Spiritual research on the spiritual life of Bill Gates

Abstract:

In an age where the super rich invest their wealth in various interests such as football teams, vintage aircrafts etc., Bill Gates stands apart. He has not only pledged a large percentage of his wealth to charity, but has also stated that after July 2008, he will be devoting all his time to charity work. The Spiritual Science Research foundation (SSRF) conducted spiritual research to find out the spiritual factors that contributed to Bill Gates taking this life path.

The spiritual research was done through the activated and highly advanced sixth sense of Anjali Gadgil, a seeker of the SSRF. Her spiritual analysis was checked and reconfirmed by His Holiness Dr. Athavale.

1. Introduction

We often look at our lives from a very myopic viewpoint i.e. we are born, we live and then we die and there is nothing before or after that. However, according to Spiritual science, our life is but a part of a continuum of many lives from our first birth till we finally realise God or until our dissolution. In other words, we all come from God and finally have to go back to God. Every time we are born on Earth, it is an opportunity to make spiritual progress so as to move closer to our final goal i.e. becoming one with God. From the standpoint of spiritual growth, the opportunity to be born on Earth, if used well, can result in our rapid spiritual growth. Refer to point 3.2 in the article ‘Where do we go after death’.

Every time we are born on Earth, we learn afresh the various worldly activities such as walking, talking, pursuing academic studies or a career etc. When it comes to spiritual understanding and growth, we start where we left off in our previous lifetime. Our deeds and spiritual practice done in previous lifetimes, either on Earth and/or in other subtle regions of the Universe, pre-decide the major events of our current life and the happiness and unhappiness we are due to experience. This is known as our destiny and in current times it makes up 65% of our lives. Refer to the article on, ‘What is destiny and wilful action?’

When people enjoy tremendous worldly success or happiness, it is generally due to merits from a previous lifetime. Worldly success does not raise any eye-brows from a spiritual standpoint. However, when a person pledges to donate a substantial amount of his fortune along with his complete time to help the world, it does raise interest from a spiritual standpoint. There are very few people who are able to walk away from their wealth and also devote their time to help society. It is for this reason the Spiritual Science Research Foundation proceeded to find out through spiritual research, the contributing factors behind this noble act.

2. Information about some relevant past lives of Bill Gates

What the spiritual research revealed was very interesting. The following are the salient facts:

Bill Gates has had a rich spiritual background in his past lives. He is a seeker of God following the Spiritual 'Path of Action' (Karmayoga). The Spiritual Path of Action (Karmayoga) is inherently about practicing Spirituality according to the principle ‘As one sows, so shall one reap’. The knowledge received also revealed that his faith and his efforts undertaken on this path to God, has made him a philosopher with thought-leadership in the Path of Action.
Through spiritual practice he has acquired a place in the subtle highly evolved plane of existence, the Mahaloka (a region which is more subtle than Heaven).
He has done spiritual practice for 20,000 years in the subtle plane of existence called Heaven (Swargaloka) and for 3000 years in the subtle plane of existence called Mahaloka. Please refer to the article on ‘Where do we go to after death?’

2.1 Enormity of the feat

The enormity of this feat can be understood from the following points:

One has to attain a minimum spiritual level of 60% to attain Heaven and of 80% to attain Mahaloka. Given that most people in current times are at the 20% spiritual level, this is very significant. Refer to the article on What is spiritual level, for a breakdown of the world’s population by spiritual level in 2006. We can appreciate the high level of spiritual growth achieved by Bill Gates in his earlier lives to be able to attain these higher subtle planes of existence.
To give a comparison, 6 years of intense spiritual practice* on Earth is equivalent to just 7 hours of spiritual practice done in Heaven and 5 hours in Mahaloka. In other words, the momentum of spiritual growth gained through:

1 year of spiritual practice in Heaven = 7509 years of spiritual practice on Earth
1 year of spiritual practice in Mahaloka = 10,512 years of spiritual practice on Earth
This means that Mr. Gates in his previous lifetimes, in the subtle planes of existence, has done spiritual practice as per the Earth equivalent of 150 million years in heaven plus 31.5 million years in Mahaloka. This amounts to a total of over 180 million years of effective spiritual practice in Earth years before being born as Bill Gates in this lifetime.
* Please note: Intense spiritual practice in terms of quantity would mean about 12-14 hours of practice a day. In terms of quality, it means that the person does all his daily activities as service to God, with a lot of desire and with the primary purpose to attain God.

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3. What is the purpose of Bill Gates’ birth on Earth?

Bill Gates due to his ample spiritual practice in previous births has already transcended (gone beyond) the attachment to happiness one enjoys in Heaven and has attained Mahaloka, which is the region even more subtle and evolved than Heaven. Usually a person who has ascended up to Mahaloka has bypassed the cycle of birth and death and hence does not have to be reborn on Earth to settle his destiny. However, he can come to the Earth region of his own free will. Earth is the only region among all the spiritual planes of existence, where actual action can be performed, as the soul has a physical body. This is the region where we can actually work away our give-and-take account and complete our Karma. This also stresses upon us the importance of spiritual practice. From his past lives, as Bill Gates has a deep faith in the Spiritual Path of Action (Karmyoga) he has taken birth on Earth to ascend (progress) from actual actions of sacrifice to complete renunciation.
By virtue of his merits and spiritual level from previous lives, this highly intelligent individual is destined to lead a life of fame and fortune equivalent to that enjoyed by the likes of a king. That is why he has been able to earn so much wealth. As a seeker on the Path of Action he is known as a Karmayogi. His spiritual practice is that of offering his wealth for the benefit of others. He had to take birth on Earth in order to experience renunciation.
As Bill Gates has already experienced all the pleasures in the subtle plane of Heaven, he does not have any craving or attachment to wealth. However, he now has the privilege to experience first hand, the Bliss of giving away wealth and of the resultant renunciation. Sacrifice of wealth in the real spiritual sense means having no attachment to wealth. Bill Gates is already at this stage. By giving away one’s wealth, even the thought that, 'I have wealth' does not remain. That is the stage of renunciation. Enjoying wealth can at the most give pleasure, overcoming attachment to wealth gives superlative happiness called Bliss. However progressing to renunciation gives even more Bliss.

4. Future of Bill Gates’ spiritual practice

The wealth acquired by Bill Gates is result of his pure thoughts and unshakeable faith in the Path of Action.
Giving away his accumulated wealth helps do away the sense of achievement associated with it. Thus he will ascend from the level of sacrifice (giving away), where there is a sense of achievement of wealth, to that of renunciation where even this sense of achievement is overcome. This is his goal. Thus he is close to achieving his objective and is now moving towards renunciation.

5. What can be the possible course of life as a result of good deeds?

Enjoying a prosperous, famous and influential life like that of a king.
Getting stuck in actions if one fails to donate: Even if the person does not have attachment towards his wealth, if he does not donate it, then due to the thoughts of achievement related to the acquired wealth, he gets stuck in the Path of Action. For attaining the ultimate stage of God-realisation, one has to finally go even beyond one’s path of spiritual practice.

Getting entangled in the Path of Action means getting trapped in thoughts about active actions pertaining to one’s duties. Giving up the Path of Action means sacrificing acquired wealth and progressing from sacrifice to renunciation.
Rapid further progress by donating: By donating the acquired wealth, one is liberated even from the thoughts of achievement and one progresses faster. Bill Gates is an excellent example of this. He is an example of a great evolving soul.