SPIRITUALITY ! WHY ?

Spirituality !  why ?

 

When we look around we see lot of people who are not spiritual or religious who are having a great time, they are having the time of their lives.  Makes one wonder if it really is of any use to be spiritual or even try to be spiritual.  When someone who is spiritual and he or she is talking to someone who is not, this is the common questions and it makes sense.  If someone telle me that I will go to heaven if I live my life in spirituality or if someone tells me I will have a better life next time, than all that is something that someone is promising me in the future.  Especially if it is  being promised in a future which no one can verify,.  There is no way for me to make sure what I am being promised is going to be delivered because no one who dies and goes to heaven is able to come back and report what is out there.  Although the religious leaders, saints, swamis etc will say that they have experienced what it is on the other side to some extent.  But than we have to take their word for it. 

 

So to be able ot convince me to be religious or spiritual the benefits have to start here in this life, now at this time.  Not in the next tlifwe and not in the future life.  No one has seen any of that future stuff.

 

So what are the benefits of being spiritual in this life:

 

You will begin to see a change in the way you handle things:  You won't over react to the situations.  Not that adverse things won't happen to you  or to your loved ones.  But the difference would be that you will bounce back much faster and the events will not leave  a long lasting mark on your psyche or personality.  In contrast the reaction previously where the mark left by an adverse experience could be like a line drawn on stone, to stay there forever, now the it is like a line drawn on water.  IT goes away much faster and you get back to your life faster.  How does this help ?  You won't be boiling inside for days and months.  Boiling for days and months inside means lot of ill effects on your health.  High  blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease to name a few.  So if you are not boiling inside forever and you do not get any of these health problems, is that not a benefit here and now ?  You do not need to wait for a future life to reap the benefits of spirituality.  Not only you are the recipient of these health benefits, your family and friends will be also spared the ill effects of your anger which otherwise would have lasted for days and months.  So you will have a healthier family and friend circle.

 

You will also be able to be and stay happy spontaneously.  What does that mean ?  Most of the time we are happy because we  possess an object or we are in a situation of our liking and we are happy.  But it is a common observation that those objects and situations are not everlasting.  Sooner or later they change to the worse and if we are dependent on them for our happiness than what happers ? we become unhappy again.  But if we are spiritually trained we still enjoy the pleasant in the objects and situations but more so we are able to get in touch with an infinite source of happiness that lies within us.  Spirituality trains us to be able to tap into that source of happiness that can be had anywhere we are.  It does not depend on anything outside.  We can tap into it Any time and any where and as much as we want.

 

One could also say that a spiritual person gains wisdom to see  the transient nature of things and situations and he is prepared for them to end any time.  So the degree of attachment he would feel to those situations and objects would be moderated by the wisdom he possesses.  He will enjoy while the object is there but accept the absence of the object when it is not there.

 

Combination of all of the above gives us a form of peace and tranquility that can not be had any other ways.  It will show on our face and how we interact with other people, it will reflect in how we use the natural resources or for that matter any other resources.  It will reflect in how we interact with other living beings in general, not just with other human beings.

 

Some of the qualities of the Spiritual person are as follows:

 

Will have compassion and be kind to others including all living beings, not just human beings

 

Will be naturally happy and tranquil

Gita Chapter 18

Gita Chapter 18

This chapter summarises many key concepts propounded in the first 17 chapters.  Sort of a recap of the main principles:  What is karma yoga, what are the three qualities of nature and their relevance to what we do and how we do,  waht is best way to realize The Lord.

Karma Yoga as explained in Chapter 18:

One could be a Sanyasi and a Tyagi ( renouncer ) while at the same time being  engaged in action.  How ?  If you are not attached to the outcome and the fruits of your actions than even though you may be busy performing actions, you are a Sanyasi and Tyagi.  But if you have left the home but are performing what appears to be religious and spiritual actions but are doing them with attachment to your ashram or matha, than you may appear to be a Sanyasi, but you are not.  It is seen that someone may have become a sanyasi but now is very attached to  his asgram or congregation and the whole arrangement that goes with it.  They are namesake sanyasis only.

 If someone has given up action due to some delusion or due to being afraind of discomfort, than that type of renunciation is Raajasic/Taamsic renunciation and has no spiritual benefit to the seeker.

