Dear friends,
I
know very well that this is not the correct forum to discuss about
spirituality. But my inner conscious telling that I must write about
spirituality for the
benefit of youths who generally of the opinion that it is for aged
persons
only.Also there is a general perception that if we started practicing spirituality,we
have to forego entertainment and pleasure. This is also not true.I
kindly request every one especially the youths to read this post. Those
who like this post can follow at least one or two spiritual ways
mentioned here.Others may kindly ignore and delete this post.Since this
is a large post,pl read this when you are completely free from any work
Spirituality
is not for aged persons alone. It is a way of life. If you practice
spirituality in day to day life, you will get peace with yourself as
well as with others which can only be realised. In this connection, I
wish to
inform that in this post I will not refer to any particular religion or
caste . But I will mention some of the saint names and these saints
never labelled themselves as
'Hindu' saints but some of their followers labelled them like that.
I
will write about how I entered into spiritual life,What is
spirituality, Why it has to
be followed, How to practice it in
day to day life and finally what are all the benefits?. Here I use
the word 'Saint'only through out this post which also refers 'swamiji',
'Guru' and 'Sanyasi' for the sake of easy writing and easy
understanding.
MY
ENTRY IN TO SPIRITUAL PATH
I born in
a Hindu family and though I was not a firm believer of God, I used to
go to temples mostly with my
parents during my younger age. In the year 2000, I attended one week
speech therapy course at Madurai. I applied leave for one month
for practicing the techniques that I learned.I
could not able to practice continuously for more than 2 hours alone in
my home. During the training, I was able to practice about 8 hours.
That's the power of group practicing!!! Meanwhile One
Mr 'F' who also attended the above
course has suggested me to meet at Marina beach near Gandhi statue every
evening. I gladly agreed for this and started meeting with 'Mr'F' in
the evenings.
In
the
afternoons, I used to read fictions for time passing. After few days I
lost interest reading fiction books. One day I came to know about the
book 'The Power of Positive Thinking' by Norman Vincent Peale.I bought this book and started reading it a few chapters.
After reading these chapters,a thought struck to my mind that in the
above book the author often refers 'Jesus Christ'. I got confused and
started thinking that I am from a Hindu family but reading a book based
on Christine religion beliefs. I was very unsure whether to continue to read this book or not.
In
one night night while I was about to sleep, a sudden thought struck
to my mind which goes like this.... 'You need Mr.'F' help to accompany
at beach to overcome your stammering.... but you got confused whether to
continue to read this book because of mentioning of'Jesus Christ' ....
becase my
friend Mr 'F' a christian!!! A firm believer of Jesus Christ. The very
next moment I felt really ashamed of myself and felt like a very small
man. From that very moment on wards, I have broken the religious
barrier. There after, I read five more books written by Mr. Norman
Vincent Peale.
After reading those books, I started getting peace of mind which I never experienced in my
life before. Then I
started reading various religious books of which I liked the most is Bagavat
Gita.
Here I will write in detail about what I stated in para-3 above. What I am going to write here is only my PERCEPTION about spirituality after reading so many religious books and many experiences I had in my life and nothing is mine.All
is taken out from one book or another written by various saints.
WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?
Spirituality
is the way of life shown to the human beings (by GOD). And not the
normal belief of worshiping God,doing rituals chanting mantras,visiting
temples,joining Sat Sangas that too by mostly elders. Of course worshiping God
and doing
rituals etc...etc..are a part of spirituality but it is not the only
one. At this point someone may have doubt that I also follow the
spiritual path when I become elder and not now. Some other may thing
that it is for elders only. But these beliefs are not correct and you
will understand this after reading this post.
Except having 6th sense and laughing, there is no difference between humans and
animals. Why should humans have to live in a cultured way?. Because God
has given us the sixth sense and we can know what is right and what is
wrong. If we live in a uncultured way, it will end up in chaos.
we are very fortunate now a days that
we have got internet and media and by click of a button we read
anything we want. But think of our fore fathers who lived 1000s and
1000s years back. Who would have told them to form a society and
live a cultured life?. Please be aware that the culture now we are
following was started not recently but 1000s and 1000s years ago. First
it was shown in the 4 Vedas which were directly given by God
to great saints saints. Those saints never reveled their identity to
this world that they have written the Vedas. Saint Veda Viyasar
compiled all the 4 Vedas and this is the present form we are reading it
now.
But
this culture is changing slowly and gradually people are become more
selfish than ever. The present practice in
Tamilnadu is, those people donating things to temples like
lights,clocks,fans etc wanted to paint their names in big letters on
the donated articles, so
such people coming to temples can see their names.So they only wants to
show others that they donated some articles to the temple rather than
serving to God. This is definitely not
spirituality....Actually the help rendered to others in right hand
should not even known by the left hand. That is we should not tell
anyone when we helped to others.This is real spirituality.
