Levels of the Spirit Emerging in Man
By Karmayogi
Saints, sages, realised souls, vibhutis, and even Avatars are not
recognised in their immediate environment. Usually they are recognised
after their lives. Persecution is the rule, recognition is the
exception. Most of the saints who were exceedingly popular during their
lives are easily forgotten by posterity because their popularity was due
to their personality and not due to their spirituality. How can we
evaluate the spiritual worth of a person? There are two ways. One is to
know them by what they are. The other is to know how they impact on our
own human lives.
Avatars, vibhutis, minor emanations, geniuses, heroes, leaders seem to
be the order. Avatars are known to be messiahs who come down from heaven
to deliver a message of God to men. They are charged with a mission by
the Godhead. Buddha, Krishna, Rama, and Jesus are called avatars.
Avatars can be major or minor ones. A single aspect of a godhead
entering a human soul makes him a vibhuti. They appear on earth once in
a few centuries. They bring about a revolution in the ways of human life
impacting minds or lives. Shankara, Shivaji, Caesar, Alexander and
Napoleon have been described as vibhutis or God’s emanations. Napoleon
said that a man like him appeared once in three or four hundred years.
He came to consolidate the gains of the French Revolution and offered
the rule of law to the whole of Europe. The legal as well as
administrative system of all the European nations today is what Napoleon
originally devised. Even here, it is customary to speak of major and
minor vibhutis or emanations.
Man becomes a genius when the SPIRIT touches his mind. Mind has
objective knowledge, i.e. the knowledge of what it sees outside. The
higher, wider, completer knowledge belongs to the Spirit. It dwells
inside. Man goes inside and touches the Spirit. It comes out of his
mind. In the mind, the Spirit emerges as genius. Spirit emerging through
the vital – the nerves – makes MAN a Caesar or Shivaji. The Spirit
emerging through the vehicle of the body renders man the Son of God.