There are many ideas out there about what spiritual mastery entails, and there are many people who think of themselves as spiritual masters. Many believe that to become a master, it is necessary to renounce the mundane life, to retreat to nature and live for the rest of their lives as hermits. Many believe that in order to become a master it is mandatory to be a celibate, and that having a spouse is an obstacle to that. There are also many that believe, that experiencing Reality through meditation is what gives someone illumination, after which they become enlightened and free from this world. None of these beliefs touch the core of what spiritual mastery really is.

Experiencing Reality can only give a person a clear vision as to what they need to work towards to build permanently in themselves. Even if they are for a very brief time given the experience of the Being, it is only temporary as the Being is not integrated within.

Withdrawing from everyday life to live as a hermit somewhere deep in nature, one is missing amazing opportunities to discover ones own darkness, the inner defects that emerge in everyday situations and interactions. It is this platform that enables egos within us to surface so that we can see them and eliminate them as they arise.

A spouse supportive of our esoteric work is also not an obstacle – they provide with opportunity to use sexual (and chaste) love in order to awaken, which, according to authors like Samael Aun Weor, is one of the three essential keys for awakening.

Becoming a spiritual master means to achieve inner transformation, to clean the inner temple of that which is low and coarse, so that the Being, ones own Higher Self, can incarnate and merge with the Essence (“Man, know thyself and you will know the Universe and the gods.”). To know oneself truly is to know ones own Being, and the way to truly know the Being is to have it permanently within. Those who have achieved that, tells us of incredible inner transformation that such union brings – Wisdom, Power, and Love.

The following passage of a spiritual teacher beautifully describes some of the indications of spiritual mastery:

“If you can think of yourself as being all that you know you should be: constant, gentle, loving and kind to every man, woman and child, and to every circumstance in life; kind and tolerant in your attitudes towards all conditions on earth; above all, if you can conceive yourself as being completely calm in all conditions and circumstances, quiet and yet strong – strong to aid your weaker brethren, strong to speak the right word, to take the right action, and so become a tower of strength and light; if you can see yourself facing injustice and unkindness with a serene spirit, knowing that all things work out in time for good, and that justice is always eventually triumphant; if you have patience to await the process of the outworking of the will of God: if you can picture becoming like this, you will know something of mastership.”

HDP, July 2018.

Image credit: Seung-Hwan Chung