Forty years ago, I was very ambitious and driving myself hard as a reporter in the competitive environment of the UK’s daily newspapers. I was working as a medical and science correspondent, and had gradually become aware of how unsustainable my scoop-seeking way of life was. I learned from doctors about how exhaustion lies behind many illnesses.
At that time, however, I also believed that only human beings could sort out the problems we faced, especially through science, using the wonderful gift of the intellect. It never occurred to me that it is well-nigh impossible to do that on our own, because no one on the planet has any pure judgement remaining. Instead, to different degrees, our intellects are polluted by ambition, ego, self-interest and greed, which distort our perceptions and cause us to make one mistake after another, despite technological achievements.
Then I had an encounter that literally changed my mind. In my role as a journalist, I had attended a programme in which eastern and western spiritual leaders were discussing the concept of the soul. Soon afterwards, I heard about the Brahma Kumaris, who were carrying ideas about spiritual development from India to many countries across the world.
Although my materialistic intellect found it hard to understand these ideas, I received a strong feeling of spiritual power in the company of the BK sisters I had met in London. A pure, clean and clear sense of truth touched me. The encounters were enough for me to begin to practise the meditation the sisters taught, called Rajyoga. Through that, I eventually understood the concepts at a much deeper level.
The penny dropped that each of us really is a soul, and that our physical bodies are secondary to the spiritual being that runs them. Over time, through reincarnating many times, this being comes to identify more and more with the physical side of life, including our roles and responsibilities. Our intentions are good, but loss of spiritual awareness can cause us to lose sight of our true and essential nature – our humanity.
I have been taught to reconnect with this truth by practising the inner awareness that I am spirit, not matter, and that we come from a living source – God – who holds the template for all that is highest in me. This supreme being never forgets the truth, but remains as a pure blueprint or reference point for it.
When the world gets itself into a total mess — as many believe is fast-approaching now — God comes into the material world to explain what is happening, how we reached this point, and what we have to do about it. The Brahma Kumaris teach that this happened initially through their founder, Prajapita Brahma, in the early years of the movement. Those who were with him at that time then learned to pass on to others the love and wisdom they received.
So, only God can get us out of this mess! But he needs our help. By connecting our minds to the Supreme, we can draw on so much power of truth as to become free from ego and selfish motives. Happiness and wisdom fill our minds, and those vibrations start to uplift and change others. In time, as more and more people regain this true way of living and true state of mind, our world will change too.
Neville Hodgkinson is a UK-based author and journalist, and a long-time student of Rajyoga.