Progress in cultivating the human spirit entails the
gradual disappearance of the materialistic ego. Covered
by ignorance, passion, and so-called goodness, the spirit
soul thinks himself all in all and is covered by a false
sense of ego. Thus he falsely identifies the soul with the
body, and his bodily relations with material things become
_ the objects of his attraction. This false identification and
attraction for matter gradually dry up and fade away by suc-
cess in the cultivation of the human spirit. That is the effect of
such higher cultivation. Progress in spiritual culture brings
~ about the disintegration of false ego and material attraction.

The ultimate goal of cultivating the human spirit is God
realization and surrender unto God with a full sense of His
all-pervasive nature. When a liberated soul thus surrenders
unto the lotus feet of the all-pervading Godhead, the ocean
of nescience becomes as insignificant to him as the water in
| e-. the small hoofprint of a calf. He at once becomes eligible to
="~ be promoted to the spiritual kingdom, and he has nothing to
do with the miserable land of the material world.

Cultivation of the human spirit is not, therefore, mere
adjustment of materialistic anomalies. It is the process for
preparing oneself to be promoted to the spiritual kingdom.
No one can adjust the sufferings of material existence, but
by spiritual culture one can elevate himself from the effects
of such miserable life. As an example one may cite the
condition of a dry coconut. The dry coconut pulp automati-
cally becomes separate from its outer skin. Similarly, the
outer skin, or the gross and subtle material coverings of the
soul, automatically separates from the spirit soul, and the
spirit soul can then exist in spiritual existence, even though
apparently within the dry skin. This freedom from the false
sense of ego is called the liberation of the soul.=

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