We have to find out as to what spirituality is and what it is not. Spirituality is not an enigma as it is often made out to be. In fact, it was debarred from a large part of the Eastern society projecting a mystic image beyond the comprehension of an ordinary mind. It is time to demystify it and make it a part of daily life not just of a select few but of all those, who make a little effort in this field.
To begin with, it may sound quixotic to state that modern life should be lived in the ancient style in order to attain happiness. It is nonetheless true that modern life is not complete and fulfilling without a tinge of ancient values. Spirituality that is couched in Gyana yoga can help us attain the sweet amalgam of these two approaches to life.
There is no doubt that the primary concern of man is to take care of his basic needs for physical survival. Without meeting the basic material needs, it is useless to talk about the spiritual world.
Human life is a consciously felt living. Animal life is solely dictated by natural instincts. But human life is lived with an awareness of living within and beyond the natural instincts. In other words, human beings follow natural callings like eating, sleeping, and fornicating as all animals do. But beyond it, they are consciously trying to make it meaningful and get a sense of fulfillment.
There is no doubt that the primary concern of man is to take care of his basic needs for physical survival. Without meeting the basic material needs, it is useless to talk about the spiritual world.
Spirituality is, of course, special and complement to physical life. Its absence becomes more pronounced than its presence. The importance of its absence is felt more manifestly in evil acts of the man than its presence is appreciated in good works. It is important both in poverty and richness but it is comparatively more essential to the rich for a balanced approach to life.
The primary needs of a man like food, shelter, education, health, and employment must, therefore, be addressed under all kinds of social order. Beyond it, there is greed and there is no limit to it. Modern life is known for unlimited greed.
Poverty creates miseries in life but richness can stimulate personal vices and mental problems. Spirituality is more effective in balancing a rich man’s life than that of a poor as the poor ones are occupied in making both ends meet.
Let us consider spirituality as understood in Gyana yoga in a broader context. In this connection, Mahatma Gandhi said, “The earth has enough to fulfill man’s needs but it cannot meet his greed.”
The primary needs of a man like food, shelter, education, health, and employment must, therefore, be addressed under all kinds of social order. Beyond it, there is greed and there is no limit to it. Modern life is known for unlimited greed.
For those who are in materialistic competition, spirituality can play a big role in rationalizing their needs and preventing them from going into unlimited greed.
It is the ancient values that can help them emulate it. That is one reason why we need to develop a composite lifestyle of assimilating materialism and spirituality, a mixture of ancient and modern values.
We have seen how the sense of insecurity foments wars, conflicts, and devastations at the cost of human necessities of food, water, shelter, education, and health. Spirituality is a force to turn the whole process of life around for peace and happiness.
A balanced life can further be explained in terms of two aspects of humanism — one is physical fulfillment and another spiritual attainment. Without the first, humans cannot survive. Without the second, they cannot be happy.
The materialistic pursuit invariably leads to unrestrained desires of possessiveness like amassing wealth. Amassing wealth is replete with many problems and gets interlinked with issues like security — individual, social and national — and further interwoven with owning destructive weapons like the atom bomb.
We have seen how the sense of insecurity foments wars, conflicts, and devastations at the cost of human necessities of food, water, shelter, education, and health. Spirituality is a force to turn the whole process of life around for peace and happiness.
The second part pertains to internal conditionality. It is related to spirituality interspersed with ethical values and harmonious coexistence of different philosophies.
When one learns to look within, one learns how to win over hatred, wrath, greed and such other evil emotions. One also experiences an inner calm and enhanced sense of tolerance. The Eastern society devoted a lot of time in developing the philosophy of spirituality in which Western civilization is found to be lagging behind.
However, the Western society emphasized the philosophy of external conquest over nature and space that helped it to rule over the world for many centuries and command a higher standard of life.
It is not a question of who did better and who did worse. It is a question of combining the best of both civilizations for human welfare. That is the call of a new age.
In a diverse and complex world of the 21st century, it is necessary to hold a composite concept of materialism and spirituality to attain a balanced life. It can be held as a millennium philosophy for peace, prosperity, and happiness.
To understand spirituality in a simple manner, Ajay Shukla says, “The philosophical or spiritual way of thinking is nothing else but keeping a total picture in mind, so that the individual fragments of the total picture do not delude us. Spirituality is an attitude of looking at things, events, and our own position, with a long-term perspective within the total framework of the working of the system of the universe.
“Whereas the body, the intellect, and the emotions are based on the mechanism of the survival instincts, it is spirituality, the unique faculty of mankind, which is above any fear of survival. The spiritual man is one who has conquered fear. The spiritual man understands and accepts the inevitable, and tries to find joy in the system over which he has little control. Thereby, he uplifts himself.”
In a diverse and complex world of the 21st century, it is necessary to hold a composite concept of materialism and spirituality to attain a balanced life. It can be held as a millennium philosophy for peace, prosperity, and happiness.
We can resolve the conflicts and conflagrations gripping the modern world with the ancient wisdom and prescriptions thereof. Materialistic development, therefore, has to go hand-in-hand with spiritual development.
In other words, one has to look out (in consonance of Western mindset) for the fulfillment of physical needs. It is a process of material achievement that is visible in individual and national ambitions. In the meanwhile, one has to look into oneself (in accordance with Eastern mindset) as a concomitant process of introspection, spiritual understanding and realization.
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