Why should we follow spiritual
path?
As
already mentioned, spirituality is how humans have to live apart from
worshiping God. Suppose no one showed us the path of present way of life
we are living,
then how would have we lived?. Like animals?... or as we like....We
cannot even get the answer.Because We are following our fore fathers
cultures e are living well.
Now that culture is started deteriorating gradually after
the entry of multinational corporate with lot of job opportunities and
hefty salaries..... late
night works and weekend
parties....no respect for parents....in some cases wife stops giving
respect to her husband because her son / daughter earning more
money...but where
are our ethics....where are our culture... If this trend continue for
another few years we will land up in a complete chaos.... I hope this
will not happen to us. Spiritual path is the best way of living
peaceful, useful and purposeful life.
How to identify real
saints?
About
50 to 60 years back, saints can be easily identified by their living
style. They wear simple cloths, eat simple foods,sleep on the floor,
giving equal treatment to all the devotees. They even don't have door to
their bed rooms. They are living life in such a transparent way.
What
about today's saints?.Of course keeping in mind their need to connect
with people across the world, they may be using modern gadget,modern way
of living / travelling and there is no issue on that....but the real
issue is their intention. What message they are trying to convey to the
people?.
What message they conveyed so far to their devotees? Now a days lot of
'HIGH PROFILE SAINTS'are there in India and each one claiming hundreds
of branches and millions of followers all over the world. Then why
corruption is more prevalent now a days....why more murders are taking
place now a days...why more women raping are taking place now a days....
What these so called 'HIGH PROFILE SAINTS'are doing?.
Why can't they ask their million followers to stop above nonsense and
instead instruct them to lead a good spiritual life. They
can't...Because they are preaching good things to others only and not
following themselves in their life. A child will grow by seeing his
parents behavior rather than their advice. First of all the saint must
set himself as an example to others before giving any kind of advice.
Another
one
I want to highlight hereis, of late some of the high profile saints in
Tamilnadu started diversifying their activities other than spirituality
such as running institutions and hospitals. But strictly speaking, the
saints job should limited to in connection with spirituality only like
spreading awareness among public, giving discourses.In this changing
time, I have no issue about some of the present saints diversifying
their activities.....but at what cost....what is the motive behind
it....giving free education and free health care at least to the
poor..... not at all...they are charging hefty fees like other private
institutions...charging lakhs and lakhs of rupees for management
quota.... they are also running behind materialistic things.....you can
very well imagine about how his followers wold behave. Recently one of
my friends mailed me informing that one saint aged over 50 years is
still having black hairs (ie he is using hair
dye). The
question here is not about using hair dye or not, but the so called
saints are not even accepting the natural changes taking place,then what
will he do for spiritual cause. In fact I am not using hair dye like
Sachin. This in the real meaning of live along with the nature.
Third
one I want to
highlight here is about such saints writings. Lot of books on various
spiritual topics are being published by such saints with attractive
glazed sheets, lamination binding priced at Rs 500 and Rs.1000. Is such
price is necessary for spiritual books. A simple meaning for
spirituality is everything must be as SIMPLE as possible.....But even
their books are not simple...the price is not low....how can a poor man
buy such books. Few years back, I purchased Bagavat Gita (about 1600
pages) printed at Gita Press, Gorakhpur for a price of Rs.120/- only.
Even now also they are selling 80 - 120 pages of books at a cost of Rs.5
- Rs.10 only. You can check the site here http://www.gitapress.org/.
This is real spiritual service. I recommend everyone to read Bagavat
Gita which is the best management book I ever read. It is difficult for
the youths to read original version and they can buy condensed version
of it by various authors. Why I am
recommending Bagavat Gita is no one is holding copy rights for this
book.But what about the books written by the present day high pfofile
saints?. They are all having copy writes of their books. TISA is better
on this count where we are give copyleft for all the articles.After
reading the above you might have got some ideas about how a real saint
should be.....now the choice is yours and chose as per your wish.
How to practice spirituality?
The
basic quality required for this is to come out of all religions,caste
and groups. But this is not easy and requires lot of time and practice
like controlling stammering.
To
begin with, do not think your religion / caste is higher than others.
Do not think your God is more powerful than others. You have got every
right to think that
your God is powerful but do not argue with others. Even if others
started this kind
of argument, do not argue with them and instead keep calm in those
situations. The reason for not arguing is, it will end up in a fight
only which defeat the very purpose of entering into spiritual path.
Do
not judge others, because that is not our Job. God has created each one
and is watching everybody actions and HE is the only judge for all of
us.Do not comment others physical appearances such as their height,
weight, skin colour,hair style,beautiful, ugly etc.... do not get
irritated / angered for others behaviors such as their way of dressing,
way of speaking, way of eating
etc..etc..because they thought their behavior
are correct. So why should we interfere with them and
get bad name...
Helping
others...this is the most important of all. Helping does't mean giving
money only. There are so many other ways of helping. Last year myself
along with my two brothers went to an aged home and asked them what
their requirement.You know what they told us that they don't want
anything as they were going to die shortly and instead they requested us
to come to see them whenever we find time and speak with them for
sometime....I was really got astonished after hearing their request....
my thoughts ran like this... what is the meaning of life?.
Then
say thanks to God after taking food every time because there are
millions and millions of people in this world not even able to food
atleast once in a day. Be gratitude to the God that we are getting good
foods 3 times a day. Be gratitude to the beggars while giving money or
any other things to them. Because without
them, to whom should we give?. After rendering each help to others,
thank God for giving us the opportunity for helping others.
Always
respect parents, even if you think that they are doing something wrong
to you. The real fact is no parents would ever think like this.
Participate all the family functions. There
is a general complaints from parents that present day youths are very
much reluctant to attend such functions and interested only in attending
friends parties.I am not against attending parties with friends but
also attend family functions. When you attend family functions only,
you come to know that who are all your relatives, their status, who are
all need your help and what can you do for them. First help to your
relatives rather than giving big donations to big charity organisations.
Because lot of rich people are there for giving donations to such
organisations. But you are the only person available to help for your
poor relatives. Do give sweets / dresses to your servant,Paper boy, Post
man, Gas Cylinder delivery boy who are serving us throughout the year
irrespective of summer / winter/ rainy seasons. Also do visit old aged
homes / Orphan children homes and celebrate your birth days / wedding
days along with
them.
I
always inspired by reading Swami Vivekananda's books and quotations.
The best quotation I like very much is " STRENGTH IS LIFE; WEAKNESS IS
DEATH ". In one of his books he mentioned that ' Chanting Mantras,
doing rituals or praying for hours in front God is of no use, if you do
not help to the nearby orphan or a widow". After reading this, I also
changed my helping ways accoedingly.
Everyone
aware about the great Saint "Shirdi Sai Baba". He never discloses his
identity such as about his parents, place of birth or his religion. That
is the greatness of a real saint. Their only purpose is to serve for
humanity. Devotees who were coming to swamiji for
darshan, asks so many questions like 'How can I get peace of mind?' 'How
can get rid of my fear?' 'How can I overcome my family problem? 'What
is the way of attaining God' etc...etc... His only answer to all these
questions is do meditation regularly. Meditation gives enormous power to
us, we can overcome any obstacles / hurdles in our life. Do meditation regularly.
There
are 1000s of ways to practice spirituality and I mentioned only a few
above. Every individual can choose their own way and practice.
Benefits of spirituality
The
main benefit is it always keeps you in a composed manner. Keeping your
mind
calm in all the situations.You will treat everyone as same. You will
stop judging people. You feel whatever happens is for good only. You do
your work without any hurry but still able to complete within the
stipulated time. Your general health will improve. You will be in peace
with yourself as well as with others. You will stop blaming others for
your failures.These are only few benefits I am citing as examples.
There are 1000s of benefits you can get from spirituality.
Conclusion
Spirituality
can be defined in one sentence also. It is a way of life without either
harming yourself or others in whatever manner.
Some
of the
members may be interested in knowing about changes taken in my life
style after learning spirituality. Yes....there are lot of changes...now
I am at peace with myself and with my neighbors (very important)....can
able to handle tense situations calmly...can able to work calmly and
finish my it within the time...reading news papers, going
to restaurants, going to movies & parties are as usual. But I
am laughing more now than before (there is a wrong perception among
people that spiritual people should not laugh and always be serious),
eating less than before.....yes...less eating...more healthy (applicable
for white collar jobbers only and not for hard working labours)....stopped eating foods which are not good for health
Lastly
I thank all of you for spending your valuable time by reading this
post. I will be very happy if every member of this group benefited one
way or other.
May God bless you.
Regards,
Manimaran.
2 comments:
Wow - Thank your Mani Sir. I still remember meeting you in Chennai worshop and that had a huge impact on me and on my friends.
Spiriuality is higher science, one day when science will catch up with spirituality then spirituality will be known as Super Science!! Supiritulaity is not only way of life but best way of life! :-) Thanks again..
Thanks for clarifying spirituality in such a simple form. To me to be a spiritual person means to be a good person.Thats a way of life. Same meaning to be a Dharmic person.To be a Dharmic person does not mean to follow traditional rituals of a particular Dharma. To be Dharmic means not to do any act by deeds or words which harms other beings. Any act by words or deeds which helps other beings is Dharma. So be spiritual i.e. be a good person.
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