Spiritual growth. When does it happen? What is "spiritual growth" and how to achieve it

How do followers of Jesus grow spiritually? Spiritual growth can also be expressed by another term - "sanctification". Sanctification is the supernatural process by which the Holy Spirit molds us into the image of Christ through God's Word.

Perhaps you are already fed up with various spiritual growth seminars, books. Therefore, I hope that the "negative" formulation of the question - five ways NOT to grow spiritually- will encourage you to look at the problem of spiritual growth in a different way:

1. Don't make spiritual growth your goal.

I am amazed at how few Christians make spiritual growth their top priority. If you treat church as a hobby, don't be surprised if you don't grow spiritually. If you do not seek spiritual knowledge from the Bible and good Christian books, if you do not study the Scriptures and do not practice spiritual disciplines, you will never grow spiritually. You will remain the same as you were. If you don't want to grow spiritually, devote only the rest of your time and energy to it.

One of the ways God raises us to a higher level of spiritual development is through contact with those who are radically different from us. We live in a very individualized society, and the older we get, the more willingly we withdraw into our own little world. This leads to a tendency to associate only with those whose character is similar to ours, or whose opinion always coincides with ours. As a result, our views remain the same as they were five years ago, although some should be changed. If you do not want to develop, look only for those friends and acquaintances who will tell you only what you want to hear. Avoid the influence of other cultures and never talk to those who disagree with you on any issues.

3. Never take risks.

If you have set yourself a goal for five years (and more) to remain the same as you were, avoid any risk. However, I have heard the opinion of many well-known ministers that true faith contains an element of risk. Thus, the less faith in your life, the less risk. And vice versa: the less risk, the less faith. Would Abraham have shown his great faith if he had not taken risks? Yes, he would never have left the limits of Ur of the Chaldees! If you do NOT want to grow spiritually, always stay in a comfort zone where everything is familiar and familiar and there is no risk.

4. Consider yourself a great connoisseur.

Praise yourself for having already received all the wisdom and all the knowledge. Reassure yourself that you have nothing more to learn. Many young guys follow this rule. I used to be so arrogant, too, until I got married and had four children. Then I suddenly realized that I didn’t really understand life, that I was in dire need of God’s wisdom, His guidance. I suddenly realized that the most humble and diligent students of God's Word are those who have the most responsibility.

5. Run for innovation.

If you want to live a fruitless life, run after every new book like The Secret of Spiritual Life that promises you an easy path to spiritual growth. Easily succumb to every new fashion trend, flow. Do not believe that true spiritual growth requires a lot of effort - "blood and sweat." Do not agree to go the hard way - and complete spiritual stagnation is guaranteed to you.

What does the phrase "spiritual growth" mean to you?
Have you ever thought about this?
Do you associate this concept with religion or church?
And in general, is there, in your opinion, the difference between the Spirit and the soul?

Spiritual growth is when the Soul changes its energy potential - it transforms, approaches with its glow to the divine Light - to the Source!

Source, depletion are synonyms. Depletion means the opposite, reduction or loss of energy potential.

When does energy loss occur?

It would seem, at the moment of death. No. The death of the physical body occurs at the moment when the Soul leaves it. And she leaves with the potential that she has worked out (changed for the better), or maybe she has worked in her current life. With the same "baggage" she will come to the next incarnation. And so from life to life!

If we improve our energy potential, i.e. the quality of the Soul, therefore, we are moving upward along the evolutionary level of the universe. If, on the contrary, we worsen its qualities, i.e. we accumulate anger, envy, and other negative character traits, which means that we are moving down the level of the universe. And so, with the already existing "flaws", the Soul will incarnate until it gets rid of them. And it can be cleansed only by going through the experience of its incarnations, in a physical body, on planet Earth!

Now the tendency of the Creator is to bring life on Earth, according to his original, divine plan - the return of Paradise to Earth, where people will live enjoying, not suffering.

Therefore, those Souls that will not undergo transformation in favor of developing a positive potential will migrate to other planets for purification and experience (training), since they cannot exist in the new high energies of the Earth, they will simply burn out from the high frequency of vibration. And over polluted, in fact, defiled souls, will undergo recycling as intractable or "devilish", and will never again be able to experience life.

But you want to live, don't you? Truth! But for this you need to turn to face yourself, take care of yourself, and not fulfill or implement other people's principles and goals. "I live to rejoice and enjoy!"— this principle should be registered in every cell, both physical and subtle bodies.

How is it to enjoy?

