Read the passage carefully and answer the questions based on it.
How should a spiritual aspirant lead his life? A real spiritual aspirant will properly discharge his duties in the relative and spiritual worlds; and between the two worlds, there will be a happy blending. In the external world there needs to be an ‘objective adjustment’, and at the same time there should be, in the psychic world, a ‘subjective approach’. Furthermore, never forgetting that human life is an ideological flow, a spiritual aspirant needs to always move towards the supreme ideology. We have been moving in this direction since time immemorial and, through this process we have reached the present stage of humanity.
Every human being has had to pass through that sort of painful animal life in the past. But that does not mean we should be the cause of misery for those animals who have taken shelter with us today. On the contrary, we should have a merciful attitude towards them. We need to carry out our duties properly in the external world and ensure no being is mistreated. In the physical sphere, the rights of all should be protected. Each and every human being should be guaranteed the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, medicine, shelter and education. ‘I won’t exploit anyone, and I will not allow others to exploit me.’ This is the spirit of proper objective adjustment. And while this proper objective adjustment is maintained, work must continue in a progressive way.
We need to remember that our existence is not only a physical one. It is animals who are primarily concerned with the physical world, who struggle merely to survive. Those animals which live in jungles are constantly confronted by the fear of tigers, lions, bears, elephants, snakes, crocodiles and a host of other ferocious creatures; while those which have surrendered to human beings, such as goats, sheep and cows, are confronted in the last moment of their lives with the fear of being slaughtered by a human. Animal life is less secure than human life.
Today, most of us face difficulties in maintaining an objective adjustment with the physical world. As we have not yet been able to build an ideal human society, we will have to first concentrate on providing everyone with the basic requirements of life. To enable society to progress spiritually, people need to be given sufficient scope and time for spiritual practices. The subjective approach is to first withdraw the crude mind gradually from the external world and merge it in the subtle mind, and then to merge the subtle mind in unit consciousness. When unit consciousness is merged in Cosmic Consciousness, a human being is said to have attained the supreme fulfilment in life.
In the present world, we face such tremendous difficulties in maintaining our objective adjustment that we cannot afford to give any time for the subjective approach. That is why it is essential to build a healthy human society as early as possible, so that each and every one of us gets enough scope and time for spiritual progress.
1. While performing one’s duties properly, what else must we ensure?
A. Every being gets an equal treatment.
B. No one gets an ill treatment
C. The manoeuvre towards the Almighty gets unaffected.
(1) Only A
(2) Both A and C
(3) Only B
(4) Both A and B
(5) Only C
2. Who can be credited for merging both godly and worldly lives seamlessly into one another and how?
(1) A spiritual aspirant by taking care of his family.
(2) A worldly person by taking care of his family.
(3) A spiritual aspirant by fulfilling his duties.
(4) A worldly person by fulfilling his duties.
(5) None of the above
3. Why has the need to make an objective adjustment with the physical world arisen?
(1) Because animal life is less secure than human life.
(2) Because of one’s nature of fulfilling one’s greed not need.
(3) Due to the increasing need to maintain harmony.
(4) Because of our failure of being able to make an ideal society
(5) Both (1) and (4)
4. Which of the following statements is/are NOT TRUE in the context of the passage?
(1) To ensure societies’ spiritual progress, people need to be given sufficient scope and time for spiritual practices.
(2) We give so much time to subjective adjustment that we do not have any for the objective approach.
(3) When unit and Cosmic Consciousness are merged, a human being attains the supreme fulfilment in life.
(4) It is essential to build a healthy human society as early as possible.
(5) Each and every human being should be guaranteed the basic necessities of life.
5. How, as per the author, can one ensure that one doesn’t exploit someone and vice versa?
A. By struggling to do more than just being alive
B. By being spiritual
C. By moving progressively
D. By adjusting objectively
(1) Only A
(2) Both B and C
(3) Only D
(4) Both C and D
(5) Only B
In the following passage, five words are highlighted but the words are not placed at the appropriate place. You need to swap the words with the suitable ones.
Here we are, the products, as it were, of this great creative activity of the radiant (P) completeness and perfection of the Almighty, the Supreme Being. God is subservience (Q) perfection, and everything that belong from Him as His creation has also to be a perfection. An imperfect product does not come out of a perfect cause. Thus, the great, most venerable, infinite Eternal Being, to describe whom as a perfection would be to say very little, has willed this universe, which also is a perfection. Many of us have distracted notions of our own selves – poor, illiterate ideas of our being nothings, nobodies, unfulfilled, incomplete and unfortunate (R) and if you believe you have come from that One Being, you are not that which you imagine yourselves to be under a false notion of yourself in your artificial adjustments and accommodations with a phenomenon we call human society which, to repeat once again, is also, in its essentiality, a symbol of perfection itself.
The whole universe is a/an immeasurable (S) manifestation of the Almighty’s perfection. Glory is the name of this world. ‘Yasya nama mahad yasah’, says the Svetasvatara Upanishad. The glory of God is also the glory of this world; it is also the glory of every one of us, every one of you. Each one, even in the littlest of the forms of manifestation, is a completion in itself. Even an atom is a complete manifestation, and is not a little part of something. You do not emanates to anyone, and nothing belongs to you. The idea of something belonging to something else is the idea of utter (T) and fragmentation of personality. A thing that is complete cannot belong to something else, and if everything is complete, nothing can belong to anything. Neither can you belong to anything, nor can anything belong to you, because all these little manifestations of completion, perfection, poornta, belong to the eternal perfection which is the Supreme Being. These ideas, these thoughts, these contemplations even for a few moments will charge your personality with such strength, energy, joy and satisfaction that you may not wish to even open your mouth. You will feel that everything is well.
6. Which of the following words is appropriate at place (P)?
(1) Q
(2) R
(3) S
(4) T
(5) No replacement required.
7. Which of the following words is appropriate at place (Q)?
(1) P
(2) R
(3) S
(4) T
(5) No replacement required.
8. Which of the following words is appropriate at place (R)?
(1) P
(2) Q
(3) S
(4) T
(5) No replacement required.
9. Which of the following words is appropriate at place (S)?
(1) P
(2) Q
(3) R
(4) T
(5) No replacement required.
10. Which of the following words is appropriate at place (T)?
(1) P
(2) Q
(3) R
(4) S
(5) No replacement required.
Answers:-
Q.1 (3)
Q.2 (3)
Q.3 (4)
Q.4 (2)
Q.5 (3)
Q.6 (3)
Q.7 (4)
Q.8 (5)
Q.9 (1)
Q.10 (2)
