OUR SOUL PURPOSE
Mr Jaspal Soni, a retired mechanical engineer who lived and worked in the United States for more than 25 years, was tired and done with the monotony of leading a materialistic existence. A curious seeker who wanted to know the reality of human existence and the ultimate purpose of human life, he joined the Summit Lighthouse in America, where he got to know the teachings of the ascended masters who helped him get his answers on his spiritual quest. Chananda Cultural Society is the brainchild of Mr Soni on the lines of the teachings he received from the Summit Lighthouse, and he is trying to convey the message of the ascended masters to every possible seeker and help them realise their purpose in life. Nikita Mukherjee writes.
I hail from a deeply religious family. When I was a little child, I used to look at my mother sitting in front of the idols of gods for hours at a stretch and worshipping them. As time passed and I slowly started gaining more awareness, I often wondered and questioned the very existence of life. Where do we come from? What is the purpose of our life? What role do the gods play in our journey? Where do we go after we die? Is the cycle of birth and death a never-ending one? These questions kept baffling me from time to time. However, I never really got the answer to any one of them back then.
Gradually, with experiences, came a sense of atheism, and I stopped believing in the existence of gods. Just like any other young blood who wanted objective proof to every theory, I started relying on science for all my answers, but, to my disappointment, never got anything concrete. Slowly and steadily, I stopped thinking about these questions altogether and got busy with the usual hustle and bustle of materialistic life. Yet, the thirst for deeper knowledge never left my system; it hid in the deepest corner of my consciousness.
So, when I got the opportunity of meeting Mr Jaspal Soni on a lazy sunny afternoon, I was very excited. I finally felt that I might get answers to all these questions I have been thinking about for such a long time. I was greeted and welcomed by a charming, aged man with an alluring personality. With an open terrace beautifully decorated with flowers and antiques, Mr Soni’s place seemed like a haven of peace and a cute little abode of happiness.
Going beyond the humdrum
“I was always curious about the purpose of human life. Getting an education, a job, getting married, having children, and finally retiring is a secure masterplan in everyone’s perception. However, this plan comes with its shares of ups and downs along with pain and suffering. I wanted to transcend beyond this and know the actual reality of our existence. I wanted to know if there is an end to this cycle of suffering and if there is some deep purpose of human life,” he said, while opening up to me.
A personal incident along with the longing to know the secrets of human existence and the ultimate cosmic reality encouraged Mr Soni to walk the path of spirituality in order to get his answers. “When the world was created millions of years ago, the jivatman (the individual soul) and the Atman (Universal Soul) were connected. Due to this, the jivatman knew the reality and the purpose of its existence and worked diligently towards the attainment of liberation or moksha (freeing oneself from all the ties of suffering and merging with the Divine) with profound guidance from the ascended masters. As time passed, the connection diminished gradually, and humans went into a pothole of darkness, automatically losing the connection with the ultimate reality and their inner consciousness,” he explained.
Feeding the soul
“The purpose of forming Chananda Cultural Society is to bring human beings back into the loving embrace of the Divine and make them aware of their divine purpose. Ever since I laid down its foundation in 2012, I have been focussed on transforming human consciousness by giving people what their soul needs, instead of what their mind wants. Currently, there are 400 people who are connected with Chananda.”
Talking about the current state of society, he says that we are living in dogmatic times, where all humans care about are luxurious items, the latest trends in the market, financial status in society, and to add fuel to the fire, their religious ideologies. We identify ourselves through our religious identities and consider them superior to every other religion. Every human being on this planet wants to practice supremacy over people of other religions. All this fascination for materialistic pleasures coupled with the lack of knowledge about real spirituality has left humankind perplexed and in the dark.
We all have often wondered about the existence of gods. Some people, without having any profound knowledge, blindly worship them and believe in the faith and ideologies of a specific religion. Unfortunately, this fake awareness has led to a hysterical society where people don’t know the difference between right and wrong and the ultimate reality anymore.
The masters show the way
The line of ascended masters Mr Soni is connected to, is different from that of other spiritual organisations. Originally founded by Mark L Prophet and Elizabeth Clare in 1958, in the USA, the Summit Lighthouse considers Lord Sanat Kumara and the cosmic council as their lineage. He works with archangels and ascended masters of the East and West and teaches how to use the Violet Flame to burn karmas and raise spiritual vibrations. Instead of prayers, his sangha (community) uses decrees to raise vibrations and manifest goals.
“The concept of who and what God is, is very complex and deep. Nobody has seen God, yet there’s a deep belief that He or She exists. ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ means ‘I am Brahman.’ I still don’t know who or what God is, but we humans have the power to reach our highest level of existence and merge with the Divine and become Brahman ourselves,” Mr Soni emphasises.
Dalraj Kaur was an all-rounder in her school days. She was extraordinarily good at academics, sports, as well as cultural activities like dance, arts, and music. She had everything other students desired. However, there was one thing she always pined for and never got. “I was a charming, good-looking young girl, who never had any boyfriends. Despite having a good personality, I couldn’t ever attract boys, and this fact ate me up from inside.” She discovered the Chananda Cultural Society in 2014 while attending a book fair. “I saw Mr Soni explaining the ‘I am Presence’ chart to a group of people. The brightly-coloured chart was attractive from a distance, and it intrigued and drew me towards it. I approached him, and since then, there was no turning back. I embarked on a compassionate and powerful journey of knowing my true, inner Self. I realised that when an individual truly understands themself inside out as well as the concept of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ or ‘I am Presence,’ they feel fulfilled from within, and the need to get validation from others isn’t required.”
