Close Encounters Of The Spiritual Kind

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 I mull about spirituality and red/listen about the same, some ideas stick to my mind. I do a mental conversation with various protagonists to understand for myself the various concepts of spirituality. I am giving below some of my hypothetical encounters. Obviously none of these encounters are true.

1. Encounter with a firefly

It was that night in my city when there was no power. There was a small candle which was giving off just enough light for me to see things around. As I was trying to locate a pen that I had dropped, I heard a buzz. I turned around and saw a swarm of fireflies moving fast and diving into the burning candle. Gosh, I wondered, why are these insects flying to sure death?

I managed to stop one such firefly and told it that it was flying into danger and tried to dissuade it from flying. It looked angrily at me and told me, “Do you think I am a fool to listen to you? Look at all my friends who are flying towards that bright object.” I tried to tell it that the bright object was fire and it would perish. But the firefly would not listen to me and flew to its own destruction. I shook my head thinking about the firefly’s absolute lack of intellect.

Let us now shift the scene. It is now the bubbly days of 1999/2000. The Internet boom is in full swing. Anybody with a PC is setting up a website and everyone else is buying shares at exorbitant prices. There are some wise people who are telling that it is irrational exuberance. But people are not listening. They are pointing to the crowd of people ahead and also rushing in the same direction. As 2000 progressed, all of us know what happened- the dotcom crash and the severe loss of wealth. Let us fast forward to the mid 2000’s. Anybody and everybody was telling that housing is the best investment. There are huge crowds for any house on sale and people are paying crazy prices. Again some wise people are telling people to watch out. Well, the same story repeats. People say that others are doing. So they should also be doing it.  In my own personal case, my wife kept on telling that I am a fool not to buy a house when everyone is. I kept arguing that it does not make sense and succeeded in not following the crowd. Again, the results are known of this madness. The mortgage bust has led to the greatest recession.

So, how are we different from the fireflies? The firefly saw a group of fireflies going towards a bright object and without thinking of consequences followed others to destruction. Well, we saw a pot of gold in dotcom/housing and blindly followed others to our own destruction. What was lacking in both cases was the ability to make a rational decision without being blinded by emotion. In most cases, our decisions are emotional. With an emotional decision, there is a significant risk of a disaster. When the intellect is in control, the chances of a disaster are reduced since consequences have been analyzed.

The mind is forever mercurial and goes in the direction pulled by the sense organs. Only when there is a superior intellect controlling the mind, the mind can be trained to go in the right direction. But then, what is right or wrong? Whereas having a second wife is wrong now, it was right earlier. So, is there an absolute right or wrong? The answer is that in this material world, there is no absolute right. The only absolute right is the realization that we are lucky to have got a human birth with a well-developed ability to think and act. What should we act for? The only aim in this human life, an aim which can never be fulfilled in any other life form, is the intellectual ability to look for the real meaning of life and that is to attain Brahman.

It is easy to nod and say that we have to develop intellect. But how? None of the material knowledge will help us sharpen the intellect to seek the true purpose of life. It is only through spiritual knowledge that the intellect can be awakened or sharpened to search for the true purpose.

2. Encounter with a cinema hall screen

The other day, I went to a movie. The typical movie, it was full of gore, violence, emotion, tears etc. I was sitting on the edge of the seat sometime, heartily laughing some time and getting tears in my eyes sometimes. When the movie was over, I went up to the screen. It was in a state of peace. I asked the screen whether the various scenes that were shown had any impact on it since it was the nearest to the action that was happening. The screen replied that it was just providing a base for the projections and it had nothing to do with what happened on it. If it identified with the characters on the screen, it would forever be in a dual state of happiness or grief unlike its current serene state.

This then is the very essence of spirituality. Each of us is nothing but the Brahman. Brahman is that absolute truth on which this play of the material world occurs. Each of us individually is the soul or Brahman or Atman. However, unlike the screen, we arrogate an identity to ourselves and become the “ego” or individual. Once we move away from our reality as Brahman to the unreal, “ego”, all the happenings in the material world impact us.

Again we can all nod and say that it makes sense. But how do we do something practical to go in that direction. Again the scriptures come to our help. There are four fundamental sayings in the scriptures. To enable us to relate better, I am taking the example of a light bulb.

1. The scriptures tell me that, Everything is nothing, but Brahman.(The light bulb is told that, everything is nothing but electricity.)
2. I am told that, you are that Brahman. (The light bulb is told, you are nothing but that electricity.)
3. I keep reminding myself that this entity is the Brahman.(The light bulb keeps reminding itself that its existence is nothing but electricity.)
4. I realize I am the Brahman and am free from all bondages.(The light bulb realizes it is electricity and does not worry whether it is big, small, coloured, dull etc and is in bliss.)
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