SPIRITUAL INFINITY

 
Spiritual infinity is not a result of imaginative additions of the false: it is the reality itself which comes to be perceived, when false imagination is at rest. The infinity of the Truth cannot suffer any increase through any additions; nor can it suffer any decrease through any subtractions: in fact, nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken away from it, because it is all inclusive and leaves no room for the other, small or great. It is immeasurable, indivisible and integral.

The infinity of the Truth remains unaffected by any changes in the universe. All that happens in the universe is phenomenal, and as such, amounts to zero from the point of view of the Truth. An earthquake, for example, is regarded as an appalling and disastrous calamity by the worldly-minded, because of the immense destruction of life and property which it brings; but even a calamity like this cannot, in any way, touch the Infinite Truth, which is at the heart of Reality. In fact, the spiritual infinity of the Truth does not suffer any limitation even if the entire universe is dissolved; therefore, it is futile to measure it in terms of what is great according to the standards of the world.

The illusion, which most aspirants find difficult to shake is the belief that the Infinite Truth is an object which has to be attained in some distant future, and that all life is just a means for this attainment. But if the Truth were to be confined only to the future and not to the past or the present, it would not be infinite; it would at once become limited as an event which has its origin in time. All that life is and has, is at once deprived of intrinsic significance if it comes to be regarded as merely instrumental to some far-off event. This is definitely a false point of view.

Life is not meant to be rich in spiritual significance at some distant date, but is so at every moment, if only the mind is disburdened by illusions. It is only through a clear and tranquil mind that the true nature of spiritual infinity is grasped and something which is not yet to be but which already has been, is and ever will be a eternal self-fulfilment. When every moment is rich with eternal significance, there is neither the lingering clinging to the dead past, nor a longing expectation for the future, but an integral living in the Eternal Now. It is only through such living that the spiritual infinity of the Truth can be realised in life.

It is not right to deprive the present of all importance by subordinating it to an end in the future; for this means the imaginary accumulation of all importance in the imagined future rather than the perception and realisation of the true importance of everything that exists. There cannot be ebb and tide in eternity, no meaningless intervals between intermittent harvests, but a fullness of being which cannot suffer impoverishment of a single instant. When life seems to be idle or empty, it is not due to any curtailment of the infinity of the Truth; but it is due to one's own lack of capacity to enter into its full possession.