The Goal

The relevance of spirituality in practical life has always been a point of debate. There is a  lot of confusion regarding this subject mainly due to a multitude of interpretations and lack of clarity. Even though most of us believe spirituality is inseparable from our day-to-day life, there are many who think it is concerned only about the life after death. And some are somewhat skeptical about the whole issue where as some others has no hesitation to declare that all this is sheer stupidity.

Obviously there is a lack of consensus in terms of concepts and practices in this subject. It is evident in the inconsistencies of spiritual practices even among followers of same religion. The confusion is caused apparently by mixing up spirituality with religious and social practices. There is no clear demarcation as such so as to make out what is what and what is meant for what.

More over, isn’t it a fact that most of us never cared to know what spirituality is all about but blindly followed the faith which we are born into? Our spiritual practices most of the time end up in a few minutes of prayers to God requesting our well being or visiting the places of worship. Is that what spirituality is all about? Don’t you feel there must be some deeper meaning to it? Let us explore together to look into it from a different angle which is more logical and rational.

In these murky waters of contradicting concepts, how can we bring out some clarity so that we can effectively discuss the relevance of spirituality in our practical life? For this, the first and foremost step is to set aside the contradictions and have a fresh understanding of various aspects involved. We have to clearly define the contextual meaning of the critical terms we are going to discuss so as to have a common base of understanding. Only then it will be a meaningful exercise. So let’s first start with spirituality itself.

The word spirituality means different things to different people according to their adherence to various faiths and schools of thought. It is not necessary to discuss these heavily biased interpretations to arrive at some consensus. Leaving out all the sentiments, we can take the bare bone meaning of the word for our purpose. So how can we describe spirituality in its purest sense?  Very basically it may be described as “turning towards spirit”. It is more of a “shift in perspective” than anything else.

What is meant by this shift? Generally we function in this world by keeping the point of self reference as our body. In other words, the locus of our self existence is the body/mind complex. With respect to this reference our senses and mind are turned outward. All our interests are there in the external physical world in which we live and interact. Our goals, success and happiness depend on how well we play our role in the real life drama that goes on out there.

By being spiritual what is intended is to reverse the out going tendencies and to explore the world within. This world within is very subtle but more intense as far as our existential reality is concerned. For example, if you analyze properly, you will notice that your identity as “YOU” is emphasized more by your mental images (names, feelings, relationships etc.) than your physical form. Similarly, if you take a good step further in, you will come to know that your subtle inner being is the base on which your individuality with a name and form is erected. That inner being is the source of your individuality. There is a gradual growth of subtlety when you tread the path from physical body to the inner being. By shifting the point of self reference from the body/mind complex to that inner being, there will be a total transformation in your relating yourself with the world. We will discuss more about this relationship later as our intention right now is just to see what is meant by the “shift”. 

Thus, spirituality is essentially a journey towards the ultimate source of our beingness. That primordial source is called “Spirit”, “Self”, “Atman” etc. This definition may seem purely contextual and not tallying with some well known theories. But we will see, ultimately they all point to the same destination though differ in descriptions superficially.

Spirituality thus defined, we can take up the questions now.

If spirituality is “a journey towards the Self” in what way it can help me in my practical life? What will happen if I don’t care for this spiritual business? Is it really necessary to be spiritual to live a successful and happy life?

Before answering these questions we have to have a clear idea as to what a successful life is. We have to understand the actual goal of our life so that we can relate how spirituality can help us achieve that.

So, what do you think, is the purpose of your activities in life as an individual? What are you striving to achieve in your day-to-day living? Why do you have to take all the troubles? Why do you undergo all the suffering? You will definitely have many good answers. The list will include the immediate responses like - to become rich, influential, powerful, famous, loved, respected, healthy, creative etc. etc. 

But tell me, why do you want to become all these? Why can’t you just be what you are right now? Why all the struggle to “become” something else? Have you ever thought about it?

The simple reason is that your present state of existence is not a state of perfect happiness and contentment. You feel a lack of fulfillment somewhere hence the urge to “become”. And that’s why you think if you become wealthy you will be fulfilled to some extent and be happy. If you become influential you will be happy. If you are loved by the people you care, you will be happy.  It is not hard to see that any goal that you want to achieve in your life has a common primary target beneath it.  Happiness!

Generalizing on this, we can observe that the fundamental yearning of any living being is for pure happiness unstained by sorrow. Anything and everything that you do in your life is just for this one purpose – to be happy.  Basically all your actions are intended to either give you happiness or to remove sorrow.  And all your desires and fears are born and brought up to achieve this one and only goal – fulfillment, another name for happiness.

Side by side, if you analyze the ultimate goals projected by various religions, you will invariably find that they all are pointing to nothing else but perfect and permanent happiness. That’s how the concepts like heaven, paradise, nirvana, liberation come into picture. They all in one way or the other represent eternal happiness. Thus we can see that various spiritual paths promise us nothing else but a state of  happiness untouched by any sort of suffering.

So in all respect - practically, theoretically or theologically – we can say that our ultimate craving is  to find perfect and permanent happiness. All our activities – be it religious or mundane – are aimed to achieve the same in one way or the other.

If that is the case, we have to introduce this finding into our original question on ‘spirituality in practical life’ to rephrase it more specific as “how can spirituality help me find happiness in my practical life?” This way, we must be hitting the target a little more closer.

Since we have taken up happiness as an important aspect in this discussion, it becomes necessary to describe it clearly to have a common understanding the same way we did for the term spirituality. So let us see what happiness is and what is its nature before proceeding further.  (in the next post)