What is spiritual warfare?

 

What is spiritual warfare?

The manifested world is a play of energy. There is potential energy and kinetic energy. The goal of this exercise is to realize that there is something beyond the play. Achieving that is the crest jewel of existence.

There are various forces that are active to project the illusory world. Pure energy is like gold. It can exist but it cannot be molded into shape without mixing it with other base metals. Therefore we have forms of energy that prop up the illusory material world. They are essential for the structure of the world but go against the objective of the manifestation. The force that drives this manifestation is called Maya or the Goddess of illusion. It is a combination of ignorance and the love for ignorance.

The egoistic forms of life bow down to this Goddess and accept the world that is a play of duality whereas in reality there is the singularity of non entity. Slowly the ego gets trapped in it and feels that the manifested world alone is enough and everything.

Maya detests those forces that seek the reality behind the illusion. Her disciples and soldiers are Mara or those forces that prop up the world and also ensure its decay and destruction. The ego enjoys the world but also suffers the pain of disease, decay and death. When it longs for liberation Maya opposes and Mara entices to keep it trapped within the illusion.

When the knowledge of liberation is strong, the pure energy manifests in the world and within the living, the world is in a spot where the natural laws can manifest with ease. There is both external and internal happiness with the knowledge of what causes suffering and what leads away from it. Suffering is less in such a world where the internal energies are strong, people know how to distance themselves from the lures of the material world, and how to seek and achieve the reality. The ego exists in such a world as the "mature ego". It knows it is not real, and the world is an illusion where it has to fulfill certain objectives.

With the increase in interest in the material world and the dimming of knowledge about the reality that pervades, the power of Maya intensifies. The ego shifts from maturity to immaturity. It imagines the world to be real and the only thing worth surviving and striving for. Maya uses this situation to completely reign the world. Mara seeks delight in troubling the world with disturbances like decay and death. It gains power with the pain that emerges from such suffering.

The above is what we call Satya Yuga and the later paragraph describes Kali Yuga. In Satya Yuga the reality (that is generally known as God) is evident. In Kali Yuga Maya manifests as Kali Purusha or the Devil. The Devil is the manifestation of ignorance, wrong action, and the resultant pain. It delights in distortion and delivering pain.

As negative energy is necessary for the material world, it has a special place in it. In 75% time period of the creation cycle it has to lie dormant and be subservient to the pure energy. This causes pain and humiliation for these forces. This builds up and in the last quarter of the cycle the negative energy is allowed to dominate and give vent to its anger. This anger seeks revenge against the pure energy and also tries to wrest power from it to totally own the manifested illusion. This is what we are observing now. The new world order is what the Devil wants.

The pure energy is the Atman or the Soul. Its power becomes limited in the Iron Age. But it has to reverse the situation and express itself for the new cycle to begin. Thus the Soul has to battle the worldly forces at play and emerge victorious.

This is spiritual warfare. It is the uncaging of the soul. It has to fight the distorted ego and the negative energies that have manifested and gained power. It is thus a terrible battle both outside and inside. It is a seemingly impossible battle.

Then how is the battle won? The world is structured according to a plan. Even in decay and death the seed is preserved. The seed is the potential reserve energy. It becomes available to those who seek it at the times when everything is threatened.

What are the steps that the real woke employ in spiritual warfare?

• Awareness that the world is not real and that one’s real identity is beyond it
• Refusal to become subservient to the ignorance of the reality
• Resolve to face and fight the ignorance and be a part of the renaissance
• Prepare to become eligible to fight

How does one prepare?

• Using the intellect to discriminate between right and wrong in the sense of discriminating between the real and unreal. This is known as Sat Asat Vichar in Hinduism
• Praying to the potential energy (Lord Shiva) for strength to engage in the fight
• Meditating and fasting to cleanse oneself from the negative energy (ignorance, sloth, love for pleasure, passion, love for the world, identification with the ego)
• Assembling courage to manifest positivity (truth, abhorrence towards untruth, strength to counter Kali)
• Accepting the possible outcome of death of the ego, body, and all material possessions in the process
• Accepting that one has to fight one’s own loved ones in the process
• Accepting the sage advice of the wisdom of the higher Self, and aligning with it
• Knowing with full conviction that one is only the instrument and it is the higher power that is acting

The Bhagavad Gita that describes the predicament of Arjuna and how it is overcome by listening to the sage advice of Lord Krishna is the best description of spiritual warfare. It has always been present to guide us.

The result as Lord Krishna says is already determined. The battle has been fought in the spiritual domain and won. The material has to follow the path and claim victory. That is known as Purushartha in Hinduism. Arjuna was asked to follow the advice and fight or else someone else would do so. Arjuna followed the advice and gained immortal fame. Lord Krishna fought the battle.