Spiritual Heroes: Mandela, Gandhi, King
Nelson Mandela, M.K Gandhi, Martin Luther King - names synonymous with profound humanity, but what was the common underlying motivation where these ordinary individuals became extraordinary human beings - freedom. Notably they remain connected to each other as part of their commitment to ensure the freedom of their peoples; Mandela and Gandhi both having started their political missions in South Africa and Martin Luther King viewing Gandhi as the role model for passive resistance. While they are household names in any socio-political circle, there may be gaps in observing the spiritual significance of these great men and even more so greater women who unfortunately remained the unsung heroes in a world short of feminism (one of the very few recent recognisable names being Mother Theresa). In fact, part of what made these great men 'great' was the ability to recognise women as equals at a time when it was almost unheard of - in the case of Gandhi, he subsequently viewed women as superior to men and in many ways adopted more maternal principles within himself as he evolved. However the spiritual evolution of men and women in terms of gender is a separate discussion which I hope to write more on later.
The purpose here is the focus on the spiritual concept of freedom and those who are the true role models when pursuing the path of liberation. My personal experience in spiritual growth is that all individual human tendencies and desires will ultimately be translated into spiritual ones in the process of personal evolution. As a child I knew no cultural difference with other children and was fortunate enough to be brought up in such an environment. As a teenager I developed a deep empathy, often developing into anger for any racial injustice particularly in the South African context which is my home country. As a young adult this same empathy/anger proceeded to any injustice against women and I became something of a non-militant feminist! Throughout my adult years my spiritual path has become more focused but rather than letting go of deep aversions to any human injustice as part of a path of non-attachment, this has been refined into a combination of deeper compassion and sharper insight. Even my 'Sai' journey when I was a committed follower of Sathya Sai Baba did not shake the entrenched socio-political sentiments other than keeping the 'anger' under check to some extent. So, in examining my own 'social' motivations at a spiritual level I started to go back to examining the heroes of the heart like Nelson Mandela. I have since spent a great deal of time examining M.K Gandhi who, in South Africa, also stumbled upon his great mission and who pursued a distinctive spiritual journey as well - this is worth a separate blog on another occasion.
To go back to the point of freedom - my personal understanding of the deeper need for human freedom is a spiritual yearning to be free or liberated ultimately from the cycle of birth and death. Liberation from the cycle of birth and death is only likely to take place when the individual achieves a high measure of inner freedom. Personal, social and political freedom is part of this process and no spiritual being can afford to ignore this as a fact of life. None of us live in a vacuum or in an isolated island - we are all part of various communities whether a family, a social circle, a working environment, a region, a country, the global political sphere or the planet earth. The individual of great emotional or spiritual maturity is concerned with all these various facets of life. Most tend to veer towards a few of these aspects more than others; some have the overall general empathy and much fewer have a deep commitment to every aspect of our environment. An overall general empathy is achievable by anyone - we do not have to 'save the world' but we can save ourselves by allowing ourselves to evolve into beings of good character and conscience. If we have objectively considered ourselves, associations, relationships, environment and personal role, and our conscience is not troubling us in any way then it would be safe to say that we've achieved a measure of character and inner freedom. Objectivity and a clear conscience is the starting point for the path of spiritual growth otherwise we are virtually certain to find the journey a roller-coaster that keeps reflecting the constraints of our individual ego.
So if inner freedom is the goal that ensures sustained peace and liberation, then the true spiritual leaders are great human beings such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, M.K Gandhi and Martin Luther King and the truly great spiritual heroes are the hundreds and thousands who followed them as inspirations and are likely to have even surpassed their acts of personal sacrifice as they aspired for the best of human values. As is accepted in all major faiths 'service to man is service to God' - many of us who are now encouraged to pursue a spiritual path may very well have been one of these hundreds and thousands of spiritual heroes in another life who strived for the wellbeing of humanity in some part of the world. If there is a deep resonation and empathy with a particular facet of life, it is extremely likely that such a path has been traveled before. It is perhaps in other facets of life that many are now required to be developing - so for some the road to humanitarian service may be winding down; for others it may be just beginning.
The reason for bringing up these points is to get us thinking laterally in our quest for spiritual evolution. Our motivations as individual human beings are the underlying motivations for 'soul' growth - the journey we undertake to reconnect to our spiritual or Higher Self is just as important as the goal. For some a more worldy path will have to be pursued as this is what the 'soul' requires; for others a humanitarian path will have to be adopted; for the few, a pure spiritual path is the requirement. For most of us it remains a combination of the three perhaps with a focus in one area, but this journey and realisation is ultimately a singular one. The simple process is to examine the areas where you feel you may be lacking in development and use this as a general guideline on how your path should progress.
Personal freedom and spiritual liberation are two sides of the same coin; the resonation with freedom on a global or humanitarian scale will enable the goal of spiritual liberation at some point. Sooner or later during the course of our journey from one life to the next we will eventually realise the spiritual hero within when the balance is just right and a state of loving peace, joy, unity and contentment is on the horizon. For anyone motivated towards a spiritual path, that time could be now.
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A surprising link on Martin Luther Kings incarnation
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Related links:
For open ended spiritual discussions please go to my spiritual eye page:
http://spiritual-eye.blogspot.com/
Recent blog: Sathya Sai Baba as a Guru ?
http://sai-baba-as-guru.blogspot.com/
posted by Suvendrie Moodley | 8:41 AM
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