What is Spirituality?
This
is my favourite topic and wants you to read it again and again and get it
embedded in your heart and mind. It has a profound effect on our lives if
properly understood and practiced with all sincerity and honesty.
These
are the teachings of Renowned Saints in a nutshell:
The
saints do not ask you to give up one religion and join another, nor do they ask
you to renounce the world or your family, or change your mode of living. They
advise you to live with your wife and children as usual, to carry on your
profession and perform all other duties. They only enjoin you some time daily,
punctually and regularly to the most important of your duties, which is
devotion to God.
You
are to live in the world, but in a sensible way. Enjoy the world and its
objects, but realize their true worth. They are meant to serve you. Take full
service from them but do not yourself become their slave. Let not your mind be
so entangled in attachment to these objects that, instead of being of service
to you, they become your master. Live in the world in the most unconcerned way
neither should a most expensive gift elate you, nor loss of possessions depress
you. Live in the world, but be of God and not of the world. Without actually
renouncing, live like one who has renounced it. This is real `Sanyas' संन्यास
(renunciation of the world) and has nothing to do donning a saffron
coloured robe or other religious garb. How aptly a Hindu Mystic has portrayed
it in the following lines:
Even
when you have renounced the world,
And
live not in a village or town,
Nor
possess property or chattel of any kind,
But
instead roam about in forests and hills,
And
drink water from brooks and springs,
Eat
whatever is available in the forest,
Put
on no clothes,
Read
scriptures day and night
And
do repetition of "Om',
Yet
if there is an iota of desire,
Of
worldly pleasure in your mind
You
are still a householder,
Through
and through.
Both
renunciation and attachment pertain to the mind. Outward forms and symbols have
nothing to do with them. Enter the garden of the world. Take a walk in it.
Enjoy the fragrance of the flowers. Eat fruits and behold the beauties of the
nature, but do not entangled in thorns and prickly shrubs, lest you may get
abrasions and wounds.
Earn
wealth honestly and spend it well. It is meant for you. Attend to your work in
the day. Day is for work. But at night give some time to devotion and
contemplation. Of all that you do during the day, nothing of it is for
yourself. Much that you do is for your family and friends.
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