The Prerequisites for a spiritual journey

The quest for spirituality is a wonderful journey. Just as the beginning of any journey necessitates certain prerequisites, the spiritual journey also needs some prerequisites. I invite the readers to join me as we go through these prerequisites.

As usual, I prefer to try and explain my understanding by taking examples that we are familiar with. Let’s assume that I am trying to get fit and I am beginning a “journey” to get fit. At the same time that I feel like getting fit I may also get the urge to get on to a “journey” of learning music, a “journey” of becoming a ballet dancer etc.  With so many “journeys” on my mind, what journey will I undertake? It is pretty clear that for all of us, we have a hierarchy of priorities in terms of the journeys we want to undertake.  For all our capabilities, we will finally undertake that journey which is topmost priority for us.

Similarly for one beginning on the spiritual path, the spiritual journey should be a high priority.  Ideally, it should be the # 1 priority. One may ask, why should this be the top priority? Let us discuss briefly about the purpose of human life.  Is it to make money, have kids, build a big house etc? Well, even animals and insects do these. Bees hoard honey, an equivalent of our money. Birds build nests, our equivalent of building and owning houses. Every animal procreates and has babies. So, what is different in what we do if we just set those priorities? What is the use of this superior intellect bestowed on only the human?

All beings other than the human being are just programmed to do what they do. A tiger is programmed to kill a deer when hungry, a bird is programmed to just wake up and start searching for food etc. There is no thought process involved.  Can you imagine a tiger thinking that it is sinful to kill a deer? Can you imagine a fire fly thinking that it is foolish to go to a fire? So, considering the superior intellect of a human being, does it not make sense to have a much higher purpose in life than what a typical animal or insect does?

The only purpose of human life should be the quest to get freedom from the cycles of birth and death. Many readers may say, we do not believe in reincarnation, so why should this be our purpose? One thing to be noted, just because we do not believe in reincarnation does not mean that reincarnation will not happen!  So, if the only purpose of human life is to get enlightenment, then spiritual journey or development needs to be the top most priority.  So, the first step in spiritual development is to make it the highest priority in our lives.

Now, that we made spiritual development as the highest priority, what next?  Just as a journey in becoming healthy starts with a search for information and for an instructor in whom one can trust, the need in our spiritual journey is to have information and a teacher in whom we can have faith. Faith is an interesting topic to discuss. Faith is belief in a hypothesis, till it is proved right or wrong based on actual experience. I can have faith that a particular restaurant has good food. It remains belief in a hypothesis till I actually taste food. Once I taste the food, I have an experience whether it is good or bad. I don’t need faith once I experience reality. Similarly, on the path of spirituality, one needs to have faith in something and someone till we realize through our own experience. The sources of information in which we need faith are the Scriptures, be they in any religion. As far as the Indian spiritual system goes, faith is needed in the Upanishads.

Now, what is the source of this faith? Should we blindly follow something till we are proved right or wrong? This is where reasoning driven by the intellect comes. I will not try a new restaurant in a shady place based on the advice of a roadside beggar. However I will try the same place if a very close friend who has good culinary taste suggests it. So our implicit trust driven by our intellect which reasons that our culinary friend cannot be wrong, gives us faith in the source of the information and the giver. In the same way, on the spiritual journey, there are numerous fly by night sources of information and teachers promising instant nirvana. It is up to us to use our intellect to locate the right source and have implicit and explicit faith in it. What better source can there be than the Upanishads which have sustained for several thousands of years? A teacher is a matter of choice. We need to go to a teacher based on whatever best our intellect guides us and if we feel that teacher is able to address our doubts, the faith gradually turns to experience that the teacher is the right one.  Once we have selected the source of information and the teacher, we need to have total faith in them till we experience the fruits of the spiritual path.

Now, that we have made spirituality a priority, and have faith in scriptures, and a teacher, what next? We need to make sure that we are not distracted from our path. As I start going to the gym to improve my health, suppose I am swayed by an advertisement for ballet dance and give up the gym, I have lost focus and have achieved nothing.  So what is it that we need to guard against? In the initial days of our journey we need to guard against outside distractions.  Once we are firmly on a road and passed the initial stage, distractions cannot really deter us.  So we need to pray that outside distractions do not derail our spiritual quest.

Last, but not the least is to continually focus on the goal to the total exclusion of everything, even if it is pleasing. Just as tennis player focusing on the grand slam has to sacrifice everything else to achieve the goal, we need to sacrifice every other thing to focus on the spiritual goal. The tennis player in his quest gives up his favorite pizza, ice-cream, movies etc. and trains rigorously because his only goal is the grand slam title. In the same way, in our quest for the spiritual goal, we have to sacrifice several of our daily indulgences. We have to give up our love of sleep to wake up daily and read the scriptures. We have to give up our desire to see a movie and maybe attend a class with the teacher. So the need is for sacrificing short term pleasures to achieve the final goal of spiritual oneness with all its attendant unlimited bliss.

To summarize, the following are prerequisites to achieve spiritual growth:

1. A deep desire to break from bondage of birth death
2. A complete faith in scriptures and the teacher
3. A sincere prayer to avoid external distractions
4. A total internal focus on the goal by sacrificing immediate pleasures
6. 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