Expansion of the self

Expansion of the self given by Swami Ramtirtha. Swami Ramtirtha classified the entire human race into 5 categories, each one represented by a circle, which is called the circle of compassion. The classification goes as follows:

1. The Mineral men: These human beings are represented by a very small circle equivalent only to a dot. These are the men of the lowest level of consciousness- sensitive only to their happiness and sufferings and indifferent to everything else.

2. The Vegetative men: Swami Ramtirtha represents these men with a slightly bigger circle of compassion….just as plants have higher consciousness then the mineral class. The consciousness of these men is expanded to include their family. As a result they are very good towards their family, mother, father, children, and spouse. However, for everything outside this circle, they turn their back they are simply not bothered about the sufferings of others.

3. The Animal men: These are men who have extended their Self beyond their own bodily self and their families and identify themselves with a class, a community, a sect or a state. Though they are better than the two preceding class, yet they are afflicted by selfishness and insensitivity towards everything that lies outside their circle of compassion. The repercussions of this aspect are seen in terms of communal riots and state conflicts.

4. Man in man: These are the men who identify themselves with not just a sect, a community or a state, but the entire nation. They are the patriots. They have a much higher consciousness, which has the ability to perceive distress of each and every entity within their nation. They feel one with their nation. But, still they have a limited self, confined to the boundaries of a nation. And, this has a repercussion which we see in terms of warfare, internauonal conflicts, etc.  

            The majority of the world population falls within these categories- the nationalists, the patriots, the philanthropists, the social workers, etc.- all having a limited circle of compassion, with some degree of concavity in them. But Swami Ramtirtha talks of another rare category, the fifth category.

5. God in Man/ Free-men: These are the men who embrace the whole universe. It would, therefore, not be wrong to say that they are the living God in a human grab! They are one with the entire cosmos….free from all limitations. In reality, they are the ‘true’ human beings…the universal beings! For them it is not the suffering of a man, a community, or a nation that matters; they possess the ability to perceive distress of each and every entity in this universe! Giving is their innate nature! Their life is one with the creation and they are the only ones who have completely descended ‘me and mine’. They are the true personification of compassion! They are the possessors of the three miraculous abilities!

            A God-man is like a ‘true’ doctor whose aim is only to heal the patient. He doesn’t see the files sitting on the wounds; he doesn’t see the decaying body; he doesn’t get irritated by the small; he doesn’t see rich or poor, educated or uneducated……he just feels the pain and works with all his spirit to heal the patient. Likewise, a Sadguru is the universal doctor who doesn’t see the selfishness of the mineral man; he doesn’t see the attachment of the vegetative man; he doesn’t get bothered by the ego of the animal man…..he just works on realizing the possibility of evolving each of them into a divine man!

But, are these men found in the world today? As a matter of fact, whenever life flourishes on earth, this rare category of men also reside in the world. Turn back the pages of history and you will find many names adorning this category- Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Buddha, Lord Mahavira, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Yogananda Paramhansa, and many more. Indeed, they are the divine incarnations, the perfect masters, the Sadguru, who stand as the true personification of compassion in the world. History speaks volumes on how these rare God men touched the creation with their compassion and them with peace and joy.