Growth is a basic quality we see in human beings. Growth can be categorised into three types: physical, mental/intellectual, and spiritual. Physical growth and mental growth is rather well known. But spiritual growth is something that is hardly known, and even less unnderstood. Spiritual growth is the transformation of an animal-man to a man-man, and further to a divine-man.
To be called as a human being, one must atleast be a man-man. By that, I mean that a man must reside in the human body. All individuals which are called by zoologists as homo sapiens need not have a man inside them. Even if he has the body of Arnold or an IQ of Einstein, he may have an animal inside him, inside his heart. Thus, physical growth or mental growth does not ensure a man being a man inside. What makes a man a real man is this spiritual growth. This means, one has to let go of all animalistic tendencies and evolve to a higher level of existence, where his tendencies are man-llike. (By now, I should make it clear that man also means woman).
Body cannot grow without food. Intellect cannot grow without education. Similarly, for spiritual growth to occur, a spiritual-food is required. The food needs to be nutritious. The food that we eat must have all the vitamins, proteins so that the body is healthy. Similarly, the education we receive should be a good one. Now, having said that, what is the food for spiritual growth? I believe it is love.
When we are young, it is the parents who feed us, who take care of our education and who pour love into our hearts. This helps us in our early growth in all three areas. However, as we grow up we find that we need to fend for our own food, we need to educate ourselves. But we fail to recognise the need to love ourselves. By 'ourselves' I mean our spiritual self, which ultimately decides whether we are an animal-man, or man-man or divine-man. It is therefore necessary to love ourselves firstly if we have to achieve any spiritual growth, which is the index of what we really are.
To be called as a human being, one must atleast be a man-man. By that, I mean that a man must reside in the human body. All individuals which are called by zoologists as homo sapiens need not have a man inside them. Even if he has the body of Arnold or an IQ of Einstein, he may have an animal inside him, inside his heart. Thus, physical growth or mental growth does not ensure a man being a man inside. What makes a man a real man is this spiritual growth. This means, one has to let go of all animalistic tendencies and evolve to a higher level of existence, where his tendencies are man-llike. (By now, I should make it clear that man also means woman).
Body cannot grow without food. Intellect cannot grow without education. Similarly, for spiritual growth to occur, a spiritual-food is required. The food needs to be nutritious. The food that we eat must have all the vitamins, proteins so that the body is healthy. Similarly, the education we receive should be a good one. Now, having said that, what is the food for spiritual growth? I believe it is love.
When we are young, it is the parents who feed us, who take care of our education and who pour love into our hearts. This helps us in our early growth in all three areas. However, as we grow up we find that we need to fend for our own food, we need to educate ourselves. But we fail to recognise the need to love ourselves. By 'ourselves' I mean our spiritual self, which ultimately decides whether we are an animal-man, or man-man or divine-man. It is therefore necessary to love ourselves firstly if we have to achieve any spiritual growth, which is the index of what we really are.
