And the First Step towards that rests in Spirituality
My dear D,
I wish we could have spoken for longer yesterday. For quite some time, I have sensed the discontent that you briefly alluded to. No doubt, the enforced lockdown intensified the feelings of unhappiness. Before you protest, let me hasten to clarify that unhappiness does not mean a perpetual state of gloom. It just means that you are not happy with your life, or at least, parts of it. It is this unease that is showing up in your interactions with your family, the doubts that you face at work or even the discomfort in your body.
Most often, we blame the external world, and hold the other person responsible for our irritation. But it is not the other person, it never is. The root cause for our discontent lies within us. And we should know how to address it.
I know you said that you don’t know if you believe in God. Most people are ambivalent about God. That is partly because as a culture, India has been a land of seekers. Our ancient scriptures never prescribed, and we had no commandments to follow. People were encouraged to question, debate and find answers through their own experiences. When sages and seers acquired wisdom, they recorded their experiences as possible pathways for others to follow.
Through the ages, from time to time, people recognized God in different human forms, such as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, or closer to our times, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Yet, they too faced endless questions. Our ancient scripture, the 700-verse Bhagavad Gita is a question-answer recital between Arjuna and Lord Krishna, which was played out, of all places, on a battlefield!
We worship our chosen Personal God in the most intimate way. Lord Krishna was a friend and advisor to Arjuna, the absolute love of Radha, and the object of devotion for Meera Bai. Despite this level of closeness that our scriptures established between God and devotee, our ancient philosophy also included the philosophy of the Impersonal God. Advaita Vedanta, expounds the non-dualistic nature of Existence, stating that all Existence is One. The separation between God and man, and therefore man and man, is an illusion. The goal for any human is to realize his (or her) true nature, which is pure Consciousness.
Thus, within the same culture, we have an entire array of choices, from Personal God(s) to the Impersonal, knowing that each individual has his own journey to make. The individual chooses the path that appeals to him. As Sri Ramakrishna famously proclaimed, “As many faiths, so many paths”. He practised not just all branches of Hinduism, but also Islam and Christianity, and found that “it is the same God towards whom all are directing their steps”.
Forgive me, I have digressed from our conversation, and you must be wondering why I am bringing spirituality into this discussion. I could have given simpler answers to the issues that you face.
In all cases, it is the mind that is constantly active, regurgitating what it knows. Moving between memories (of the past) and imagination (of the future), it constantly throws up fears and doubts.
It has forgotten to just be and experience the present moment, which is the only reality in which we live.
The restless mind constantly looks for something to do, something to engage with. Think about it, on any given day, how many activities do you busy yourself with? And now consider if all those activities are really necessary. Most people are not capable of being alone, just alone, without any devices and screens. We are always Doing Something, something that society is absolutely obsessed with. We believe that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop, so we pride ourselves on our “busyness”, engaging in multiple activities, even if most of them are meaningless.
So where does spirituality come in all this?
I will say to you that Spirituality is the basis of Human Life. Once we understand that we are spiritual beings having physical experiences, life becomes easier. Think about it, why do we exist? Surely it has to go beyond the cycle of birth-education-work-marriage-children-old age-death, and the inevitable challenges that come with it? Sure, we chase money, success and even legacy, but after a point, after our basic needs are met and more, it becomes just that — a chase.
Once we acknowledge that there is more to this life than just running and chasing, we are then motivated to find the ctrl-alt-del that will reset our lives so that we can go beyond this cycle.
And that reset button rests in re-discovering our spirituality.
Best wishes, as always,
Reema
PS: None of this is original thought. It is my understanding of what I have read and heard from other spiritual Masters.
