There is a widespread misunderstanding that spiritual study and practice are 'mystic' and 'other-worldly' and necessary only at the end of life. But the purpose of spirituality is to enable us to grow with the right knowledge about ourselves and the world and to live with freedom and fulfilment.
The goal of spirituality is to make us masters of the world by enabling us to overcome our own minds and intelligence. Right from birth, we become slaves to objects and circumstances. Spirituality redeems us from this slavery and enables us to embrace any situation with equanimity.
It is wrong to consider spiritual practices as 'religious' in the conventional sense. Hinduism is neither a 'religion' nor an 'ism'. It represents the thoughts and experiences, discoveries and conclusions of a civilisation's quest for the ultimate goal of human life and society. The core of Hinduism is its eternal spiritual wisdom enshrined in the Upanishads , which are truly the record of experimental discoveries made by our rishis, who researched the ultimate Reality and discovered our real Identity.
Just like the knowledge of Physics, Chemistry, or Mathematics is not dependent on whether you are an American, African or Indian, whether you are a Hindu, Christian or Atheist, the knowledge of one's real Identity, as revealed in the Upanishads, is also independent of one's racial, ethnic, and religious identity. That is why spirituality begins where religion concludes.
A God-believing person is a believer in his 'concept of God'. An atheist is also a believer but in the 'concept of No-God'. Both of them are believers - they believe in some concept of their mind. This a priori belief stifles their inquiry. A seeker of ultimate Truth should start with 'no belief'.
Why do we look for a creator? Because we find that everything in the world follows causality. The causality we see all around us makes us think there must be a cause for the objective universe. But, the same rationality, which compels us to look for a cause behind everything, tells us that the very nature of causality is a never-ending chain, and the ultimate Reality, by definition, must be beyond causality. Causality works within the ken of duality, but the ultimate Reality must transcend duality.
In other words, there cannot be any 'objective cause' behind the objective universe. Then, how do we proceed to find the ultimate Reality? Is there any truth that transcends 'objectude'?
Look within to discover the transcendental non-dual Self, on which appears the entire 'objectude' as well as 'subjectude'.
As one takes to spiritual inquiry, the focus shifts from the external God to our deepest core within, to our real Identity. The pursuit becomes one of integration and evolution of our own personality. The truth being about our own Self, mere theoretical knowledge, either from the scriptures or from lectures, will not be sufficient. We must discover truth of our identity ourselves. We must live the truth.
Authored by: Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
Swamiji's sadhana shivir concludes today at Centre for Inner Resources Development (CIRD), Vasundhara, Ghaziabad. For details, contact 9811203815
The goal of spirituality is to make us masters of the world by enabling us to overcome our own minds and intelligence. Right from birth, we become slaves to objects and circumstances. Spirituality redeems us from this slavery and enables us to embrace any situation with equanimity.
It is wrong to consider spiritual practices as 'religious' in the conventional sense. Hinduism is neither a 'religion' nor an 'ism'. It represents the thoughts and experiences, discoveries and conclusions of a civilisation's quest for the ultimate goal of human life and society. The core of Hinduism is its eternal spiritual wisdom enshrined in the Upanishads , which are truly the record of experimental discoveries made by our rishis, who researched the ultimate Reality and discovered our real Identity.
Just like the knowledge of Physics, Chemistry, or Mathematics is not dependent on whether you are an American, African or Indian, whether you are a Hindu, Christian or Atheist, the knowledge of one's real Identity, as revealed in the Upanishads, is also independent of one's racial, ethnic, and religious identity. That is why spirituality begins where religion concludes.
A God-believing person is a believer in his 'concept of God'. An atheist is also a believer but in the 'concept of No-God'. Both of them are believers - they believe in some concept of their mind. This a priori belief stifles their inquiry. A seeker of ultimate Truth should start with 'no belief'.
Why do we look for a creator? Because we find that everything in the world follows causality. The causality we see all around us makes us think there must be a cause for the objective universe. But, the same rationality, which compels us to look for a cause behind everything, tells us that the very nature of causality is a never-ending chain, and the ultimate Reality, by definition, must be beyond causality. Causality works within the ken of duality, but the ultimate Reality must transcend duality.
In other words, there cannot be any 'objective cause' behind the objective universe. Then, how do we proceed to find the ultimate Reality? Is there any truth that transcends 'objectude'?
Look within to discover the transcendental non-dual Self, on which appears the entire 'objectude' as well as 'subjectude'.
As one takes to spiritual inquiry, the focus shifts from the external God to our deepest core within, to our real Identity. The pursuit becomes one of integration and evolution of our own personality. The truth being about our own Self, mere theoretical knowledge, either from the scriptures or from lectures, will not be sufficient. We must discover truth of our identity ourselves. We must live the truth.
Authored by: Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
Swamiji's sadhana shivir concludes today at Centre for Inner Resources Development (CIRD), Vasundhara, Ghaziabad. For details, contact 9811203815
