Perfection10

Perfection is what I have inherited from God in my inner life. Transformation is what I have inherited from God in my outer life.

What is perfection? Perfection is realisation. Perfection is manifestation. Perfection in the inner world means realisation. Perfection in the outer world means manifestation. A seeker is a fusion of individuality and personality. When a seeker carries his selfless individuality into the highest Vision of Reality and offers his all-loving personality to the Absolute Beyond, he achieves perfection in the world of Infinity’s Eternity.

Some people say that perfection exists neither in Heaven nor on earth. I cannot see eye to eye with them. Perfection does exist both in Heaven and on earth. The very cry of earth is perfection. The very Smile of Heaven is perfection. Earth’s soulful cry and Heaven’s glowing Smile must go together. Then only will satisfaction dawn on God’s Face. God can have satisfaction only when earth’s cry and Heaven’s Smile run together. When earth cries, we must not think that earth is inferior to Heaven and, when Heaven smiles, we must not think that Heaven is superior to earth. No, it is not so. It is God, the growing man, who cries in and through earth to realise all that he can eventually be. And it is again God, the fulfilled man, who smiles in and through Heaven in realising what he already is.

Perfection is an impossibility: this is what today tells us. But tomorrow will tell us that perfection is an inevitability. There is always some time lapse between the planting of a seed and the harvest. In the spiritual life, the seed is aspiration and the harvest is realisation. Without aspiration, realisation can never dawn. What is aspiration? Is it something that we already have, or is it something we are going to have? It is both. If we say that we have aspiration, we are right because we do think of God and meditate on God at times. If we say that we do not yet have aspiration but are some day going to have it, we are also right, because our love for God is neither spontaneous nor constant. When we sit at the feet of Eternity, we realise that aspiration is bound to be followed by realisation. And after we have made friends with eternal Time, we come to understand that realisation was always there, hidden in our aspiration.

Perfection means living, spontaneous and constant oneness with the Inner Pilot. If we have a free access to the inner life, then perfection is our very soul and at the same time our only Goal. Now, why is it that we are still imperfect? We are imperfect precisely because we do not consciously cry for perfection in ourselves. We demand, or at least expect, infinitely more perfection in others than in ourselves. He and she are imperfect and I am trying to perfect them, we say. But is it not absurd on my part to criticise and try to perfect others when I myself am imperfect? In this we make a Himalayan blunder. If we are sincere enough, we will realise that we spend too much time thinking of others. It is good to think of others, but not with our criticising, jealous, unlit mind. If we think of others with our soul’s light, our soul’s oneness, then automatically we are running towards perfection.

Let us think of perfecting ourselves and, while thinking of ourselves, let us include the entire universe, or embody the entire universe in ourselves. Then we do not have to think of each individual on earth, for all are inside us. When I meditate, my entire body meditates with me. I do not have to think of my internal organs; they are inside me, meditating and aspiring with me. Similarly, during your concentration, meditation and contemplation, if you can feel that the entire universe is within you and that you are running towards your Goal, then the universe in totality will run with you.

We are all aspirants, seekers of the infinite Truth, Light and Bliss. If we do not achieve perfection in our inner and outer life, who else can achieve perfection? It is we, the seekers of the Infinite, who have to embody, realise, reveal and manifest perfection. At every moment of our earthly existence, in fleeting time and in eternal Time, we have to embody the message of perfection. If we feel that the eternal Time is somewhere else and that only the fleeting time is at our disposal, we are mistaken. If we live in the body, we are making friends with fleeting time. If we live in the soul, we are making friends with eternal Time. Since we are in the body, let us try to bring down the highest perfection from Above into the body. If we can live in the soul even while in the body, let us reveal our already-achieved perfection to the world at large.

My imperfect gift to God is yesterday, yesterday’s experience. God’s perfect Gift to me is today, today’s realisation.


OEH 10. University of Ottawa; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 8 October 1970.