Couldn’t other people serve as the proving ground to test whether we have truly made progress?
We can compare it as the three stages in the growth of a plant. There is the seed stage. This is when we are buried in complete ignorance and are interacting with and open to all kinds of forces. Still, the seed grows slowly through it all.
The next stage is when the seed emerges out from the ground and is beginning to open to the Light, being drawn towards the skies. It is during this stage that one has to be careful, as one is also exposed to all kinds of forces ready to eat away the newly blossoming plant. One has to guard it from the animal and asuric forces. That is why there is need of a collective life, an Ashram, for example, so that there is a natural protective fence around the budding soul. Still later, in the final stages, one has grown into a tree, can bear every impact, in fact even return the impact in very different ways. Then one can be anywhere and everywhere without much difficulty.
But there is the other possibility, that of an inner isolation, of equanimity and detachment, of being in the world but not of the world. If one can do so, it is ideal. This is essentially so because this yoga, though not a yoga of withdrawal from life or of an ascetic renunciation, is equally not a yoga of ignorant indulgence in life. All life is yoga implies uplifting each and every activity, including social interactions, so that one acts upon life and the world around from a higher poise.
As to testing, there are plenty of forces of lower nature always waiting to test us, trying to draw us into their field of ignorance, forces that wear nice names and come under attractive and charming disguises. We don’t need to test ourselves. There always are plenty of forces doing it. They pursue even the ascetic in the cave until he grows sincere in his seeking. In this sense God is everywhere and the world too is everywhere. One does not and cannot run away from the world. Even when living alone, one gets enough interaction with people and the world around. At the same time, one has to be careful that one is not dragged into the world and social interactions that often bring us back to the same old state. The secret lies in moderation and a healthy balance, as well as a conscious choice in one’s interactions.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
