Freeing yourself from the physical envelope

Spiritual realization is distinguished from material illusion by the awareness of temporary and illusory forms. The material body and the ethereal body which material energy imposes on us represent only superficial envelopes of the true self. These envelopes only proceed from ignorance.

To attain the perfect spiritual realization implies that one must adopt the spiritual life, all of virtue. To realize one's spiritual identity means that one becomes indifferent to the needs of material and ethereal bodies in order to give more seriousness to the activities of the soul. Incentives to act come from the soul. If we ignore our true self, if we ignore the spiritual nature of the soul, our activities become illusory. Plunged into this ignorance, the being believes that he finds his own interest in that of material and ethereal bodies, and thus, life after life, he continues to act in vain, to waste his energies.

It is only when he cultivates knowledge of his true identity that his spiritual soul activities begin. Becomes a soul freed even in the heart of matter, the one who accords his actions to the nature of the soul. It is easily accomplished, the one who abandons himself to God.

The Lord stands in the heart of every being, and from Him proceeds the memory, the knowledge and the forgetfulness.

When the human being desires to derive benefit from material energy (a purely illusory phenomenon), the Lord plunges him into the mystery of oblivion, so that, mistaking his material and ethereal bodies, he confuses them with his own self.

On the contrary, when the conditioned being cultivates spiritual knowledge and prays the Lord to free it from the clutches of oblivion, the latter, in His infinite mercy, removes the veil of illusion that covered it, so that He can realize his true identity. The soul thus realized then finds its natural, original and eternal condition, and thus engages in the service of the Lord, freed from all material conditions. All this is accomplished by the will of the Lord, through His external powers, or directly, through His inner powers.

The soul is neither masculine nor feminine.

One must strive to distinguish the spiritual soul from the material body without attaching itself to the external designations of masculine or feminine. As long as these distinctions remain in our minds, we must not attempt to become a hermit. At