Being Spiritual and the Path

Being Spiritual is not an "Adjective" but a "Verb".

Being spiritual means "loving oneself" or "caring for oneself", in other words, taking "responsibility" for one's physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Loving oneself is also not self-centredness or self-indulgence.

It also doesn't mean "being selfish". Selfishness is the opposite of "loving oneself". When our mind is in the expanded state of being, we start to feel love for ourselves, and from that expanded state, all our actions are selfless; we flow to "share" love and compassion. First, we share the love with ourselves, and that same love flows to others who come in contact with us. This love cannot be expressed in words, not because it isn't expressible, it's because this expression is uniquely individual. Being spiritual is to experience this naturally expanded state of love with oneself, which then flows to others.  

Every human identifies themselves as a spiritual being, whether we are aware of it or not; we long to expand ourselves and want to know things beyond us. But we don't know how to be spiritual, and we are also unsure if there is a path to being spiritual.

The way to being spiritual is about evolving; evolving the heart and the mind to experience this divine love; this divine love flows only in the types of mind purified of its impurities.

The great Indian scientist rishi Patanjali (Patan-jayly) gave a framework, a structure to this union of love with oneself, and called it "Yog". He prescribed a path of eight steps explained in detail in Yog-Sutras and Yog-Darshana. Even Buddha; prescribed this and called it the "eightfold noble path".

We will not discuss these steps; instead, I will share my understanding of the path as simply as I can. I have been meditating and actively seeking to expand my being. I have come to recognize this profound experiential truth.

Our only and only job is the purification of our minds by strengthening the noble qualities of our HEART.

When our HEART is Compassionate and Empathetic; Peaceful and Harmonious; Giving and Generous; Joyful and Forgiving; Truthful and Honest; Grateful, Inspiring, and Radiant. Then, our mind automagically cleanses itself of its impurities. This is the secret to adding positive karma points in life.

The best way to discover, experience, understand, bring forth, and actualize these qualities is through living the qualities of the heart in our everyday interactions with ourselves and everyone around us. In our hearts, the qualities are discovered and experienced. At the same time, our intellect can reflect upon and understand these qualities.

However, the true teacher of our mind is our heart, so the best attitude is for the mind to listen to the heart.

When these noble qualities of our HEART are developed and strengthened sufficiently enough, the spiritual law starts working. First and foremost, the law begins testing us with difficult people and situations as a filtration process; if we endure these tests while developing and strengthening these qualities with awareness and equanimity, a point comes when these qualities become our FIRST NATURE.

Once this happens, our job is over. We don't have to do anything further. The Spiritual law takes over our being and uplifts us into higher spiritual levels or dimensions.

"When you truly realize the qualities of the heart is the gateway, you are enlightened."

During the cleansing and testing phase, the spiritual law assigns an invisible Guru or Guardian Angel to us who helps us pass through these difficult phases, and they remain with us until needed.

In this journey, the spiritual law will assign many hidden Gurus or Guardian Angels according to our evolving States and Stages. If we are lucky, we might meet and interact with these Gurus and Guardian Angels, but surely we can feel their presence in our life. We sometimes refer to them as God's Grace or Divine Forces in our life.

You might ask, why invisible gurus or guardian angels? A simple answer could be to help us become the best version of ourselves by developing our faculties to perceive things beyond the sense perceptions.

The Spiritual law is a teacher with a unique style of teaching. "Learning While Doing" is its style. Yes, Learning While Doing. You heard it right; both words "Learning" and "Doing" are "Verb". That's why in Yoga, Karma Yog is given utmost importance in this process of purification of oneself.

And, you might also ask, Why not realised guru in the physical body help us? A simple answer is "to help us not become dependent", also, there are many exceptions, but an important thing to remember, an authentic realized guru in the physical body will not keep us under any confusion; there won't be any ambiguity about their involvement in our life.

Suppose they take up the responsibility to help us become the best version of ourselves. In that case, they will ensure we know who keeps our backside safe. They are tough masters, just as good and genuine sports, and martial art teachers, or even parents who "Support" us without making us dependent on them.

Keep in mind that this is the most challenging job in the universe one can undertake. Therefore, only the best of the best masters would become the guide to someone in their spiritual journey because to help us move forward, they would have to deal with our strongest negative tendencies which were strengthened by us knowingly or unknowingly for many lifetimes.

Therefore, to be chosen, we must put in the genuine and sincere efforts required to develop the qualities of the heart, as mentioned earlier. In short, we should become deserving candidates, and the spiritual law decides if we are deserving candidates or not.

Spiritually evolved people in the physical body are on the journey, undergoing a purification process themselves. Unless their hidden guru or guardian angel instructs them to become a guide to single or many humans, they wouldn't want to distract themselves from their journey of self-purification.

As well as they wouldn't take up this immense responsibility of guiding others just because they have the desire to do so; in this journey of self-purification, even desires are relinquished. However, there would be a few exceptions always.

An important thing to remember, one can only guide others if one has walked the path till the end, as Buddha said once. So, yes, as sincere seekers, we can choose to walk along with the spiritually evolved person in the physical body and also learn from their life experiences and imbibe all the good qualities they have lived as an example to follow.

However, don't expect them to hold our hands. Because, as mentioned earlier, if we are putting in the required efforts and are sincere enough, our hands are held by the spiritual law itself.

In conclusion, being selfish means having a belief in "Scarcity". An "Inability" to share things we have as "Surplus". This attitude works at all three levels of our existence.

At the physical level of existence, someone might not want to share their surpluses such as money, wearables, jewelry, food, and many other material belongings.

Furthermore, at a mental level of existence, someone might not want to share their knowledge and wisdom due to the belief of scarcity, such as a fear of perceived self-loss and even a perceived gain received by others.

Finally, at the highest emotional level of existence, someone might not want to share joy, happiness, compassion, love, and many other positive emotions with oneself and others.

This is an error in our mind; we call it a mental impurity of our mind. And the mind can only change when we develop, strengthen and express the qualities of our HEART.

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