Often we feel we are causing the actions to happen,  But truly we have very little control on what is happening.  Five factors that determine what happens are :  who is acting to perform, where is he situated ( the place ), what tools he has at his disposal, what kind of effort he is making and the fifth but most important  being the sanskaras, the impressions from all the experiences from our previous lives and this life.  It is easy to see how these would influence the outcome.  Often we make the best effort but our tools do not perform like we expected, or we have the right tools but we do not make the effort required, or we have the right place, right tools, right motivation but the doer is week and incapable.  even when all these are fit, things may not go as we expect them to be and that is when the predetermined sanskaras or Divine will has played a role to cause the outcome to be other than what expected.

Knowledge that gives us the vision where we see Him in everything and see everything in Him only is considerd Saatvic knowledge.   That is the most desirable and tru knowledge.  But if we see everything in this world as a separate entity and we do not see the unity in this existence, it is Raajsic knowledge.  But for someone who is entirely self centerd on himself only than that knowledge is Taamsic knowledge.  so one can see the progression from Saatvic where a unity is seen in everything, it is saatvic from one extreme to the other extreme where a taamsic person only thinks of himself and nothing else.

Similarly examples are given of who is the Saatvic doer, raajasic doer, Taamsic doer.  Same thing applies to the inteligence,  resolve, pleasures and happiness.  Lord gives examples of how each of these can be saatvic, raajsic or taamsic.  Finally He states that there is nothing in this creation which is not characterized by one of these three gunas of prakriti.  ( The seeker may ask the question: so what does it mean for me ?  The answer is given in chapter 14 where Lord advises:  See yourself to be separate from these and not be influenced by the interpaly and interaction of these gunas )

Verses 41 - 48 introduce how one can achieve God Realization.  Lord describes the duties of all four varnas of the society.  some of these appear to be superior to others.  But Lord emphasizes that no task or duty is inferior to others and one should not think that my duty is inferior to the other person's duty.  As long as one performs his duties with full devotion to Lord and with all the qualities described earlier in the chapter, he will, no doubt, achieve God Realization.

From verse 50 thru 59 Lord is describing who and how one unites with The Lord.  he is describing the qualities of the right kind of seeker.These include:  sense control, self discipline,  established in dispassion, consumes very little, avoids crowded palces, firmly established in yoga etc.  Such a seeker gets established in the Para Bhakti ( supreme devotion ).  Once he is established in such supreme bhakti he is becomes qualified to truly know what od is, and once he truly knows what God is, he is able to unite with The Lord.  Once he is established in The Lord, than he is still able to perform all the actions but at the same time not be affected by them.  To the outside world he may be appear to be acting performing but he is completely free of any binding effects of these actions because he has offered all these to The Lord.

Most important verses of this chapter;

Verse 65:

Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.

Verse 66:

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear. Finally arjuna accepts the knowledge givenby The Lord and he says: Arjuna said, My dear Krishna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy, and I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions. Sanjaya says the concluding verse: Wherever there is Krishna, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.

PurportFFiFf

Gita Chapter 17

Gita Chapter 17

Lord discusses the concept of  The Good ( Saatvic ),  The Bad ( Rajasic )  and The Ungly ( Tamasic)

If we do not understand these concepts and how they apply to what  ever action we do, material or spiritual, than the results of those acttons could be very good or could be very dangerous.  Even actions that appear t to be good such as Charity, Penance and Pooja etc, if done with  a certain mindset, can have good or bad outcomes. 

any given human being behaves according to his Swabhava, innate nature or tendancies.  These inturn depend on Sanskaras which in turn depend on the past Karmas.  Based on these Swabhavas, human beings can be classified in three main groups:

Saatvic  ( The good )
Rajasic  ( The Bad )
Taamasic ( The Ugly or really Bad )

Each category of individual will have certain way of acting and doing things.  This is what the main teaching is of chapter 17 of Bhagwadgita. 

Saatvic Person:   Will like food which  promotes longevity, happiness, cheerfulness, easy to digest  and promotes a calm mind.  He will follow the scriptures and will not engage in poojas which are done with a motive to hurt others.  He performs pooja as a matter of his duty.  He gives charity to the well qualified  recipient  at the right time and at the right place.  He honors the learned, and practices control on his senses, body and mind.  He performs charity and yajna without any expectations of any returns.

Raajasic person:  Will like food which is bitter, sour, salty,  hard to digest and food which promotes ill health.  He engages in severe penance causing pain and suffering to the body and the ONE residing inside him ( The Paramatma ).  He performs poojas and yajnas with a desire for recognition and fame.  His religious actions are prompted by desire for fruits.  He practices charity unwillingly and  with the hope of gaining fame and popularity. 

Taamasic Person:  He likes food which smells, poorly cooked, impure and polluted.  He engages in poojas and yajnas without following the proper methods and his religious actions are driven with the desire to harm others.  when he gives charity, it is to those who do not deserve it and he does it insultingly to the wrongful recipient in wrong place and time.

On a separate note Lord refers to OM TAT SAT.  He explains what these are and how these are applied.

OM represents the LORD as the  primordial sound, the very first manifestation of The Lord, in the form of sound.  Because OM was the firs manifestation of The Lord, whenevr the learned start anything auspicious they chant OM to recognize that OM came before the rest of the craetion did.  and also the sound of OM is the closes one can come to the Lord

TAT represents the LORD as 'that'  without specifying what is 'That', because one can not define what 'That' is.  Encompasses everything there is. " I am offering all my actions to That" is the feeling when one chants 'That'.  In this way one offers everything to The Lord. 

SAT represents the LORD as the Truth, Praiseworthy, auspicious and underlying all spiritual actions. So to denote something as pure or praiseworthy we place SAT before that. For example we say Satnaam, denoting purity or Godliness in the name.  or we say Satkaarya, meaning purity or  Godliness in actions.  or we say Satsanga denoting purity or Godliness in the company and so on and so forth.

 Lord is the Absolute Truth (SAT) , not  subject to time or place.  Everything else is a relative truth, being subject to and defined by time and place.  Everything we can sense with our sense organs and mind is true now and here but it was not true in the distant past and will not be true in the distant future.  What we sense is only true at a certain place only for a short time.  On the contrary Lord always was , is and will be and He is everywhere at the same time.  Therfore He is the Absolute Truth or SAT in the true sense.

ओम् तत् सत्

Aadhyatmic vs Bhautik ( Spiritual vs Material )

Aadhyatmic:  That path, process, life style or practice that brings you closer to,  or in touch with your real SELF.  This is also called Sattvic or Daivi ( Divine )

Materialistic:  That path, process, life style or practice that takes you away from your real self and keeps you focussed on the outside material world.  This is also called Rajasic/Tamasic or Aasuri ( Demonic )

Aadhyatmic craetes a vision that sees ONE underlying the many, sees unity in diversity, embodies Vasudhai Kutumbukam ( Whole earth as one family ).  It is distributive, beleives in sharing,  non ownership of assets.

Materialistc clouds true vision and creates a mentality of hoarding, collecting, accumulating, me me and only me and mine mentality, wants to own everything.

Aadhyatmic fosters peace, satisfaction, calmness, feeling of having been fulfilled, lack of fear and doubt and self sustained.  Thoughts, speech and actions are the same.  There is no difference in these three for the one established in Spirituaality.  such an individual's actions. speech and thoughts are the same.  he is the same inside what he appears to be on the outside.  He is not afraid to die because death is not an 'end all' to him.  He is not defined by what he posseses so fear of losing those at the time of death does not bother him.  He is called  SUBODH ( The realized one ).  He has a sense of thankfulness towards everyone and everything.

Materialistic  causes agitation, restlessness, fearfulness without any obvious reason, feeling of insecurity, self doubt  and desire to control as a means to feeling of self esteem.  such an individual thinks in one way, speaks in another and acts in an entirely different way.  There is no concordance in his thoughts, speech and actions.  He is not what he appears to be. He is defined by his possessions, therefore fear of  losing his possessions makes him very afraid of death. He is called ABODH  ( Ignorant, the one not realized).  He always wants more, never satisfied or thankful to any one or anything.

Aadhyatmica person is in search of truth and does not stop until he attains it.  He feels compassion and kindness towards all living beings.

Materialistic person is wandering around in pursuit of worldly materialistic things AT ANY COST.  He has no sense of compassion or kindness towards no one.

Gita chapter 16 verses 1 - 3  describe some of the Daivi qualities:

The Blessed Lord said: Fearlessness, purification of one's existence, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity, self-control, performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas, austerity and simplicity; nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger; renunciation, tranquility, aversion to faultfinding, compassion and freedom from covetousness; gentleness, modesty and steady determination; vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy and the passion for honor--these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.

Gita chapter 16 verse 4 and verses 7 - 18 describe aasuri qualities

Arrogance, pride, anger, conceit, harshness and ignorance--these qualities belong to those of demoniac nature, O son of Prtha

Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them.

And so on for the next several verses Lord describes the qualities of asuri beings.