unselfish purposes and not used to injure others. The higher one rises in the scale of evolution the greater becomes his powers and these must be used for doing only good and not to harm others. We must eliminate once and for all that tendency to seek powers and prestige for our own personal glorification that is a common trait for all ambitious and self-centered persons. Selfishness and self-interest are not of the spiritual way of life, and the best way to break these habits is to be of service to humanity in the spirit of selflessness. We can perform good deeds for the sake of good karma, but for the deeds to be selfless they should be performed as an offering to the Almighty.

Also, the third requisite for laying the foundation of higher consciousness is purity of body, mind and emotions. The chief obstruction on the path to higher consciousness is the impurity of the lower bodies, especially of the mind, because a mind that is impure cannot mirror higher truths. A body that cannot vibrate at a higher rate cannot embrace the higher divine possibilities. A veil of contamination separates the higher from the lower and prevents us from seeing the vision of our real true Self. Only when the foundation has been carefully set can the superstructure of a truly spiritual life be raised with assurance.

It must also be remembered that each individual is different from all others and although everyone may be on the same path, each individual goes at his own rate and he starts wherever he may be in consciousness. Since each individual is unique one cannot just blindly blunder along the path towards liberation. Each case being different, each must set up certain guidelines best suited to their own case.

To start with, we should gather together all of our scattered mental energies and concentrate them on the problems of life. The mind cannot be permitted to run hither and thither, but it must now run in meaningful lines, since the mind is the slayer of reality, that is, it distorts everything before it reaches one's consciousness. So, now let the disciple slay the slayer. Slaying the mind means to acquire the ability to see through the illusions before they reach our consciousness. This is accomplished by developing discrimination, the faculty which is the highest form that destroys the unreal world and reveals the real.

When the center of consciousness is stabilized in its new position and life is viewed from the higher plane of buddhic, instead of the plane of the mind, then truth will burst from the source in the buddhic plane. This is the approach through the higher intellect; but buddhi is dual in its character, so the emotional path is also valid and best suited to one of a highly emotional nature.

It is also true that the life of the personality in any incarnation is full and dynamic only on the physical plane and therefore the time spent on the physical plane is the most important. On the physical plane the human is complete, can initiate actions and grow in capacities. Whereas, the life after death on the astral and mental planes is merely where one is reaping and consolidating the results of what one has done in the previous life on the physical plane. Thus, any being wishing to go up the ladder of evolution to liberation must come by the way of physical life.

One reason that our memory is locked off when we come into this world is to give us full expression to be able to live out this life in the manner in which we planned it. Otherwise, if we could remember our past lives, we would be overcome with fears and doubts and the end result would be that we would accomplish nothing.

The real purpose of each life is to have as much activity initiated from within as possible in order to transmute our ideals into dynamic living and make the personality a mere expression and instrument of the higher Self. It is true that the way to the higher mind is through the lower mind, that to the buddhic it’s through emotions, and to the Atma it’s through action. Each lifetime is meant to be more dynamic and more productive than the last life, and this is evolution.

Also, whatever our desires may be in any life, or the last unfulfilled desires we have, determines what our next life will be. This is when destiny is born. Also, this is where our dharma comes into focus. However, for those on the path, the guidelines for daily life become very much simpler; do what you feel good about doing and do not do what you have misgivings about doing; simple, yet very effective. Also, learn to relax and let things fall into place and do not try to force things into place. Also, remember that as initiates on the path this is the last life one will have to struggle for anything. All things, including wealth, will be amply supplied.

When we reach a point in our evolution where the personality begins to change its life and attitudes then the higher Self begins to find fuller expression through it by translating the spiritual ideals into spiritual life, or self-culture, The higher Self then acquires increasing control over the personality and finally becomes the center of one's life and consciousness. The higher Self as the soul, the Monad, or Atman, has always been the heart of every human being. One's will has not been able to find expression in the personality due to the inadequacy and resistance of the lower self being caught up in the ego and the illusions in which the personality is involved. What this all means is that one must become Self-centered.

The Atma is a Self-illuminated, Self-sufficient, Self-determined principle; that spark in the human that was never born and which will never die; that immortal part of us. There can be no question of unfolding it. All one must do is to provide those conditions where it can find increasing expression in our lives. The practice of higher and higher yoga accomplishes this. The miraculous change must ultimately come to all humans who are dedicated to liberation. The Atma is triple in nature and has three attributes: Self-illumination, Self-sufficiency and Self-determination, the last being its special characteristic. This means that we should make Self-determination, or the spiritual will of the Atma, predominant in our lives, and as a result gradually free the personality from the influence of desires. This is what the practice of Transcendental Meditation achieves; it brings the personality on the physical plane into rapport with the Atmic plane, thereby the personality becomes subservient to the divine will. The lower self has then surrendered to the higher Self. The first two attributes of Self-illumination and Self-sufficiency are expressed mainly through the causal and buddhic vehicles, while Self-determination has its source in the Atma itself.

Self-determination finds expression in the personality as spiritual will power. What is needed is to strengthen the will. Until our life is governed by the will of the Atma and not by whims and desires of the lower self, it is very difficult to tread the path of liberation and to reach the goal of life. The form which will assumes on the physical plane of human evolution is the form of desire and it is harnessed by the illusion-bound personality (the false “I”) which seeks its own independent selfish ends that are not in cooperation with the divine will in fulfillment of the divine purpose of life. It is only when the lower self surrenders to the higher Self, or the divine will, that the real purpose of life gets expressed. This only happens when spiritual consciousness dawns in the human. This in turn is followed by a long hard struggle between the desire nature of the individual and the spiritual will of the higher Self.

The soul of the human is immortal and its future is the future whose growth and splendor has no limit.