Accepting Authority

Whenever we wish to know something in fact, we always accept some kind of authority, and so a person wishing to discriminate between conflicting views on spiritual life and find out the real truth in the matter must first decide what authority he will go on. Generally we rely on our own sense perception and intelligence for acquiring knowledge, and when this is insufficient we turn to parents, teachers, scientists, etc., accepting them as authorities. They have learned what they profess to know by their experience and intelligence, or they have in turn learned from some previous authority, but ultimately the method for gaining knowledge of the world which is accepted in this age is sense perception and conclusions based thereon. We make our senses-or someone else's (like a scientist's)-the authority, and on the basis of this authority we live our temporary and often anxious lives

The difficulty here is that every embodied being in material consciousness manifests four principal defects due to his imperfect body: (1) he has imperfect senses which function only within a limited range and which sometimes fail or deceive him, (2) he is subject to mistakes and errors in drawing his conclusions and making plans, (3) he sometimes becomes illusioned, developing completely false conceptions of life because of acceptance of mistaken sense perceptions and erroneous conclusions, and (4) he has a tendency to cheat, taking advantages and shortcuts at the expense of others in order to artificially enhance his position, whether in business, games, philosophy, spiritual mastership or whatever. It is doubtful whether we will find anyone living in this material world who will honestly and sanely claim that he is not subject to these four defects, and clearly such defects disqualify anyone from independently acquiring perfect knowledge even of this world.

Our scientists are very proud of their big brains and complex instruments, but the instruments can be no better than their fallible builders. Because of these imperfections, the conclusions the scientists draw are no more than speculative fancies ("it may be like this, it may be like that") which they call "laws." That their speculations sometimes correspond to material reality is a fact, but from time to time they discover errors and have to revise their laws, just as Newton's laws had to be revised in the face of Einstein's theories. Meanwhile, the real problems of life, like old age, disease, and death, remain unsolved, along with great world problems like overpopulation, exploitation and disasters due to weather, war, etc.

If even the biggest brains of this age are unable to gain perfect knowledge even of this world by sense perceptions and speculation, how do we think that anyone, by his imperfect endeavor, will gain knowledge of the Supreme-the spiritual, perfect Reality which is transcendental and thus beyond the farthest range of material sense perception? To be our own guide in spiritual life, or to accept another person, however clever, as a guide, if he is on the sensual-mental platform, will not help us to attain knowledge of that Truth which is beyond the range of the material senses to see or know.

One may then say, "That is all right. I won't rely on my mind or senses or anyone else's. I will sit down and meditate and rise beyond the limitations of my mind to perceive the Supreme." That may be a solution, but first we have to consider the meaning of meditation. Meditation simply means to fix the mind steadily on some object-to attain one-pointed concentration. Therefore, to meditate on the Supreme, two things are required-we must know the nature of the Supreme in order to know where to concentrate our attention, and we must be able to fix our mind steadily and constantly on that objective.

If the mind is too unsteady and distracted, we cannot even successfully apply it to our material problems. What then to speak of attaining the supreme perfection with it? We may be able to nicely cross our legs and sit with semi-closed eyes and straight back for some time, and by so doing we may be able to acquire some respect and status in certain social circles-perhaps even some followers if we make a good show of it-but we should honestly look to see whether we can factually control our restless minds, detaching them from temporary material affairs and fixing them on the Supreme.

And do we really know what that Supreme upon which we propose to meditate is? We may have heard that the Supreme is this or that-peace, light, void, or whatever-and we may have our own opinion. But this reliance on sense perceptions, opinions, hearsay, etc., is a risky, fallible business, especially for knowing the Supreme Infallible. If we are serious to advance in spiritual life, we should look for more solid authority than our whimsy and the conflicting views of men of this age. We should not think that the sublime perfection of God consciousness will come so cheaply that we can more or less haphazardly stumble upon it.