The core value of the Pitt’s personal family mission is charged with spiritual truth

I love this family for a few reasons: 1) They have made a point of celebrating diversity and the equality of all human souls; 2) They take action to make the world a happier place; 3) They are not controlled by public opinion; 4) They live their lives with truth and harmony at the core.

I feel strongly that the cure for all social ills is to embrace the truth of spiritual equality. Putting all religious dogma aside and deleting all “isms” from our life, we just need to honor this one truth to find true peace and happiness. You see, by embracing the concept of spiritual equality comes real unity and this leads us to the question: “What is the Source of that truth that unites us all?” In this way, the purpose of life and the identity of that Absolute Truth can be finally revealed.

In my book FOOD YOGA – Nourishing Body, Mind & Soul, I explore the idea of spiritual equality in detail. Essentially, it means to see the spiritual spark within all beings; the core essence of consciousness; the ‘thing’ that animates us and makes us a living being. Science may be able to tell us how the machine of the body works down to the cellular level, but one thing they have failed to fully explain is what is that ‘thing’ that drives the machine. In other words, who is the ‘driver’ of the body-machine?

Most spiritual literature speaks of a soul, but usually, it is framed as, “you have soul,” rather than, “you are the soul.” And these are two very distinct viewpoints. One is saying, you have some magical component that makes you alive and the other viewpoint clearly establishes you as something more than a body – superior energy to the gross elements that make up the mortal machine. The ancient Vedas clearly side with the latter and rightly so, for whatever your belief is, one thing that cannot be denied is that the body is essentially dead without consciousness and consciousness, for all we understand about it, appears to be a symptom of that magical component, many of us call a “soul.”

Vedic Scholar Srila Prabhupada comments:

The soul is full of knowledge, or full always with consciousness. Therefore, consciousness is the symptom of the soul. Even if one does not find the soul within the heart, where he is situated, one can still understand the presence of the soul simply by the presence of consciousness. Sometimes we do not find the sun in the sky owing to clouds, or for some other reason, but the light of the sun is always there, and we are convinced that it is therefore daytime. As soon as there is a little light in the sky early in the morning, we can understand that the sun is in the sky. Similarly, since there is some consciousness in all bodies — whether man or animal — we can understand the presence of the soul.

The goal of self-realization practices, therefore, must be to cleanse the mind and to become aware of yourself as a soul. Sadly, this is often not the case, and most people simply shoot for peace of mind and sense control and don’t take it any further than that.

The Srimad Bhagavatam elaborates:

When one is completely cleansed of the impurities of lust and greed produced from the false identification of the body as “I” and bodily possessions as “mine,” one’s mind becomes purified. In that pure state he transcends the stage of so-called material happiness and distress. At that time the soul can see himself to be transcendental to material existence and always self-effulgent, never fragmented, although very minute in size.

The key difference here is not the process one uses for self-realization, but the goal. However, we first have to at least embrace the truth of spiritual equality. As long as one thinks that their soul is somehow superior to another soul, then progress cannot be made. Really, this idea is just a dressed-up version of the same mundane trappings of bodily consciousness. In FOOD YOGA I make this point:

The important thing to realize is that ultimately we are not Christian, Hindu, Vaisnava, Muslim, Zoroastrian, Jewish, or Buddhist, all of which are just superficial designations; rather, we simply are. You and I are unique individuals. There is no need to put a label on who you are. Nor is there a need to define you by some church, temple, synagogue, community, gender, race or religion. You are who you are –a fragment of the splendor of God. We are actually little gods and goddesses having a human experience. Commentator of the Gita, Srila Prabhupada explains:

The entire cosmic manifestations, moving and nonmoving, are manifested by different activities of Krishna’s energy. In the material existence we create different relationships with different living entities who are nothing but Krishna’s marginal energy, but under the creation of prakrti (Sanskrit: Material Nature) some of them appear as our father, mother, grandfather, creator, etc., but actually they are parts and parcels of Krishna. As such, these living entities who appear to be our father, mother, etc., are nothing but Krishna. In this verse the word dhata means “creator.” Not only are our father and mother parts and parcels of Krishna, but their creator, grandmother, and grandfather, etc., are also Krishna. Actually any living entity, being part and parcel of Krishna, is Krishna. (Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Purport Verse 9.17)

It is examples like the above that help us to re-evaluate our priorities and decisions in life. The Pitt family may not be the most religious people you’ll ever find, but the core value of their personal family mission is charged with spiritual truth. We are all souls, equal in the eyes of God. No one is better than anyone else. The more we believe that the more peace and prosperity there will be in this world and this will surely set the stage for successful self-realization.

To learn more about FOOD YOGA or my holistic life coaching visit: www.foodyogi.org