280ste Spiritmail

By Karmayogi

What we know as good
manners, the social scientist will term social skills. Manners are the major
part of these skills. In today's atmosphere of public life, these skills
acquire a premium. Persuasiveness, presentation, presence of mind, alert
attention, agility in movement, observation of others, adjusting to their
viewpoint and, finally, accomplishment go with social skills. Manners,
character and personality play a very large part in such an achievement. We can
witness two extremes. One who is endowed with all the knowledge and strength of
character for a certain achievement is unable to enter the field of achievement
for want of social skills. Another who has all the aspects of these skills
having absolutely no knowledge, fully achieves in spite of being a shallow
character. In international meetings, these things are much in evidence.

A single child, for want of company, is unable to learn the basic adjustments
in life which are essential in later life. We see boys who have stayed in
hostels are better able to mix smoothly in public. Professionals who meet a
great number of customers have their angularities smoothened, while bureaucrats
behind their desks perform poorly. The rare few have taken to self-education,
known as home schooling. Their gain in knowledge is vast. Equally great is
their loss in social skills. Even in hostel life, those who are addicted to
reading are unable to acquit themselves, while boys gather in number. Life
gives us the dictum – you cannot gain in one field without losing in another. In
life, this is very much true.

Is this equally true in Spirit? Self-education enables a person to acquire a
vast amount of valuable knowledge and valuable information. He comes to value
knowledge. The boy or girl gets married. The accumulation of knowledge in one
brings about a gap between them. Enormous friction is generated. Vast
knowledge, if tapped rightly, becomes a vaster source of marital happiness. Outside
it will be a greater social success. For that, one has to convert that
knowledge into right social endowments. As there is greater knowledge,
conversion is easier, but one has to come up with the right conversion
equivalent. Parents who have taken great efforts to educate their child well,
must take similar efforts to readjust him to society. Reliance on the Spirit
not only enables the conversion, but ensures that the DEFECTS become STRENGTHS.
That is the prerogative of the Spirit or the spiritual transformation. One can
boldly say that whichever way one approaches the Spirit, he cannot escape great
good luck and consequent GRACE. The very best approach is spiritual humility.