I recently came across this video where a young college student asked a realized Master,
“I want to get into spirituality. But since I am in my 11th (college), I have my studies and lab and all of that. I want to know, how do I balance both my studies and spirituality?”. This question made the Master smile and ask him, “What is spirituality?”
This got me pondering on the same as well. What really is spirituality? Whenever we have asked this question during our Satsangs, we have received a wide range of answers. Some defined it within the boundaries of organized religion, which included reverence for a deity, performing rituals, etc. Some would consider it as a quest for something greater than a human existence, a Higher power, a divine presence. Certain others regarded it as something which surpasses materialistic comfort and physical pleasures. While the essence of spirituality can be found in the midst of all of these, the more important aspect that I wish to discuss here is the misconceptions regarding spirituality. Often, when a certain concept isn’t widely clear, the tendency for misconceptions to occur is natural. Unfortunately, for many decades now, spirituality has been at the receiving end of countless misconceptions. Hence, before we address the question of what spirituality is, let us try to debunk a few myths about it here.
For many decades now, spirituality has been considered, at best, a pastime or at worst, a path that takes one away from society. When defined by either of these extremes, the actual path of spirituality is missed by most. People are wary of the spiritual path for various reasons, chief among it being that they believe it will take one away from family and material comforts in many ways. This cannot be further from the truth. Even though peace and solace have been at the forefront of mankind’s search probably from the very beginning of its existence, if it were to appear in the form of meditation practices or the company of saints, it would often become a cause of concern for many. While a certain degree of solace is useful at various junctures in one’s spiritual journey, the belief that one needs to isolate oneself from the world and its attachments permanently is a false notion.
Another myth about spirituality is that it is meant for old age. I have had the experience of meeting many seekers who were sincere in their quest, yet would be discouraged by family members to even meditate or attend satsangs. These were deemed to be reserved for one’s retirement. This reminds me of an old fable. An old man was sitting near a dense forest, crying his heart out. A monk who was passing by, stopped in his tracks and approached the elder with empathy. “Why are you crying like this, dear man?” he enquired. “I came here looking for my mango tree”, the old man replied. “What happened to it?”, asked the monk. “I can’t seem to find it,” said the old man. On further enquiry, the old man elaborated on his plight to the monk. He said that he had planted a mango sapling on a wide patch of land where he was standing, a few decades ago. At that time there were only a few trees around, the land was sparsely vegetated. He said that he had never bothered to return and came back only now looking for the mango tree so that he could spend the remainder of his life benefitting from the fruits of that tree. But he was devastated to see that his tree was nowhere to be found. The monk, with compassion for the old man, offered him a single fruit and said, “This is all that I have with me to offer you right now. But I can share the valuable lesson the Universe has left for you here. Only that which you nurture with love and care will bear you fruits in the years to come. When you neglected the mango sapling, nature took its own course and you lost it to this forest. If you had taken enough care to keep it close to you and nurtured it all these years, it would have provided you with income for the rest of your life. Such is the case with one’s spiritual journey as well. Those who push it for the retirement years do not realize that it won’t bear any fruit then. When nurtured throughout one’s life this continues to bear fruit for lifetimes to come. It also benefits one’s loved ones too, but we will explore that some other day.
Spirituality is often confused with religion as well. People often use these terms interchangeably. While organized religion is a huge subject, with many names, forms, beliefs, etc. spirituality is concerned only with the Ultimate Truth. Any religion can be seen as one of the ways to seek the ultimate truth. However, spirituality is anything that can take one closer to this truth. It is not bound by the rules and limitations of organized religion. While this has been scary for many in the past, it is only now that people are discovering the joys of freedom in this aspect.
As we debunk a few myths, let us now explore what it really is. Spirituality, as defined by our Guru, is a way of life. Just as we continue to live our lives, driven by some or the other goal, spirituality can be viewed as the path you walk on to achieve any goal. While the goals may change or grow over time, the path continues to remain the same. Let me elaborate. Even as you continue to work towards your desired goals, the person who is making this journey remains the same, through this as well as other lifetimes. Let us try to understand this better with an analogy. Assume that you want to travel from point A to point B. You begin your journey with the idea of reaching point B. As you travel from point A, on the way you see an interesting store. You stop there for a brief period to look through and maybe even shop for a thing or two. Then you grudgingly restart your journey. Few miles down the road, you notice there is a nice restaurant if you take a small detour from your path. You decide to take a pit stop there to refuel yourself. The journey then continues, with multiple distractions leading to many detours. After many such distractions, you slowly begin to forget that you were originally headed to point B. In addition to that, taking many detours and going off track often has also led you to stray far away from your original route to reach point B. Whilst enjoying life on these stops, you seem to have almost forgotten the original goal of reaching point B. Yet, there is a lingering sense of being lost that you can’t quite explain to yourself. This is especially so since you have been enjoying all the detours and new stops. At this point, the only way to remind yourself of your original destination is to stop, sit back and reflect.
Now let us take this metaphor back to where we began, your spiritual journey. Your inner self has continued to witness and be a part of this journey, irrespective of whether you are aware of it or not. Your inner self is aware of your original destination as well as the many detours. Spirituality is nothing but bringing awareness to this inner self, a process that is not just empowering but also enlightening. Meditation, which is one of the methodologies in the tool kit provided in your spiritual journey, helps to quieten the mind and its many temptations to stray off path. Only when you allow yourself to quieten can you begin to get in touch with your inner self. This inner self has the power to create your life as well as make sense of it through a higher lens. Many of life’s decisions, dilemmas and queries are better dealt with when one makes use of the lens of the higher self. The inner self can provide the compass that can help steer you back onto your path to reach point B.
Spirituality is a broad umbrella that can cover many paths and methodologies. Jnana Marga (The intellectual path), Bhakthi Marga (the path of devotion), Karma Marga (the path of action) are some of the paths under this umbrella. Every individual chooses a unique path for herself. Every path has its own merits. However, what is crucial to understand here is the power of awareness. Rather than accidentally take any detour or feel lost, it is more powerful to make conscious choices along the way. Being spiritual doesn’t necessarily mean following a particular religion or ritual. For me, being spiritual is all about making conscious choices and living a life of awareness. This awareness of oneself, one’s choices, one’s decisions and one’s path can make very meaningful and fruitful, leading one to his ultimate destination.
There are no comments