To live in enjoyment does not mean to lead a carnal life of excesses and pleasures for the body. To live with pleasure, I would say, is to live with pleasure for the Soul! But for this, of course, it is necessary to be able to separate these concepts. You need to learn to hear your mind, and not a pragmatic and cunning mind, which is aimed at the momentary pleasure of the body.

The enjoyment of life can be achieved only when you live in the moment "here and now". To feel, to feel each of your actions, to be in it, to catch these moments that will never return. There may be better ones, but these and such will no longer be. Will the future come, but today is already there!

Do not spray yourself only on dreams of the future, they say, I will still live, but now somehow! I run, I do, I do everything automatically - just to do it, just to be in time. Who is it for? Who needs it? Why should I if I don't enjoy it?

As a result, we are all chasing money and material goods, and this is carnal pleasure, it is fleeting. He ate, slept, put on, showed himself - he seemed to be glad ... That's just the point, that it seems - would be !!!

Some live in the past: "There was life then, but now"… People with such thinking move away from reality and give their lacking energy to the past, not allowing themselves to live, rejoice, feel today.

How to live "here and now"

Let's learn together to live in the moment "here and now" and get real pleasure from it - from the fact that I woke up today and have the opportunity to contemplate, live, feel life. To see the diversity and colors of nature, life. To enjoy what I already have, what I have achieved: to use it all. The fact that I have the opportunity to live the way I want.

After all, we, each, manage our own life, and its quality is only our merit or contribution to it. After all, what I have today is the fruit of my thoughts and actions. Personally mine, not someone else's! If I succumbed or was tempted by someone's tips or interests, then this is my choice and only mine!

We increase the potential of the Soul

The moment "here and now" returns us to the Source, to our true, divine state. It is magnificent, and only in it you can feel, hear and enjoy yourself personally. At such moments, you feel timelessness - a true merger with nature, with the universe. You feel like " I am!". What "I really have!".

"I feel. I feel. I am a person!
I own myself. The world is in me. I am in nature.
I am the love. I am Happiness!
And in general — Happiness that I am!
I am a gift! Gift of the Universe! Gift of God!
God gave me this life, with all its charms and pleasures!
And I am in it!
We are one - the Universe, I, and my life!!!
So Joyful, so Happy, so unique!
And so it is, only now!
The way I perceive it now, feel it.
The way I love her, sing, approve (or not).
If I don’t feel it like that today, then I need to
take care of yourself immediately!
Work on yourself, on your inner state,
over the potential of your Soul."

And no matter what state it is in today, you can still fix it. Correct your vision of people and situations. Correct your attitude towards them. This must be done not for them, but for yourself!

"I live for myself, not for them!

They, each, have their own lives, and let them take care of themselves.

They gave me, my, destiny, with its lessons; and them theirs!

And we are given to each other only so that

experience together and teach each other the lessons of life."

How to grow spiritually

A man did meanness to you - understand why? Draw a conclusion and thank him for helping you get this awareness, and therefore helping your Soul evolve. People and situations don't stack up against us just like that - it's done for the good of us, for our evolution. And in no case do you need to take revenge, hate, turn on your entire arsenal negative qualities- by this you only evolve, fall back and cross out the experience of possibly many lives that have been lived, and what has been gained there. Lives, with all their joys, worries, sorrows, inspirations, in which “I didn’t lose my head, I didn’t give in, but I remained myself”.

Work! Work on yourself!
Love yourself!
Be proud of yourself!
Surprise yourself and - develop!

It will come back to you a hundredfold and backfire good mood satisfaction in what you do. Pleasure, true delight in what "I live now and have the opportunity, myself (a), to manage my life!"

"I rejoice! I live! I grow!
I am evolving!
This earns me a pass to eternal life,
irresistible, Rai-sku-yu!!!"

Are you growing spiritually or are you crawling down?

Spiritual progress is a growing identification with the soul or principle of God within us. Spiritual growth is the result. A more detailed explanation of this definition, based on the principles of spiritual science, can be found in our article on.

2. The Importance of the Present Time for Rapid Spiritual Growth

As discussed in previous articles on , the period 1999 to 2023 represents the period of twilight between the two epochs as we move from a spiritually inauspicious time (mini- kaliyuga) to the spiritually better (mini- Satyayuga), within the main epoch kaliyug. When someone does spiritual practice according to the basic principles of spirituality at the twilight period of 23 years, it brings great benefits, because God gives spiritual growth to seekers who do spiritual practice even in such difficult times.

