BS 267 200815 The Supremacy of Conscience

There is something within all of us that may be considered to be a principle or an energy or an overseer or a monitor that presides over our behavior with regard to its rightness or wrongness. This monitor may be called our conscience. Gandhiji called it the ‘little dictator’ that guided him in all his actions. The basis of our conscience is universal ethical and moral principles or maxims such as “do good and avoid evil” and “give everyone his or her due”. I like to call conscience the divine spark of consciousness within us as it witnesses to our conscious mental processes and evaluates our decisions. It is a spiritual faculty within us and works as judge of our values. Our conscience then is a product of the prolonged training that instills within us the values and purpose of the Cosmos or the Organizing Intelligence (God) that governs the world. As we embark on anything our conscience spells out for us the path we need to take. When things are not clear and our mind is not yet made up, our conscience very understandably and patiently stays with us until we in our creative tension sort things out and come to a decision that is individually (at the spirit-mind-body level) holistic and collectively (at the entire humanity level) beneficial.

Most of our actions are habitual and automatic and the conscience stays inactive.  It is in those actions that qualitatively move us with the rest of humanity to a higher, spiritual plain that our conscience is most active. Conscience plays a great role in expanding our awareness that is pure Godly quality operating at the level of unity of humanity. Truly, the more aware we are the more divine we are, the more human and humane we are, and the more beyond strife, conflicts, competition, power and control, and recognition. As our conscience grows and matures, we move from MY interests to OUR interests. This is nothing but LOVE at its zenith.

A few days ago I was sitting near a central passage way of the ashram sipping a cup of tea. One of the workers came and asked me about what I thought of a well-known God-woman in the area. I told him: “Not much”. He wanted to know more. I told him: “The difference between her and you is: She, perhaps, knows who she is, and, at this juncture, she appears to put her talents or gifts or charism to good use. Additionally, fortunately she has the recognition factor that brings fame and popularity which in turn induces people from far and wide to throng to her. They think they get something. In fact some persons do get some benefit as mere placebo effect. The mere motivation to visit her itself can bring some relief from what they are suffering or lacking. On the other hand, you do not know who you are. You do not know your unique gift. The sheer fact of your thinking that there is someone out there in this world who is better than you as a human being blocks you from being and becoming who you really are. This thinking of yours will get you going helter-skelter reaching nowhere. The fact that you actualize your potentials does not mean persons are going to come to you. You could be like a beautiful, fragrant flower that blooms and withers unseen and unrecognized in the middle of a thick rain forest. In fact most holy men and women are unrecognized. In my concluding remarks to him I also told him that at the level of awareness that he is, it is alright to visit the so-called God-women and find his bliss or get his high until he becomes fully aware and awake and will no longer needs her.”

I began with the supremacy of conscience. Conscience is not given the importance it needs. Political and religious leaders play a great part in dumbing people down. While they talk of protecting others, what I hear is their interest in protecting their vested interests. According to the scriptural saying that a tree is known by the fruit it produces, many political and religious leaders do not stand much of a chance. Their staying in power as also their feeling of indispensability will be considerably diminished by people who are aware and enlightened. That is the main reason I can think of their infantilizing and stultifying their followers. I have experienced religious leaders who think that even a well-formed conscience is misguided if it is not formed according to their religious doctrine or criteria or guidelines. 

Let no one bamboozle you into thinking and believing that they are better than you are as a human being, that your conscience is misguided if it is sincere and if you have taken painstaking care in forming it.  Your creator has given you all that you need for your salvation. You are a subject and not an object to be pressured by others to conform to their thinking. Critically examine everything. If you are not clear about issues in your mind and conscience, make every effort to get the knowledge to firm up your conscience. Your conscience witnesses to what is going on within you. You should not allow your indebtedness to anyone to compromise your conscience and destiny. Once you are clear, follow your conscience. Your conscience is supreme. It may also be important here to mention that politicians and religious leaders do not give the importance conscientious objections, on account of which persons put their own lives at risk, deserve.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti