Material and Spritual

Hari Aum. 

The Material And The Spiritual. 

*Apologies for the long post, but please do read.

These questions are always being asked: “If I follow a spiritual path, can I live with my family? Can I wear good clothes and eat well? Can I earn a good living?” Distinguishing between material and spiritual life has come from a certain level of ignorance. The Earth you walk upon, the air you breathe and the food you eat are material. The body itself is material. Can we separate whatever you refer to as the spirit or energy or divinity in you from your body? No. So, how can you separate the material and the spiritual?

What we need to change is not the content of our life. We need to change the context of our life. Even if you go to a Himalayan cave, you are still the same person, aren’t you?  Essentially, it's not about changing our environment or the life process or the world, we are changing the way we experience it.

As far as I can see, everyone is striving for happiness, everyone is striving to be free. That means every human being is seeking spirituality. A few are striving consciously, most are striving unconsciously. If you find unconscious expression to it, it gets labeled as materialism. If you find conscious expression to it, we call it a spiritual process. 

Essentially, every human being is trying to have a larger slice of life. If he knows only money, he is thinking of a little more money, if he knows power, a little more power, if he knows love, a little more love. But if you apply your awareness and perception and look at it, you can clearly see that you are not seeking money, property, love or pleasure, what you are seeking is expansion. How much expansion would settle you for good? If you look at this, you can see that you are looking for infinite expansion. It is definitely time to stop and look at what is driving us like crazy, to possess more and do more, because it is not the “things” that we are after. There is something within you which does not like boundaries, which is looking for a boundless experience.

It is wonderful that we are seeking the infinite through rituals, meditation and transcendence etc. itself but the problem is we are seeking it in installments (41 days Hanuman Vrat than back to normality, 10 days Navaratri Vrat than back to normailty, 10 days Kavady Vrat than back to normality etc.) You can never reach the infinite by counting 1 2 3 4….it will not happen. If you are looking for something boundless, it has to be non-physical i.e Supreme Brahman. The moment you seek that which is not physical, we say you are spiritual.

Unfortunately, today, spirituality is the most misunderstood and misrepresented aspect of life. The way it is being presented worldwide, some of it is utterly ridiculous such as spiritual bath soaps, spiritual toothpaste, money drawing incense and what not! A lot of it is crooked too, although there is also well meaning discourses and teachings as well. People are desperately trying to make simple situations of life mystical. Any number of things have become spiritual except the human being – that’s the whole problem.

So when we come across sayings, texts, discourses or even religious Facebook posts (mine included) that mention to give up material desires, it is essentially telling us that we should not find happiness in other object's, it's about a shift in consciousness that the source of eternal happiness is you and this is when self realisation happens.

Spirituality is not about right and wrong or about beliefs, rituals and heaven. Spirituality is about exploring the ultimate limits of who you are. Once you come here as a human being, all that is possible in this human being, every dimension that exists as “you” must be experienced, isn’t it? If you go without experiencing yourself, that’s a wasted life. If there was a possibility that every moment of your life, no matter what is happening with the outside situation, you could be bursting with ecstasy within yourself, wouldn’t you want it?