To put these precepts of Good Thoughts, Good Words and Good Deeds into practice is not as easily done as it would appear, though it is not impossible. But to live up to these precepts honestly and literally is apparently as impossible as it is to practice a living death in the midst of life.
In the world, there are countless sadhus, mahatmas, Maha Purushs, saints, yogis and walis, though the number of genuine ones is very, very limited. The few genuine ones are, according to their spiritual status, in a category of their own, which is neither on a level with the ordinary human being nor on a level with the state of the Highest of the High.
I am neither a mahatma nor a Maha Purush, neither a sadhu nor a saint, neither a yogi nor a wali. Those who approach me with the desire to gain wealth or to retain their possessions, those who seek through me relief from distress and suffering, those who ask my help to fulfill and satisfy mundane desires, to them I once again declare that as I am not a sadhu, a saint or a mahatma, Maha Purush or yogi, to seek these things through me is but to court utter disappointment, though only apparently, for eventually this disappointment is itself invariably instrumental in bringing about the complete transformation of mundane wants and desires.
The sadhus, saints, yogis, walis and such others who are on the via media, can and do perform miracles and satisfy the transient material needs of individuals who approach them for help and relief.1
The question therefore arises that if I am not a sadhu, not a saint, not a yogi, not a Maha Purush, nor a wali, then what am I? The natural assumption would be that I am either just an ordinary human being, or I am the Highest of the High. But one thing I say definitely, and that is that I can never be included among those having the intermediary status of the real sadhus, saints, yogis and such others.
Now, if I am just an ordinary man, my capabilities and powers are limited; I am no better or different from an ordinary human being. If people take me as such then they should not expect any supernatural help from me in the form of miracles or spiritual guidance, and to approach me to fulfill their desires would also be absolutely futile.
Footnotes
- 1.Via media is Latin meaning a middle way or a middle ground. In this instance, it refers to the planes of the spiritual path.