The Chananda Cultural Society preaches the knowledge of the ultimate reality through the teachings of the various ascended masters from all walks of life and religions. It helps seekers in putting an end to the cycle of suffering and experiencing the fulfilment of their souls. “People these days have been conditioned in such a manner that they have lost the insight into reality. The only way to know the real, eternal truth is to fully devote yourself to the ascended masters and let them guide you in the process,” says Daljit Kaur.
An ascended master can be anyone or anything—a holy book; a living, spiritual guru; an angel or an archangel; or the entity you regard as God. The ascended master’s job is to simply make you realise the eternal truth, i.e., the cosmic law of existence, and guide you on the path to attaining it. The more we progress on this spiritual path, the more knowledge we absorb. The more knowledge we intake, the more our perception towards life and ourselves becomes clearer, and the inner confidence to deal with daily issues increases. Gradually, when the knowledge and the confidence in cosmic laws increases, we call it faith or shraddha. When this faith increases, our perspective starts getting clearer slowly and steadily. However, this faith doesn’t come very easily. It comes with focussed devotion and the Violet Light.
Light of love
The Violet Agni or Violet Flame is a spiritual fire gifted to mankind by ascended master St Germain. In the Golden ages of India, Egypt, South America, and Britain, people knew about this Violet Flame. With the help of this flame, people were able to transmute their negative energy into positivity. But gradually, with time and over generations, people lost the power to access it because of their increasing urge and lust towards worldly pleasures.
“The Violet Light is an aura. The seven chakras (energy centres) in our body have auras. They are the windows to our soul which receive and transmit energy from the cosmos and nature. Chakras are the spiritual cups of light. Somebody with a negative aura emits darker colours while others have radiating auras,” explains Mr Soni. Auras have the power to attract people towards yourself. Anybody with a good and powerful aura is automatically regarded as a good soul with a positive personality, while a person with a negative aura repels souls. Chananda Cultural Society is doing a remarkable job of igniting the Violet Light in seekers who wish to become one with Brahman and know the ultimate reality.
“Spiritual relationship is not a business. Unlike human relationships which come with their set of expectations, a spiritual relationship with the Divine is unconditional,” enlightens Ms Kaur. “On this spiritual path of knowing the ultimate reality and attaining the highest level of your existence, the ascended masters want nothing in return. They are just doing their job in making humans realise what they truly are and what their sole purpose of life is, through their profound teachings.”
Living in the Presence
Mallika, a tarot-card reader, had an intuition on the morning of the interview to come to Mr Soni’s place. “I usually don’t come uninvited and normally only attend prayer meetings on Sundays, but today, out of nowhere, I felt the urge to just go. I guess I got my answer now,” she said, seeing me interviewing Mr Soni. “Maybe the ascended masters chose me as the messenger of imparting true knowledge out there to the masses through my words.” Mallika joined the society a few months back when she got to know about it through a mutual friend. She says that she feels eternal and immense peace when she attends the prayer meetings on weekends after a hard week of work. “I was in a very dark space personally before I joined the society. As a curious observer, I had a lot of questions regarding my personal life and wanted to know the answers with logical understanding. Also, I wanted to know about the five tattvas (elements) of the human body, and, somehow, felt that nature is calling out to me. On coming here, I got clarity on a lot of things for which I was seeking answers for long. The result is a completely transformed woman sitting in front of you who has a clearer perspective on life along with a calm and serene inner soul.”
Mr Jagmohan was a curious seeker when he joined the society. “Unlike a lot of people who have to go through a life-changing tragic incident to seek the spiritual path, I was just a curious seeker who thought a lot about such profound concepts for long and wanted to get answers. Joining the Chananda Cultural Society was the right choice as the teachings of the ascended masters answered all my unanswered questions.”
Sitting amongst such like-minded, simple people who were devoted to the teachings of the ascended masters and who had transcended materialistic desires, even an atheist like me somewhat started to believe in the existence of a divine power which takes care of the whole of existence. Also, I did get a clear perspective on my age-old questions.
The most unique thing that I liked about the society was the fact that it preaches the eternal knowledge of cosmic design and the real purpose of human existence as a universal agenda of all the religions existing in the world. It regards the message of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ or ‘I am Presence’ as a major teaching of all religions. Whether you’re a Hindu (who regards Lord Shiva or Lord Vishnu as your ascended master and follows the Bhagavad Gita), a Christian (who follows in the footsteps of Jesus Christ), or a Sikh (who is ardently devoted to Guru Nanakji), every religion holds the same message of the eternal truth of human existence and Chananda Cultural Society doesn’t discriminate in that aspect, unlike a lot of brainwashed and radical religious bodies who, I personally think, are not enlightened themselves.
The human race is slipping into a dystopian era due to lack of real, eternal knowledge, and sanghas like Chananda Cultural Society are doing a fantastic job in helping humans realise the ultimate truth of their existence, which can lead all of us collectively to a better and happier world.