You know that to do any action requires certain minimum qualifications. It is always specified in the “wanted” column of newspaper advertisements which minimum qualifications a candidate must have – one may have to be a matriculate, a graduate, a postgraduate and so on. A practitioner of mánava dharma must also possess certain minimum qualifications, as indeed must all people in all walks of life. A gardener, for example, should know how to dig with a spade. An unfit or incompetent person cannot do anything and if given a certain responsibility to do something, feels miserably inept. Try as you may, you’ll never be able to train a crow to speak like a mynah bird or a chandana. Similarly, one wishing to join the spiritual path must also possess certain minimum qualifications. It is on the basis of these qualifications that it is decided who should be accepted and who should be rejected, because everything is not to be taught to all.

Once Parvati asked Shiva a few questions regarding the minimum qualifications needed to become a spiritual practitioner. You all surely know that Tantra is like a bird with two wings. One wing is “ágama”, the other “nigama”. Párvati’s questions to Shiva are known as “nigama” and Shiva’s answers as “agama”.

Ágataḿ Shivavaktrebhyah
Gataiṋca girijáshrutao
Mataiṋca Vásudevasya tasmát ágam ucyate.

“A”, the first letter of the first word of the first line, “ga” from the first word of the second line, and “ma” from the first word of the third line, form the word “ágama”. Párvati’s questions and Shiva’s answers constitute the theoretical side of Tantra.

One of Párvati’s questions was particularly pertinent. There is a difference in the degree of eligibility of people not everyone is eligible for the same task. So my question is, “Who is competent to follow the spiritual path?” Shiva replied, “In the spiritual sphere there is also a difference between people’s eligibility. A spiritual practitioner must possess certain minimum qualifications. Just as a clerk has to be a matriculate the spiritual practitioner must also be qualified in some way. The first qualification is that one must have a human body – that is, the spiritual practitioner must be a human being. This is the first qualification. This means that whoever has been endowed with a human body is eligible to follow the path of spirituality.”

What is jiṋána – knowledge? The internal assimilation of any external object other than one’s own self is called “the process of knowing”. Suppose there are two types of mango – a langrá mango and a himságar mango. A certain person assimilates both and discovers that each has its unique qualities and defects and thus differentiates a langrá mango from a himságar one. When people assimilate anything of this universe and make it their own, it is called supreme or absolute knowledge or self realization. This doesn’t happen in the external world but takes place internally – the external world is internalized and assimilated. Self-knowledge is the real spiritual knowledge, because self knowledge means realization of Brahma. Where does Parama Puruśa reside? He resides within one’s “I” feeling. To know the “I” of the “I” feeling means to know Parama Puruśa. That is why it has been said that by attaining self knowledge, one attains salvation.

What is salvation? People use words like mokśa (salvation) and mukti (liberation) very casually. Some say “mokśa”, some “nirváńa”, some “mahánirvańa”, some “maháparinirváńa”. But what does it all mean? There are various kinds of bondages on each level of human society linguistic, social, economic etc. Mukti means the state of liberation from all these bondages. When one attains liberation of a permanent nature it is called “vimukti” or “mokśa” or “salvation”. If one attains liberation without all the reactive momenta being exhausted one will have to return after a brief visit to the other world. But after exhausting one’s acquired saḿskáras, one imbibes a new set of saḿskáras. In a long life a person both acquires virtue and commits sin. One who acquires virtue enjoys the fruits thereof in the supra mental level. That is what is called “heaven” or “svarga”. There is no separate world named heaven or svarga. When one’s virtue is exhausted, when the requital of one’s acquired saḿskáras is over, one is born on earth to serve the unrequited saḿskáras. And according to the nature of the saḿskáras imbibed, one may be reborn as a dog, or one may also get a human life. Heaven is the stage between the two lives lived as human beings. No one acquires heaven permanently because no one acquires infinite virtue – that is a mere figment of the imagination. In an old Bengali poem written 1200 years ago it has been said;

Je sau páre pirata bhamanti
De ajarácara kimati ahanti

A person who does virtuous deeds in order to reach heaven never becomes immortal, can never attain salvation. One who performs good deeds, one who is charitable, acquires virtue and enjoys the bliss of virtue in the life after death. Thereafter, in order to requite the unserved or base saḿskáras one is reborn as a human being or even as an animal. What is gained by all that? Where there is no desire for the attainment of heavenly pleasure, where there is no other consideration except elevation to the level of Parama Puruśa, human beings attain liberation. That is, people become one with Parama Puruśa by the grace of Parama Puruśa.

“Brahmavid brahmaeva bhavati.” One who realizes Brahma becomes Brahma. This self knowledge, this attainment of Brahma within one’s own self, this unification of the two entities, is the path of attaining salvation. Now the question arises, who is entitled to salvation?

“Sukrtaeh mánavo bhútvá”. In ancient Saḿskrta, “Sukrtaeh” means “done by oneself”. Here, “Sukrtaeh mánavo bhútva” means, “attaining a human frame by virtue of one’s own noble deeds”. Human beings are creatures dominated by intellect. Those guided by mere inborn instincts are called “pashu” or animals. So those who have certain inborn instincts, but who are basically guided by intellect or mind, are known as “human beings”. That’s why I say repeatedly that I strongly object to human beings being defined as “rational animals”. How can human beings be rational animals? They are certainly not animals. When one acquires a human body what should one do? One should guide one’s inborn instincts along the proper path. This only can be done after acquiring a human body.

Suppose that you and a goat have gone to a market where fresh cabbages and cauliflowers are being sold. What will the goat do? It will stick out its neck and nibble at the cabbages and cauliflowers. Imagine you see someone preparing málpoá (a type of sweet) in a nearby shop and develop a desire to eat one. That very desire to eat something is your inborn instinct. However, you will certainly not enter the shop without first checking what’s in your pocket and only after confirming that you have enough coins will you go inside. But after spotting the cabbages and cauliflowers will the goat do the same? Will it check the contents of its pockets or will it stretch out its neck and have a nibble at those vegetables. As a rule, no goat of any country would ever check its pockets first whereas people from all over the world certainly would. Those who fail to do so are branded as thieves and dacoits by the society.

Human beings control their inborn instincts with the help of their intellect. This makes them worthy to be called human beings. That’s why Shiva says, “Sukrtaeh mánavo bhútvá” – “one attains the human body by virtue of one’s own noble deeds”.

When good deeds are done by those who have controlled the inborn instincts, the intellect develops to some extent. When such people discover that there is no money in their pockets, they certainly will not enter a hotel or restaurant.

“Jiṋániicenmokśamapnuyát”. “One must attain self knowledge. The attainment of self knowledge means the attainment of salvation”. This was Shiva’s answer. In order to follow the path of spirituality one must possess one qualification, and that is, one must acquire a human body. All of you here have human bodies and that’s why you are entitled to follow the path of spirituality. This was Shiva’s reply.

In PROUT I have said that to develop spiritual qualities one will have to render spiritual service to the society. People will not be allowed to practice meditation sitting in the Himalayan caves without rendering any service to the human society. They will have to work among the common people, will have to render spiritual service. Of course, we shall not force them to pull rickshaws, but neither shall we allow them to sever the link with society by sitting in the Himalayan caves. Their plea that the world is unreal will not be accepted. Further more, simply taking food and drink from the society or accepting all kinds of service from fellow human beings, as has been practised since the distant past, will not be allowed to continue longer. Those days are gone forever.