In fact, each year of spiritual practice in these 23 years is equal to 50 years in another era. Considering that the average life span of an adult is approximately 50 years, the spiritual practice that is done in those 23 years would be approximately equivalent to spiritual practice for over 1000 years. Another way to look at this is that we benefit from 20 lifetimes of spiritual practice in just one lifetime.

3. How to grow spiritually

When we are, it is important to regularly and gradually raise the level of our spiritual practice.

The table below provides practical directions for seekers who would like to save time and those who want to get a solid foundation for a lifelong spiritual practice.

It can be used as a benchmark to evaluate your efforts over the first 2 years.

Guide for Spiritual Progress

The steps given in the table above are in accordance with the spiritual practice recommended for the present. They also take into account that seekers experience from the side of negative energies.

Answers to questions about following the tips in the table above can be easily obtained through our “Ask a Question” facility or by participating in the online SSRF. satsangam. More detailed explanations of some of the activities mentioned in the table, for example, nias, boxes, etc. can be found by entering these terms in the search field in the upper right corner of the right side of the page.

4. In the end - how to grow spiritually

The pace or speed of our spiritual growth will depend on a number of spiritual factors, such as: the spiritual level at which we begin our journey, the amount of destiny that we have to go through in this life, to what extent we are exposed to negative energies, our spiritual qualities, seeking etc.

We can keep in mind that a sincere effort in implementing the stages of spiritual practice suggested here will help overcome any obstacles that we may encounter on our spiritual path and this will help us achieve the main one, which is our spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth of man is primarily determined by the capacity for absolute love and compassion towards all other beings.

Spiritual growth begins at the moment when a person realizes that something is missing in his life. When his ordinary existence becomes meaningless and the search for an answer to the question "Who am I?"

Most people from childhood are deprived of an independent search for spiritual truths, as a result of the established religious views of the family. I am deeply convinced that a person's spiritual growth is possible only through awareness of oneself, one's mistakes, knowledge of oneself, understanding one's life, searching for truth.

The basis of spiritual growth is personal experience, received by a person during the expansion of consciousness. It would be even more correct to say not spiritual growth, but spiritual awakening, because during spiritual awakening a person begins to see the world without distortion as it really is. And then the truths are revealed to him, the person finds spiritual harmony.

The spiritual growth of a person is determined by how free you are from your own irritability. Imagine that they are arguing with you, scandalizing, infuriating, provoking aggression. Will you be able to balance your mind and ignore all these things as just vibrations in the ether that do not affect your magnificent Atman? If yes, then you have truly achieved something (Swami Sivanada)

Spiritual growth. Basics

1. Acceptance is a complete internal agreement with what is. You allow something to be the way it is. You stop the internal struggle with yourself and with other people, allow yourself to be yourself, and others to be different.
2. Mindfulness - tracking your thoughts, states, emotions. Being in the moment "Now", not being distracted by thoughts about the future or the past. Total experience of the present moment.
3. Peace of mind - Everyone is looking for it, this is balance. There comes harmony of spirit, soul and body.
4. Unconditional love is the absence of selfishness. You love everything around you without conditions, just like that, without wanting anything in return. Unconditional love is enlightenment.
5. Faith is the knowledge of truth.

Stages of spiritual growth

Since spiritual growth implies the perfection of the mind, every person is at a certain stage of spiritual growth, whether he wants to or not.

The human mind is a subtle structure, the vibration frequency of which lies in the range from 10 to the 36th degree to 10 to the 45th degree Hertz.

The higher the vibration frequency, the higher the level of spiritual development. In saints and enlightened people, the mind vibrates with a frequency completely uncharacteristic of it and radiates vibrations of 10 to 108 degrees Hertz. This wave is also called love.

The transition from one stage to another is always a crisis and is always accompanied by a restructuring of the worldview, breaking obsolete, outdated views. It is almost impossible to overcome a spiritual crisis on your own; you need the help of a teacher, a mentor. Let's take a brief look at all the stages of the spiritual growth of a person.

