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Spiritualism is probably one of the most misunderstood
practices ever. Let’s discuss this with the perspective of a
typical man-on-the-street. Does it make any sense to him at
all? After many a discussion with high and low-brow alike on
this topic, my thoughts were reaffirmed with fact that all
that mattered to most at the end of the day were techniques to
flourish in a big bad world, protect themselves and find ways
to attract the ever eluding entity called ‘money’. So does all
the far fetched talk of seeking spiritual experiences hold
water in today’s material world? Let’s dig more into true
meaning of spirituality and its practice. And why has there
has been so much difficulty in understanding it.
For many
centuries, spiritualism has been relegated from the mainstream
of religion. There had to be strong institutional opposition
to it, because it back staged the god men, priests, power
hungry religious leaders, and also challenged the authenticity
of teachings and motive of institutions. The barrage of
sacred texts, rituals, interpreted messages of prophets, and
its fanatic beacons of mainstream religions have failed
miserably to lead its followers anywhere to close to
realization of universal energy.
So after
this historical failure of mainstream religions, people have
been finding means to reconnect themselves to their higher
planes and seek the universal truth. And eventually it seems
as if doors of knowledge have swung open. It’s interesting to
note that, Knowledge that was available to a select few and
shrouded for centuries is now on Internet and books. The new
found access to recluse gurus, communities and experts, and
the sheer desire for seeking the truth has brought to the
surface, an ‘Age of Consciousness’; where an individual can
find solace by reconnecting to the higher planes of knowledge.
This probably is the high point of being in the ‘Aquarian Age,
as many astrologers claim.
Many
enlightened souls have defined God as the purest form of
energy or consciousness, which has no emotions, state, form,
shape, dimension, color, taste or anything remotely that we
perceive in matter. Hence God cannot be experienced. God has
to be realized. And this can happen when experience stops.
This would in simple words, mean we have to purify our energy
within us and elevate it to state where we can realize that
the purest energy has always been flowing in us, but our
mental make up, ignorance and resistance are the biggest
obstacles that has kept us foggy all the while.
The fodder
for the spiritual practice is the understanding that before we
assumed this human form, we were in pure state called ‘purusha
– absolute consciousness’. However in a human form, we assume
the ‘prakriti-the component of elemental energy and matter’ as
the sole driving force of our existence. This is when we get
disconnected from the pure consciousness state in our waking
states. And only in deep meditative states, we can connect
with our pure conscience.
We have to
remember that the only role we came to play on this planet was
to be a ‘sakshin’ or witness to the mega drama that unfolds in
our lives as an astonishing life-long experience. We have to
also understand that the witness plays an instrumental role in
keeping the ‘prakriti’ on roll, by its mere presence. Hence
the ‘sakshin’ the pure witness is the catalyst that drives the
prakriti. While the spiritual practices like following the
eight limbs of yoga help us reconnect with purusha. When
prakriti and pususha are in perfect balance, we are liberated
from the cycle of ignorance. This is the state called Kaivalya
or liberation. And to achieve this state, we have to become
alone. Please don’t mistake this as being lonely which is
totally different. Once we begin to understand this concept,
we have taken a giant step towards understanding spirituality.
Hence
there is special emphasis on the point that we came into this
world alone and we leave this world alone. There are no
friends, followers, supporters or lovers who can be with us on
this personal journey.
The
spiritual practice also dwells on the aspect of nullifying the
monkey called mind. The mind is a devastating shield that
keeps us awake only to material world and we become oblivious
of our true nature. Hence there arises the need for spiritual
practice so that we can reconnect to our true state, and enjoy
the bliss of realizing the divine essence in us.
Seeking
blissful state is our birthright. The journey however doesn’t
end there, while the ultimate stopover is the so called ‘void’
where we don’t have any role to play. This state is described
by the enlightened as being in pure consciousness and soaked
in divine essence which has been termed the final destiny. And
it’s said that the revered Gautam Buddha, Mahaveera and many
such enlightened souls remain in this state.
Every human
born has a special ability or gift. This ability is to seek
the divine using the five elements- earth, water, fire, air,
and ether. And more importantly, the experience of pain and
separation from the divine energy and natural progression and
attraction of universal love will make us seek our divine
higher selves. Many scripts have claimed that this union is
possible only on the ‘earth plane’ and better than in ‘astral’
or ‘causal’ plane.
Hence many
elevated souls incarnate in human or elemental form to
experience pain and love. Eventually they master the art of
quelling duality and unite with the universal love and seek
higher planes.
Everyone
has the same potential to seek this union and seek the divine
grace. All seekers of this path have the capability to merge
with the universal or cosmic consciousness. However, there is
one looming threat and that comes with the invasion of the
hard-to-tame “mind”. The mind has successfully brought in
duality and is the biggest thorn in the spiritual practice as
it constantly divides and separates everything conceived and
perceived by its unique processes of thoughts, influences,
biases, and conditioning. Hence we though we all are connected
by universal energy like prana, we appear separate
individuals.
There is
also truth in the fact that we are unique with respect to our
journey. We are all in different stages of the journey to seek
God. Some are ahead, and hence have the right to guide us in
the form of a guru, while the people standing at the far end
of this queue have many a confusion to clear before the light
dawns on them.
We have
heard and read in scriptures that there was once a ‘yogi’ who
sat under a tree for 28 days and got enlightened. Now that
technique and time frame may not apply to all people. We have
to take into account, the most complex nature of karma
(actions that are fueled by the concept of cause and effect).
We have to understand that Karma prevails in 3 stages- Sanchit
(collation of all actions of past lives), Prarbdh (transferred
or pending karma that has to be lived with in the current
life) and Kriya (actions in current life as we continuously
create more karma). Several yogic practices like Kriya Yoga
have shared techniques to cleanse ourselves of
samskaras(impressions from past karmas). All we have to
remember about karma is that good karmas have the tremendous
potential of attracting grace, and gifts that take us higher
on our path of seeking the ultimate goal.
Now as we
see around us everywhere, the miseries of the world has helped
us seek answers from within. The inner journey is the answer
to reform the world. And corrective measures have to start
with an individual before it takes shape as collective
consciousness. There has been a transparent gravitation
towards acquiring the spiritual knowledge. The techniques
though seem hard, have been explained by a simple and core
understanding that ‘everything in this universe is energy in
various forms’. All you need to do is to take actions to
purify your energy to merge with the universal energy. This is
the core essence of spiritualism and the message to seekers.
I recall a
beautiful anecdote, which is simple and yet so profound. A
young fish asked its mother: Where is the ocean? I am always
dreaming about swimming in the ocean. Can you please take me
to the ocean? The mother looked at him, and said “My dear
child, you are already in it”. So what is the need to search
for it?
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