The Need For Spirituality

One of the most common questions asked to a spiritual seeker is the utility of spirituality. Why should anyone pursue spirituality? In the current world of materialistic gratification, what is it that spirituality offers that makes anyone spend time on it?

Just like any other field of study, spirituality also has to be studied. But as we near the end of the article, readers can clearly make out the difference between studying spirituality and studying any other non-spiritual subject.

Let me start by asking, what is it that we want in life. Some may see wealth; some may say fame; some may say a good spouse. The list goes on and all are valid. Next suppose I ask, why do you want these? Hold here for a moment, stop reading and ask yourself, why do you want anything the most? Do you want money because you like the color of money? Do I  want fame so that when I leave this world, some street in some town will be named after me? The answer is obvious. We want all these things because we want to be happy. Suppose I ask, how long do you want to be happy? Most of you would say, gosh what a question. I want to be happy forever!

Will wealth make me happy forever? I have read a lot of research which shows in USA that happiness increases as the salary increases up to a level and beyond that it does not make any significant difference to happiness. I have also read stories about the "poor millionaires" who are very unhappy that they do not have private jets like the "billionaires". Will companionship make me happy? Today I may be the happiest person in the world if I marry Miss Universe. But how long will this last? Once I have Miss Universe, my fear is always of losing her or probably after couple of years, feeling that this woman is no match for the latest Miss Universe. Secondly will wealth help remove sorrows?  Many times it happens that we are good and never harm anyone, yet get stuck in the direst situation? Why does this happen? Can any of the special education help prepare us for these type of situations? Can wealth or companionship or fame prevent such things happening to us?

Wealth cannot prevent death of a loved one. Wealth or companionship cannot prevent sadness. These are something that at best gives a transient feeling of happiness without being able to remove the cause of factors causing unhappiness. I hope I have built a sufficient case for any discerning reader that the wealth, fame, knowledge of the material world are in no way capable of giving us unlimited happiness.

Now if I say there is a field of study which does the following, would it not be amazing and have people line up in the millions for this magic wand?

1. Reveals the true nature and infinite possibility of an individual
2. Provides the underlying reason for the unhappiness that we all face
3. Reveals the reason that we all face good/bad situations

The study of spirituality provides answers to the above and as the practice of spirituality continues, it enables attaining infinite bliss. Unfortunately, in our quest for fleeting worldly pleasure, we are ignoring the greatest knowledge that can totally empower us. We are like the proverbial monkey which runs after a small piece of banana in a gutter and brushes aside a lovely priceless diamond, not knowing its value.

Let us briefly go through the above three points.


The true nature and infinite possibility of an individual

All of us who are students of science agree that energy and matter are one and the same. So, what does that make us? Just energy, right? This is what spirituality says too. It says, we are pure consciousness or light or energy, whatever and we have wrongly identified ourselves with the body, mind and intellect and are curbing ourselves. Imagine, if a wave realizes, it is not just a wave, but in reality is the ocean? Similarly, imagine, the breadth and extent to which we can go if we realize we are not just a conglomerate of body, mind and intellect. We are much more and have the capacity to be infinite. It is only through study of spirituality that one is even awakened to the fact that we are infinite. As the progress of spirituality continues, the conviction grows that we are infinite and in the final step of spiritual evolution, we become infinite. I challenge any other field of study which is so optimistic and points to such a high potential for endless bliss.

The underlying reason for the unhappiness that we all face

If we are infinite, why do we still suffer? In an unfortunate twist of destiny, associated with the Infinite Awareness principle, there is also a colossal ignorance. This is the ignorance of the reality. This ignorance causes us to associate ourselves with the body, mind and intellect and assume we are pygmies compared to the giants that we truly are. Once we are associated with this body/mind/intellect, we develop the unfortunate qualities of like and dislike. We like something that pleases us and dislike what does not please us. This duality is the cause of all our happiness and sorrows. Associated with liking something is the anger at not getting it and the fear of losing it after getting it. There is also a jealousy if we do not get it and someone else gets it.

So the qualities of anger, fear, jealousy to name a few arise and cause us unhappiness and all this is due to the colossal ignorance that we are separate from the supreme.

The reason that we all face good/bad situations

If we plant the seeds of a hibiscus plant in our garden, can we expect that we will get mango fruits? If we have been smoking cigarettes all our lives and get lung cancer, can we blame the cigarette or ourselves? If we consistently spend more than what we earn, whom can we blame if we are bankrupt? If we experience bad situations in our lives, whom can we blame? The answer is obvious. any situation, whether good or bad, is due to ourselves and absolutely no one can be blamed. Here comes the powerful rule that you reap what you sow. Spirituality talks of the powerful doctrine of Karma.

