SATSANG OF SWAMI AMAR JYOTI © 2005 TRUTH CONSCIOUSNESS

IT IS NOT SO MUCH THE VOLUME OF WHAT YOU ACCOMPLISH THAT
MAKES YOUR LIFE SUBLIME. . . . WITHOUT DHARMA, WITHOUT REAL
RIGHTEOUSNESS, I DON'T THINK WE CAN ACHIEVE TRUE PEACE.

Master, you have said that God created both the spiritual and the material. How can that be harmonized?

LTIMATELY THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE OR DEMARCATION, between the spiritual and the material, but until we reach that stage there is a distinction on the mental level. Let’s dwell on that a little bit. As a matter of fact, this morning I came across a line that says, “Those whose goal is materialism, their life is heavy, boring and painful. And those whose goal is spiritual, their life is joyful and fulfilling.” Before we mingle them together into one, what exactly is material and spiritual?
      Since many, many ages, the aspiration of seers and seekers has been to harmonize both: the Kingdom of God on earth that we have been dreaming about. But in our dualistic, relative plane of thinking, we have separated the material and spiritual. What is materialism? The Sanskrit word for materialism is jaravadha—jar: inert, vadha: ism. Inertism. But offhand we could say that materialism is that which pertains to matter. What is matter? We could say matter is that which is gross, which you can perceive with the senses; something that is three-dimensional. Physically we live in the material realm. The body is material; our food is material; air is material; water is material; the house you live in is material; the communication modes you use are made of matter. Except our thoughts and feelings, we primarily exist in the material plane. In other words, can we live a life without using matter? No. So if we condemn material life, we have to condemn the whole physical gross world, and that will be ridiculous..