Week 7 -- The Illumined Soul
“If one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him . . .I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.” –Mahatma Gandhi
Study Questions: The Illumined Soul (Review the book Gandhi the Man, pages 121 – 122, Matthew 22:36-40)
Eknath Easwaran in his book, Gandhi the Man, refers to a passage in the Bhagavad Gita that describes the way an illumined person acts in daily life. (pages 121, 122) What would your life look like if all your thoughts, words and actions were aligned with spirit? Notes for discussion:
· “My life, is an indivisible whole, and all my activities run into one another . . .” -- Gandhi
Gandhi’s real achievement lay not in any one field per se, but in the most important job that faces every man, woman, and child on earth: the job of living. How did he manage, as Eknath Easwaran puts it, to “make his life such a perfect work of art”?
Jesus spoke of the two great commandments in Matthew 22. Why is the first commandment the greatest? Why is the second commandment like the first? When Jesus spoke of “all the law and the prophets” he was speaking of the rest of the then-current Jewish scripture. The “law” came to be known as the Torah – the first five books of the Bible, the law of Moses – and the “prophets” refers to the writings of the major and minor prophets of what we now call the Old Testament. He was saying that all principles that are enumerated in scripture arise from these two commandments. Why is that so? What would Gandhi have to say about these two commandments? Notes for discussion:
· 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He (Jesus) said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
What of Gandhi’s methods of living helps you manage your life as a perfect work of art? Do you feel you are closer to revealing your great soul? What is keeping you from that?