• Mind ignorant This is the first level of intelligence. Lack of spirituality, stupidity, selfishness, materialism, darkness, ignorance - these are the qualities of an individual who is at this stage. Moreover, the intellect of this individual can be developed very highly, he can be an academician, professor, etc. Such a person is a convinced atheist, he denies the existence of higher powers. Such a person is inherently selfish and incapable of selfless love. He is completely focused on satisfying his base needs and builds all his relations with the world on personal gain. can only show interest and concern only for those who contribute to the realization of its main task - to survive on its own, as a separate individual.
• Mind undefined- As an individual encounters phenomena that he cannot explain logically, accumulating life experience, he enters the next stage of spiritual development - uncertainty. Lost, deluded mind. At this stage, the attitude towards the personality and higher forces is uncertain. more questions than answers. A person is no longer an atheist, but one cannot call him a believer either. The inability to explain what is happening forces a person to intensively seek answers to pressing questions from those who, it seems to him, know about inner world more than himself. Here begins a trip to psychologists, psychoanalysts, healers, yogis, grandmothers, sorcerers, psychics, priests. Often falling into the hands of psychiatrists, the poor fellow acquires a diagnosis of "schizophrenia" and remains for life in the second stage of spiritual development, until the next incarnation, having stopped his spiritual growth.
• Mind fanatical- those who are lucky in the second stage to meet a personality more developed than himself and capable of giving intelligible answers to questions that disturb the developing mind, go into the third stage of spiritual growth - fanaticism. Fanaticism is of two kinds - peaceful and militant. One feature that unites them is their categorical judgments and the conviction that the system of views, thanks to which the spiritual crisis was overcome, is the only true one. A militant fanatic, unlike a peaceful fanatic, is dangerous for society in that having once experienced TRUE LOVE, he is constantly in a state of thirst. His uncontrollable bouts of false altruism are not dictated by a desire to help his neighbor, but to recruit new supporters and allies in order to once again plunge into the flow of true love. At the same time, the recruitment of new allies takes place rudely, intrusively, they are dictated the only right way.
• mind asserting- multiple useless attempts to attach supporters to your system of views lead to a reassessment of values ​​and a transition to the next stage of spiritual growth. At this stage, the mind makes attempts to affirm that the path it has chosen is correct. The inclination towards integral thinking is not yet strong enough, so an attempt to establish oneself at this stage gives the opposite result.
• Seeking mind - the stage of spiritual search begins. A person, as in the second stage, begins to attend spiritual schools, groups, churches, meetings, etc. At the end of the fifth stage, there is also a high probability of being in a mental hospital.
• detached mind- those who have passed to the next stage of spiritual development may once again be in danger of meeting doctors in white coats, because in the penultimate stage of development, the material world, as such, completely ceases to interest the individual. All attention goes to the observation of sensations of the flow and the laws of the universe. representatives of this stage are frequent visitors psychiatric hospitals diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. These persons are the most valuable for society, because they are potential saints. Often the impossibility of making the transition from the 7th to the eighth stage of spiritual development proceeds very rapidly and doctors here state the diagnosis of "hypertoxic form of schizophrenia"
• enlightened mind - This is the level of consciousness, rising to which, a person achieves what we call the state of insight and creative inspiration.

Understanding all the stages of a person’s spiritual development, we can conclude that on the path to holiness we are in danger of being in a psychiatric hospital 10 times, therefore, in order to complete the full path to enlightenment, it is important to find an enlightened spiritual mentor or school.

Of course, now that stress has become a natural part of our lives, being kind to every person is very difficult. Some try to be kind, but negativity boils inside them, which, without going outside, literally eats up and forms diseases. You need to learn inner kindness and. Meditation, yoga or qigong, listening to calm music will help you with this. Try to avoid anything that turns you on nervous system: loud musical compositions, alcohol, horror films, etc. To become a kind person means to radiate positivity and benevolence around you.

Say goodbye to the past that brings you sad thoughts or negative emotions. It is very difficult to do this, but it is necessary, otherwise the past will continue to poison you with its existence. To get rid of past negative events, you will have to seriously work with your memory. Imagine every person you hold a grudge and anger against, and forgive him sincerely, with all your heart. You will notice how with each such forgiveness your soul becomes more calm. Working with visualization will help you fix a negative event. Remember what has been tormenting you for a long time, haunting you and assuring you that everything could have turned out very well if not for one wrong step. Correct this event in your thoughts, and you will feel that once upon a time everyone did just that. And the severity of this memory will leave you alone.

Watch your words, thoughts and emotions. These are the tools that communicate your desires to the Universe. A spiritually rich person does not wish harm to anyone, therefore, in his thoughts he will not offend a person, even if he is clearly trying to provoke a quarrel.

Help others. This is a very delicate item. In fact, you need to help only those people who ask you for it. Often, people, thinking that they are helping, only harm others. Therefore, you do not need to impose yourself by offering your help, if necessary, you will be asked for it yourself.

Read useful literature, watch positive videos, listen to beautiful music, visit places of power. Saturated with such useful energy, you will feel great, your health will please, and the events taking place in life will correspond to your desires. And then you will feel that you are always ready to follow the intended spiritual path.