Life is not a one time event. Life is eternal. Birth and death are stages in the journey of an entity over several such cycles. In each cycle of birth and death, we accumulate desires and do actions willfully.  Any action we do will have an equal and opposite reaction at some point in life, either this or next. Every unfulfilled desire will be met either in this life or next. Before we wish for Miss Universe as wife or billions in wealth, remember that the way desires are met and in what combination with other desires is a pure "algebraic" sum of the most compelling actions and desires. So if we are born to a very rich family, but as a cripple, we have none to blame but ourselves for something we had done previously.

Does above sound scary in that we have no control over our current situation? On the contrary it provides a rationale for our current situation and at the same time advises us to do the right thing at this very instant to avoid facing a potentially bad situation later on. So, who is in control of our destiny? We ourselves.

Conclusion

The study and practice of spirituality helps us understand our true nature and enables us to reach that highest potential by making us aware of the right action to be performed at every stage in our life. I hope that is a compelling enough reason to begin on the path. It is never too late. I encourage readers to start on this journey and experience its sweetness.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

Brief Introduction to common terms used in spirituality

This is one of the articles in a book I have written on spirituality. The book is available on Amazon.com.


The Spirit Of Spirituality

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As readers continue on their journey of spirituality, they are bombarded with various terms and unless they have an understanding of the term, they will not be able to savor the sweetness and the power of spirituality. I thought of listing here some of the most common terms.

1. Brahman or consciousness: This does not mean the Brahmin nor does it mean the three faced Brahma who is in mythology the creator of this world. Brahman means that universal life principle or consciousness which is the cause of everything. It is that supreme light that shines in each of us and illuminates our life. Brahman is without a beginning or an end.
2. Atman or soul: Brahman is at the macro level. Since Brahman is everywhere and is cause of everything, the element of Brahman found in each living entity should also have the same characteristics. This element of Brahman at a micro level is called Atman.
3. Manas or mind: The mind is that instrument through which we emote. Mind is that instrument to which all sensory organs send their inputs. Mind, by nature is restless and does not know right from the wrong.
4. Buddhi or intellect: The intellect is that instrument which can discriminate between right and wrong, unreal and real and is something that can decide. Ideally, the mind should be guided by the intellect.
5. Ahankara or the ego: This is that entity which causes each of us to feel that we are separate from one another and from the supreme source.
6. Gunas – The nature of every living entity is a combination of 3 elements – Rajas, Tamas and Sattva
7. Rajas – The quality that creates action, the need to do something, excitement. If uncontrolled, Rajas can lead to an entity causing harm to others.
8. Tamas – The quality that creates sloth, laziness, sleepiness etc. If uncontrolled, can cause a person to harm himself.
9. Sattva – The quality that creates righteousness, purity and ability to avoid excesses, ability to discriminate
10. Reincarnation: The act of an “ego” taking multiple births and deaths to fulfill any and all remaining binding desires.
11. Karma – The all-powerful universal force that ensures that whatever we sow, we reap. It is the cause of our birth and also is responsible for every situation we face.
12. Sanchita karma – the sum total of all the accumulated and unfulfilled desires over several births.
13. Prarabdha karma – that set of desires which result in the current existing body.
14. Purushartha – the ability to act using own intellect in the situation created by karma
15. Karma yoga – the ability to do every act as an obligation without expectation of any results
16. Bhakti yoga – the ability to live life with an attitude of gratitude
17. Jnana yoga – the ability to discriminate between real and unreal, the ability to discriminate between the “ego” and the “soul”
18. Moksha – the final state of one-ness where the ego realizes it is the soul and the same as “Brahman”, after which there is no birth/death cycle
20. As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.
    
    I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.
    
    
    1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality
    
    
    My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
    
    
    
    
    
    2. Attain Infinite Bliss
    
    Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide
    
    
    
    
    3. The Spirit Of Spirituality
    
    The Spirit Of Spirituality
    
    
    
    
    

Spiritual lessons from parent/child behavior

Situation 1: Vaccination for a child

Normal worldly situation

My daughter was about 3 months old and was peacefully in my arms at the doctor’s place. She was staring at various things in her own innocent way and generally keeping herself amused. Little did she know what was coming! We went into the doctor’s office and the doctor casually pricked her with a syringe and gave her a vaccination. The poor child was shocked and started wailing. I felt a bit of remorse for the little child who was so trusting of me and I had let someone hurt her with an injection. But then was I doing something wrong? Was I really hurting her? I knew that the vaccination was critical for her long term wellbeing and had decided that she should undergo that pain so that she would be disease free later.

