A Human Birth.....

The birth of a human being is a miracle. It signifies the beginning of a story. A story of love, strength, flaws, wars, agony, joy and so many more things. It is also a sign that the soul inside the body of the new born had done something in it's past life to merit a chance to redeem itself of the vicious circle of birth and death. It is an opportunity to right the wrongs of all its previous births, for only a human has the ability to think for himself and hence has the power of choice, the power of decision. In this Kali-Yuga, the human is expected to lead a spiritual life in order to redeem himself and hence find salvation. For, the ultimate aim of every living being is to attain enlightenment and therefore realize the Parama-Sathya or Ultimate Truth - there is no body, only soul and that soul (Param- Atma) is one and the same as God, the Ultimate Being – Param – Atma. The day he realizes this, he will find liberation from all worldly problems and find himself at peace with, and one with the universe.

A spiritual life does not necessarily mean the life of an ascetic. Unlike in the previous yugas, as explained in the prelude to the Bhagawad Gita by Saint Narada, in the Kali Yuga, man need only be devoted to GOD to redeem himself. Devotion is more than enough to attain salvation and the highest form of devotion is chanting the name of the Almighty. The simplest and yet the highest form of devotion is indeed - JAPA. Chanting the name of the lord continuously with the deepest of concentration that one can muster is the best and easiest way to absolve oneself of all one’s sins and attain enlightenment.

There will, as always, be hurdles in the path that will lead one to the ultimate goal. But these goals are not to deter one rather to toughen oneself. The hurdles must be looked upon as learning experiences and strength must be drawn from the experiences that one obtains through ones travails. This and only this will serve to make one worthy of enlightenment. Clarity of thought, Serenity and Concentration alone can take one to the heights of self realization. For, without self realization there is no redemption.

A few thougts about Spirituality.....

Spirituality is not the effect and result of faith, belief and perseverance rather it is something that every human being is born with. Each human being is born into this world with a clean slate. He does not know any thing good or bad. And it is the environment in which the child grows that determines what kind of personality he begets. No child is born evil, neither is it born good.

It is man’s misconception that a baby is born good just because it is not evil. The child assimilates its surroundings and that translates into the child’s conceptions of good and bad. Here begins the child’s journey of morality and hence spirituality. But it is next to impossible that the child will not come across what every human being comes across in his life. And that may include good and bad experiences.

It is the values that have been instilled in him and the strength and conviction with which he holds and practices those values which will decide the road he will travel. If those values are strong enough he will learn from his mistakes and also learn not to make those mistakes again, also he will learn from his experiences and take them positively and use his experience to his benefit. If otherwise then he will turn into a man who has lost all morality and ability to see light in life.

Spirituality is the lamp that lights our way back to our father in heaven. Spirituality is the light at the end of the tunnel, the long tunnel that we all must walk through in order for us to get to our real destination. And those who tire of keeping to the straight narrow path that will lead us to it will stray away and end up in places that they didn’t necessarily want to end up in, places that aren’t our real destination.

Spirituality is like a locker, an electronic safe if you will. Just as a locker holds inside it something precious, which will be revealed only if you open it, so too spirituality holds inside it a very great treasure. And just like the locker is very tough to open so too spirituality does not open easily. It will take a lot of hard work to obtain the treasure that spirituality has to offer. And the treasure is nothing but the deliverance of our souls from this monotonous cycle of birth and death.