Spirituality

Dear sisters and brothers, you are all seekers and I am also a seeker. We are all seekers of the transcendental Truth and Light. We practise spirituality according to our inner capacity and inner receptivity. Each individual knows what spirituality is. Each individual can say something about spirituality according to his own personal experiences. Such being the case, I wish to share with you my personal experiences with regard to spirituality. People have many different opinions with regard to real spiritual life. I do not want to say what others think of the spiritual life. I wish to share with you my experiences in the spiritual life.

To start with, spirituality is not austerity. Spirituality is not aloofness. Spirituality is not indifference. A life of austerity God can never appreciate. God is all Love, all Compassion, all Sympathy, all Concern. He does not want the seeker to lead an austere life in order to please Him. A seeker who denies himself food, sleep and so forth is leading an unnatural life. Spirituality is natural, spirituality is normal, just as God is natural and normal.

Aloofness can never be the mark of spirituality. A sincere seeker can never be aloof. He has to discover the presence of God inside every human being. He has to live in the world with his friends, relatives and acquaintances and find spirituality in the world.

Indifference can never be the qualification of a seeker. His life's indifference takes him away from his true reality-existence. God is at once the Creator and the creation. If a seeker shows indifference to the world at large, then he can make no spiritual progress, for he is rejecting God the creation. The genuine seeker has to establish his oneness-life with all human beings, for this is real spirituality.

Spirituality is simplicity, sincerity, purity and humility. A simple life helps the seeker grow. A sincere life helps the seeker fly and dive. A pure life helps the seeker become one with God's Vision and God's transcendental Reality. A humble life helps the seeker embrace the length and breadth of the entire world.

True spirituality starts with love, divine love. The seeker loves God the Creator and God the creation. The seeker also loves himself. If he does not love himself, if he is critical and hyper-critical of himself, then he will not be able to make constant progress. Here we have to know that his love for himself is not a conscious aggrandisement of his ego. No, he loves himself because he sees the presence of God within himself and because he sees himself as an instrument of God.

The seeker realises that there are two beings inside him. He himself is one being and inside him is another being. Again, the same seeker, when he loves himself, sees that there is only one being within and without; he is both. When he lives in the inner world, he is a flood of poise and tranquillity. When he lives in the outer world, he is the ever-glowing life, the energising life, the fulfilling life-cry.

Spirituality is not impatient. The seeker has to know that he cannot realise the transcendental Truth overnight. There is no short cut. It takes time and it demands constant effort. The seeker walks along Eternity's road and, when he reaches his destination, he finds that it is now only his starting point. Each time he reaches his destination, that destination becomes the starting point for a higher destination.

When we follow the spiritual life, we dedicate ourselves to a divine cause, the supreme Cause. It is not possible by hook or by crook to realise the sublime Truth, but only by constant self-giving. We realise the Real in us, the transcendental Truth in us only through self-giving. At that time we swim in the ocean of Love, the ocean of Light and Delight.

Each seeker is destined to reach the Goal, the Goal of the ever-transcending Beyond. Each seeker has an hour of his own, which we call God's Hour, God's Choice Hour. At God's Choice Hour, each seeker becomes a conscious instrument of God. He becomes inseparably one with God's transcendental Vision and universal Reality. The seeker prays, he meditates, he aspires; aspiration is his prayer, aspiration is his meditation. When he aspires through his prayer, he elevates his consciousness high, higher, highest to the transcendental height of Reality. When he aspires in and through his meditation, he brings down the high, higher, highest Reality for manifestation here on earth. Prayer, soulful prayer, reaches the highest Height; and fruitful meditation brings the highest Height here to earth.

Each seeker is God's choice instrument. Each seeker is God-preparation growing into God-satisfaction. While playing the role of God-preparation, he enjoys the divine fulfilment of God's Will in and through him. While playing the role of God-satisfaction, he reveals and manifests God-perfection divinely and supremely.

Brougham Place Congregational Church Adelaide, Australia 11 March 1976