Science Of Identity Foundation - Jagad Guru Chris Butler

Q: — Your Holiness, kindly enlighten me about the different aspects of human pursuits.
A: — In India as in Europe we find people holding different views, but here we have attempted to classify them into three divisions. One class of people are seekers of fruits of their action. Another class wish to annihilate their individuality. And the third class want, in their true selves as absolute infintesimals, to be in touch with the Absolute Infinity, rejecting all non-absolute features. We belong to the third party.
The seekers of fruits by means of their actions are called Karmakandins in the Sanskrit language. The Christian way of thinking about life is included in Karmakanda. In India we have also that sort of idea, that a person is to be judged by his action. He gets something in return as a reward for his pious deeds. Virtue and piety are the main principles that are wanted by such doers. Most people understand this common view, which holds that what I do will be either rewarded or reprimanded. We think that we should live a pious life in order that we may be rewarded in our next life with all sorts of enjoyments. We have got subtle bodies in which we are rewarded or punished. That body is not exactly similar to the ordinary gross body, the mortal coil which we see here. Egyptians thought that they have but one life and that they should have no occasions to bear future lives. But persons who subscribe to the theory of metempsychosis think that they will have future lives when they can make up for the nefarious acts done both in their present lives and in their past lives, and receive grace from the great dispenser of justice. They are fruit-seekers. They want to gratify their senses.
There are persons who hanker after knowledge. They went [sic] to secure knowledge by the empiric method. To them annihilation is the final goal. They think they should merge in the Integer, the Absolute, and that all the undesirable situations of this world will end with this merging. In that case observer, observation and observed, these three situations are eliminated. When all the activities of the senses such as hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing and touching will cease, the observer, observation and the observed will mix up together and there will be no occasion for knowing, willing or feeling. All volitional, cogitational and emotional activities should cease, because they have given us a bitter experience; and so, according to the empiricists, in order to make an end of them, it would be better for us not to think of anything which will respond to our senses. This idea is formulated by theorists like pantheists, agnostics, and sceptics. These people think that they will be able to secure happiness by destroying their identify.

**********************************************************************************************

If a person engages in the process of bhakti yoga and yet continues to engage in activities that are detrimental to spiritual progress, his spiritual progress will be very slow. This does not mean that a person must be completely free of all bad habits before he can even begin the process of bhakti yoga. For example, in the Philippines, one teacher saved many young people who were addicted to heroin and other drugs by teaching them the process of bhakti yoga. It took some time before they could completely give up all drugs; but eventually they did.
Science of Identity Foundation - Siddhaswarupananda