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David Hawkins, writes in his book, Discovery of the Presence of God — Devotional Nonduality, that serious spiritual seekers adjust their lifestyle to be in accord with their spiritual commitment. This brings up issues such as attachments, relationships, possessions. etc.  “In the end, to the true devotee, the pursuit of spiritual reality supersedes all other considerations. The commitment to become enlightened involves the decision ‘No matter what.’”

He says, however, that such a decision does not arise until the aspirant has the sufficient spiritual strength to handle it. It brings to mind the famous proverb, “When the aspirant is ready, the Master appears.”

As Francis Brabazon wrote in Stay with God, “Self and self cannot live together: either Self is denied for self; or self must be denied for Self. Our superstitions and false freedoms already brand us as escapists and deniers; it becomes us now, if we would maintain any semblance of manhood, to deny the supremacy of ignorance and escape from the bondage of ourselves.”

In my own life, years ago, I discovered that my biggest obstacle to spiritual freedom was my blindness to spiritual reality. I was in denial of its existence.  My sister, in fact, was surprised that I ever became spiritually inclined.

But through suffering, my perceptions turned inward. And to paraphrase Eruch Jessawala, once a dog gets a taste for meat, that’s all he wants to eat.

Humanity, for the most part, is enslaved by desire and greed. It hasn’t received its morsel that changes what it is hungry for. When that happens, the self-interest will be replaced by Self-interest. A universal awakening such as that can only come about through a universal dispensation of love. That is the work of the Avatar. Some may know Him as the Christ, some as the Prophet, some as the Buddha — but this work is always the work of the same Ancient One — the Highest of the High. 

When we realize that there is no goal more important than finding our self as the Infinite Self, then the pettiness of illusion can no longer have its sway over consciousness. Or as Hafiz would say, once we drink the finest wine, the cheap stuff will no longer do.

And once illusion begins to lose its sway, then the inner realms takes priority, and one enters the spiritual path. Gross impressions of the mind become subtle impressions. Greater and greater inner freedom is realized. The Subtle World of Infinite Energy is experienced.

Eventually (after lifetimes for most, suddenly for a few) these subtle impressions fade and become mental impressions. This is the realm of pure seeing, and the world that the greatest saints know, and the seeing is only of God. This is where divine longing is most acutely experienced. And then finally,  with the grace of a Perfect Master or the Avatar, the final surrender takes place; the one and only real death — the death of the ego.

All of the deaths of lifetimes and lifetimes are meaningless compared to this final real death of the ego, when the last vestiges of separation from God disappear for all time. The soul, which always was infinite and eternal, finally realizes that the goal that it had longed for, was none other than its own Self. 

As Meher Baba so eloquently tells us:

When the goal of life is attained, one achieves the reparation of all wrongs, the healing of all wounds, the righting of all failures, the sweetening of all sufferings, the relaxation of all striving, the harmonizing of all strife, the unraveling of al enigmas, and the real and full meaning of all life — past, present and future.