“Craving of the Soul” is one of the most profound messages of the Master, that I have read again and again and felt a deep awakening inside whenever I think about this message.

In it Rev. Master says that main purpose is to install spirituality instead of prevailing non-spirituality. He also reminds us to be Awake. I take this to mean that we should be awake to our true nature, which is essentially Divine. This is the message for the new era and Master states clearly that we should work with love patience and co-operation.

Our consciousness instruments are Manas (Mind), Budhi (Intellect), Chit (Deeper conscious) and Ahankar (Ego). Pujya Master in his talks has said that if these are purified then our conscience will give us correct signals. We discover the craving of the soul within us as seeking that silence which is its source, when sufficient purification happens.

When there is some amount of purification in these elements, the renunciation or Vairagya develops automatically. As I also understand it, from Rev. Sir’s article Vairagya is essentially a state of balance wherein the feelings of attachment and revulsion are minimized or eliminated.

While many people hold the idea that renunciation means giving up of things and possessions and relationships, we know in the system, that is not the true concept of Vairagya. In fact, in his message Rev. Master starts with the community of thoughts in our brain and makes little reference to those material notions associated with Vairagya.

One way of looking at the concept of Vairagya is to think of it in terms of various koshas.

In the physical plane, Vairagya would give us balance in our food habits, in our need for clothing and shelter and the like. As Vairagya develops we move away from the life of indulgence and more into a life of simplicity and our needs automatically shrink on that account.

But the more challenging aspects of renunciation occur, when similar balance is sought in our mental constructs and in the application of our intellect. The threads of our intellect, our attachments and revulsions are subtler and therefore harder to overcome much like the fine threads of a spider web. This is where many of us feel the challenges in following of the fourth commandment, which beckons us to be plain and simple.

Pujya Babuji says, “The echo of the voice diminishes when it travels a long distance, and then there is silence all around”.

During our meditations and with the help of Pranahuti, we find that slowly but surely the effects of our ego, some dark, some bright and some luminous all begin to melt away as lightness and silence descends upon us. There is a feeling of relief associated with this, not known otherwise and it starts the process of our regeneration.

First in our meditations, we begin to feel calmness and lightness. Next, at some point not only do we feel the calmness, we feel as if it is flowing through us. Naturally when we feel the lightness and a flow our attention gets oriented to the source of this silence.

One of the most practical benefits of this, that I have seen is that even in our daily routine, in demanding and in not so demanding situations we begin to operate from a level of tranquility rather than from a level of excitement or noise. In all that we do then a silent thread of tranquility weaves itself, sometimes leaving us awestruck.

The continuous flow of silence into us, results in a building of peace and grace within and one is enabled to shake off the grip of superfluous ego and tends to naturally seek a path of truth, righteousness and service to tread upon. This we can think of as a natural development of Vairagya.