The Hallmark of Perfect Spirituality

Spiritual life starts with Sadhana - regulated practices under the guidance of an authentic spiritual teacher for purifying the mind and increasing our attachment to the Supreme. In it's maturity, spiritual life goes beyond regulations into the realm of constant spontaneous engagement. Regulation is required to deliberately engage the mind in spiritual ways when the mind is not completely spiritualised. But when the mind is fully attached to the supreme, it never wanders into non-spiritual or anti-spiritual thoughts.

Ironically, the spiritually perfect people never shun their regulations thinking that they have gone beyond them and become perfect. This is because spiritual perfection is symptomised by extreme humility where one thinks oneself as the most incompetent spiritualist.

Being humble, the true spiritualist has eternal gratitude for the spiritual master and continues to follow the regulations laid down by him, never thinking that he can ever go beyond them. This also sets the proper example for others.

On the other hand, an imperfect spiritualist falls prey to his mind and ego's desires to become perfect and starts thinking that he has become perfect. So he artificially leaves spiritual regulations and starts living by the dictations of the mind thinking himself to be beyond regulations. This causes other immature people to shun regulations as well and lead an arbitrary lifestyle falsely thinking that it is spiritual.

The most fundamental and essential regulation of spiritual life is to chant the Holy Names of God under the guidance of an authentic spiritual teacher. By garnering all our humility, we should take time out, sit at one place, and daily chant the Holy Names on a rosary (chanting beads) a fixed minimum number of times. During chanting, we should not let our mind wander to anything else. Taking exclusive time out daily for chanting and chanting specifically on beads sitting at one place as instructed by the spiritual teacher are expressions of desire to become a humble servant of the Holy Name. Our spiritual advancement and sustenance depends almost wholly on our sincerity and humility in chanting the Holy Names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

In this world, spiritual perfection is not about being regulation-less. The mark of a true spiritualist is that he not only follows spiritual practices sincerely, but also dedicates his life to the spiritual upliftment of all others. This spontaneous intense compassion for others, in the specific form of teaching spiritual life to others or setting the perfect example of humility, merely as an instrument of the spiritual teacher and God, is the hallmark of a perfect spiritualist.

Accepting A Guru – The Choice Is Yours

The scriptures tell us that accepting a spiritual master (Guru) is must for perfection in spiritual realization. But still, accepting a guru is a matter of choice in multiple ways.

One, everyone has a choice to decide whether they want spiritual realization or not. Basic information about the goals of various spiritual paths is needed for one to get curious, and then attracted, to these paths. A charismatic spiritual personality might also bias one to the path that that person has accepted.

Two, even on the same path, different groups of spiritualists, generally called sampradayas, exist. One chooses the sampradaya that one feels more connected to or one finds most relevant due to the way they present the practicalities of the path. And of course one sampradaya might be more vibrant than another in a particular geographical location. The choice can depend on many such factors.

Three, even within the same sampradaya, different people get attracted to different Gurus. This is natural and in fact beautiful. The same essential message is presented with a unique flavor by two perfect followers of the same sampradaya. This variety in the presentation and practice of the same authentic spiritual teachings is the very life of dynamic, joyful, ever fresh, and increasingly profound spirituality.

In this arena of choice, sometimes a person may find himself shackled by decisions others have made for him. For example, a family Guru. Social pressure can force one to accept the same Guru that his parents have accepted. Or the person underwent a 'Guru accepting ceremony' when he was not old enough to take such decisions. This is not necessarily wrong; a person might develop a natural attraction for this Guru due to his association over the years. If that Guru is following a high spiritual path, birth in such a family is glorious. But sometimes, a person might encounter spiritual principles significantly higher than that followed by the family Guru. Or the current Guru might be more official than transformational. Now what?

It's about choice - being allowed to choose and having the courage to do so. One's spiritual journey is one's own. Others  will guide, instruct, suggest, and help, or even threaten; but they have no right to force. Force kills spiritual life. Spirituality practiced against ones will is a farce; it's material, motivated by fear.

Sometimes such decisions can be tough to make. This hesitation is a good sign; that one is not taking the decision lightly. Quite often, the choice between the two paths or two sampradayas is easy; the level of realizations offered are evidently different. And often, there is not much opposition from family or society for such decisions. But in some cases, the choice is not so easy; either the two sampradayas don’t differ much, or there is opposition. At these times, best is to give the decision some more time and deliberation, and discuss the matter more with spiritually advanced souls who are not motivated by material considerations.

Accepting a particular path and dedicating one's life to a particular Guru is a serious decision. The better your choice, the more serious it becomes; in other words, the more spiritually advanced the Guru is, the more important it is to take that relationship seriously. Carelessness in this regard can hamper spiritual progress, because taking a Guru lightly is taking spiritual life cheaply. Thus, after accepting a Guru after intense and prolonged deliberation, one must cultivate this relationship very carefully. Neglecting this relationship now is not an expression of choice, but of spiritual lethargy and disrespect towards an advanced soul. Such an attitude is one's greatest misfortune and the biggest obstacle on the path towards spiritual success.

The choice is yours.

Spiritual Fundamentals

Spiritual Knowledge has to be obtained from a bonafide spiritual master or Guru. A bonafide Guru is one who has his own Guru, and so on. The original Guru is God who is perfect in all respects.

The Bhagavad Gita is a standard text for spiritual knowledge and we must be careful not to bypass it's essential message when talking about spirituality. Bhagavad Gita's essential message is to become a pure devotee of Krishna and get out of the cycle of birth and death that characterizes the material world.

To equate the individual soul with God is a mistake most atheistic spiritualists make. This is an obvious mistake, but due to the power of illusion, the deluded soul is convinced that he can become the supreme or that his powers are unlimited, independent. To take shelter of pure devotees of God is the only way to get out of this dangerous illusion.

My View of the World

My view of Religion changed,

When I came across the thought,

That it is all about Love,

And merely Rituals it is not.

My view of Rituals changed,

When someone made a comment,

They enhance expression of Love,

And are themselves not the end.

My view of Love changed,

When I read this principle deep,

Love for God embraces all,

Without which it is incomplete.

My view of God changed,

When I introspected a lot,

The object of highest Love,

Cannot be impersonal at all.

My view of Myself changed,

When it finally did register,

I cannot think, love, or Live,

If all I am is matter.

My view of Life changed,

When I accepted I am a soul,

Found a new way of life,

With Spirituality as its goal.

My view of Spirituality changed,

When my Spiritual Master taught,

It's not passive negation,

But dynamic Love for God.

-- *~ -- *~ --

Every Teacher is Not a Guru

Teachers help one learn or hone a skill. Of course, as one becomes more proficient, other variants of teachers like mentors, coaches, and counselors become more relevant. Teachers are often indispensable if one wishes to perfect a skill in the least possible time with the most efficient use of time and energy.

A spiritual master - Guru - helps one make spiritual advancement and is absolutely indispensable if one wants to attain spiritial perfection - pure love for the Supreme Lord.

In modern times any expert or popular teacher is refered to as a Guru. This equation leads to the undesirable watering down of the position of the spiritual master or Guru. Dedication to a teacher is not absolutely indispensable for mastering a skill. No doubt teachers are invaluable, but there are many notable skillsmen who are self-taught to a large extent. These include singers, actors, dancers, writers, sportsmen, and so on. But a Guru - spiritual master - is indispensible; because he doesn't teach skills, he changes hearts.

A Guru guides his disciple in developing the disciple's relationship with the Supreme Lord. This relationship deepens as the disciple's heart becomes cleansed of selfish desires for godless enjoyment. And the heart is cleansed by submissive service to and sincere inquiry from the Guru. In fact, one's relationship with the Guru naturally extends into one's relationship with the Supreme Lord. The Guru is a very intimate dear devotee of the Lord and the Lord accepts one's relationship with Him to the degree one develops his relationship with the Guru.

A teacher, no matter how kind, learned, or austere, is not a Guru if he is not intentionally taking his disciple closer to the Supreme Lord by his teachings. But every genuine Guru is the best teacher because his very existence is to guide his disciples to an eternal ever joyful relationship of love with Sri Krishna!