What was the other option? I could have decided that since she trusted me so much, I would not give any pain to her and refuse to get her inoculated risking a potentially life threatening situation later on.

The third option was that I could have explained to her about diseases and the need to immunize her system and that if we gave her the vaccination she would be immunized. Is this even an option? However much I tried, whatever I did, I would never be able to explain to her why she had to undergo pain.  Secondly whatever be my affection for her and my desire not to give her pain, I would not be foolish enough not to give her a vaccine.

So the only option was to inflict pain on a trusting child without even bothering to explain to her, knowing fully well that the pain we were giving was needed for her better life.

Spiritually speaking

If we were to apply the same situation to our daily life, we see that we are subject to sudden pain (physical, emotional etc.) and question why the merciful God is giving us all this pain. To extend what we saw above, the Universal Power knows that it has to give us some pain so that we are prepared for a better future. Just as the child would never have understood the need for vaccination, there is no way that we can understand why the Universal power gives us pain. Even though I love my child, just as I have no option but to give pain, the Universal power has no option but to give us pain to ensure a better future for us only.

So, let us learn to take every pain in life as a reason for something better that the Universal power has for us.

Situation 2: Child locked in bath room

Normal worldly situation

The little child sees its mother go daily into a room and do something. It has tried to open the door, but notices it cannot. It knows that mother has taken him inside and done something to the door and given him a shower. It remembers playing with the bathroom bolt.  One day out of curiosity, he goes inside and closes the door. He starts playing with the bolt and accidentally locks the door. He continues playing in the water for some time and then tries to push the door open. But he notices that the door won’t move. He has no idea that he has bolted the door and it won’t open. He starts screaming and crying. The mother comes running and sees the child inside. She wants to help, but can do nothing. There is no way she can unlock the bolt. She tries cajoling the child and telling him to open the bolt. The child is so terrified that it cannot listen to anything. It just wants mummy to open the door. Mummy is equally helpless and can do nothing. She gradually calms the child down and slowly in the child’s language gets him to look at the bolt and then open it. Though she loves the child and wants to do everything to get him out, the only option she has is to get the child himself to unlock the bolt and free himself.

Spiritually speaking

We have locked ourselves not using one door, but with several doors. These doors are the five senses, the five action organs, the mind, intellect, ego etc. Each of these is a door within which we create our own world. Standing outside these doors is the Supreme Power. We in our arrogant way unlike the child’s innocence, lock ourselves up in the momentary happiness in the world created behind these closed doors. However, when the party ends and we want to get out, we are bewildered like the little child and have no clue how to get out. We feel bound, we shout with anguish and wonder why the Supreme power is not coming to help us. However just as the mother can do nothing to unbolt a locked child, the Supreme power can do nothing. It can only provide instructions through divine scriptures and tell us how to get out of the locked doors.  It is on us to make use of the instructions and get out of the bound world.

If the child does not get out with any amount of instruction what will the mother do? She will not sit silent. She will get the door broken, cause even more terror to the child, but finally get him out of the locked room to her loving arms. In the same way, the Supreme power keeps giving instructions, but finally decides to act and destroys the existing environment and takes us into the Divine fold. This is the pralaya or destruction or end of the world as we know it. But it is the Supreme power’s final attempt to get us back into the affectionate divine fold

Situation 3: Preparing for first day of school

Normal worldly situation

The little child is now just old enough to start school. It does not know it needs uniform, books, etc. However the parents know what is needed. They do not need the child to ask them to get it books, uniform etc. The parents just get it. The child may ask for chocolate every day to go to school. The parent knows that it is not needed for going to school and may give the child, the chocolate occasionally.

Spiritually speaking

In every phase of our life, the Universal power knows what we need and will provide a conducive environment for us to get what we need in our pursuit. The Universal power is sending us to the school of these worldly experiences so as to prepare us for the spiritual journey. It knows what is needed in this school and will provide for it.  

The moral is to “just be”. The universal power knows what we need to fulfill our desires in this world and will provide an environment where we will get what we desire. This does in no way mean that the Universal power will shower wealth on us if we desire. It will provide an environment for us to act and get what we have desired.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality