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
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
