Spiritual realms

Living the values that the spirit represents
Life is more than matter. If it were just matter, there would be no need for comfort. Matter does not feel comfort or discomfort; beauty or ugliness; love or compassion; joy or sorrow. Will a chair ever feel sorry or happy? No, matter does not have these finer values. They belong to the realm of the spirit. But life is also more than spirit. If it were just spirit, there would be no need for
water, food, or rest. Human life is a combination of both matter and spirit.

The nature of the spirit - Spirit experiences and expresses values.
Values are feelings and emotions — that which cannot be captured totally by words or understood by the intellect. The goal of the spiritual path is to understand the spiritual dimension of life and live fully all the values that the spirit
represents. What are those values? Peace, love, joy, beauty, unlimited knowledge, and the capacity to understand both mind and matter.

Comfort: A quality of consciousness
Whatever one does is directed towards one goal — happiness, or comfort. Often people think that comfort comes in a material way — through matter alone. No, comfort is a quality of consciousness. To some degree it does depend on matter, but to a greater degree it depends on attitude and understanding.
The true nature of the spirit is comprehension You listen, you understand and you absorb. Who is understanding? Who is absorbing? It is the spirit in your body that is taking in the knowledge. And this knowledge is not coming through
sight, sound, smell, taste and touch alone. It is also coming from inside as intuition.

The very nature of consciousness is knowledge
You can say that at every level of consciousness, knowledge is present. And consciousness is present! If it were nothing, it could not be present. It is something — yet it is not finite. You cannot measure consciousness, so it is present and infinite.

The nature of your consciousness is peace: You are love
Consciousness is peace. You are peace; you are truth; and you are energy — walking,
moving, talking, sitting. The self is energy and the self is knowledge, the knowing and the knower. This consciousness is love — you are love. Understanding and living this is the spiritual life. Life attains its richest form through the spiritual dimension. Without it life becomes very shallow and you are unhappy, dependent, depressed and miserable.

The effects of the spiritual dimension on society
This is a great sense of belongingness, responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole of humanity. The spiritual dimension — in its true form — smashes the narrow boundaries of caste, creed, religion and nationality. Wars will be eliminated only through spiritual understanding.

The spiritual path is not an escape from life
Actually, the spiritual path makes life more difficult! In India people think the spiritual life is easy — go to an ashram where you don’t have to work hard. No! The spiritual path is not an escape from hard work or sincere action, just as social service is not an escape to a comfortable life. In both situations you have to put your heart and soul into your actions and be ready to give of yourself hundred percent. The spiritual life will bring you enormous joy, more contentment,
more peace and more energy than you can find — but it’s not an escape. Remember that.
The spiritual path is not an escape from responsibility

The spiritual path means taking responsibility. If you think it is difficult to manage your children
and your husband or your wife, you will be given more people to care for. If you are ready to take responsibility for twenty people, two thousand people, twenty million people — then you are on the path. The spiritual path is not an escape from responsibility, but taking responsibility. The spiritual path is not an escape from hard work Intelligent, effective work is part of the spiritual life. When you are working hard you may think you deserve compassion. I say that if you are working hard and doing it with intelligence, then you need appreciation — not compassion. If someone is taking 5 hours to complete something that can be done in half an hour, it doesn’t need compassion.

Knowing peace
Another aspect of spiritual life is peace — knowing that peace is your nature. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing inside you there is a pure clear space that’s vast and deep. That inner space is what you are. Feeling this is knowing your spiritual dimension. ‘‘I have come from peace, I am in peace, I will go back to peace. Peace is my origin and my goal’’ — this inner affirmation or experience makes you a seeker.

A sense of sacredness
Still another aspect of spiritual life is a sense of sacredness. When you have a deep sense of thankfulness combined with regard and respect for everything that comes to you in life — it brings a sense of sacredness. And in sacredness there is awareness. Your mind is fully present in fear, anger or sacredness.

Service and silence
Silence heals and rejuvenates. Silence gives you depth and stability and brings creativity. Service brings the dynamic experience of heart. It creates a sense of belongingness. Lack of service can land a person in depression. Service alone can bring contentment in life, but service without silence tires you. Service without spirituality will be shallow and cannot be sustained for a long period of time. The deeper the silence, the more dynamic the outer activity. Both are essential in life.

Why do you need a master?
You can be loving, compassionate, and live all the values of the spirit without a teacher or a master. Then what is the need for a master? You do not make your own cloth. Someone else makes the cloth and you wear it. It is the same with spiritual knowledge. Many ancient people have found valuable knowledge about breathing, pranayama (breathing exercises) and yoga asanas. The intelligent thing is to use these tools which have already been established.
And it is better to take a guide for your practice and progress on the spiritual journey.

Have confidence
Have confidence in yourself. One who does not have confidence cannot achieve anything
Confidence clears doubt. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. Once you eliminate the
negative, you will see that the positive has already happened. When doubt clears,
confidence appears. So to gain confidence in yourself, you must understand what doubt is.

The nature of doubt
If you observe the nature of doubt, it is always about something that is positive. You doubt the goodness of other people, never their bad qualities. You doubt your own capabilities, never your incapabilities. On the spiritual path, you learn to handle things with intuition and inner freedom. I don’t say don’t doubt. I say doubt as much as you can. That will help you get through it before progressing further.

Published in The New Indian Express - 11th January 2004