Life is a spiritual journey. Just about everyone you ask would accept this as being
a truthful statement. The significance of the spiritual journey however is rarely
understood, leading many people to undervalue it and therefore invest little time in
its development.
Is being aware of your spiritual journey important? Or can it, whatever it is, simply
take care of itself in its own good time? After all, there are many things on a daily
basis that demand your attention – from raising a family, to getting and maintaining
a good job, to just about every other little detail that has to be taken care in the
hope of an enjoyable, comfortable and successful life …
There are, however, many spiritual journey quotes that can be found in the timeless
writings of Indian scriptures like the Vedas, the Gita and Ramayan that stress it
is essential for you to not only be consciously aware of your spiritual journey at
every moment, but also to take great care to deepen your understanding of its
significance.
Why is this so? To help you understand, let me ask you a question, ‘Did you forget
to eat today?’. The answer is an emphatic ‘no’. You may have been too busy to eat,
but you never forget. The reason is because we all know the importance of eating,
and our bodies will quickly remind us if we do not. Now let me ask you another
question, ‘Did you remember to nurture your spiritual nature today?’. Many will
answer in the negative because they can see no reason to. They do not think there
is anything to be gained from doing so.
The Yogis, Saints and Sages of India inform us that fear, loneliness, angry, greed,
jealousy, misery … all of these emotions and feelings stem precisely from the fact
that we are strangers to our own ‘self’. By ‘self’ they are not referring to our body or
our mind, but to the spiritual energy within us that gives consciousness to our entire
body, the power that enables our eyes to see and our ears to hear etc. This power
is call the ‘chit shakti’, the conscious-giving-power that is commonly called the
soul. All feelings of suffering, discomfort and fear etc. arise because we are solely
absorbed in bodily consciousness, ignoring our spiritual nature.
My spiritual journey began when I acknowledged the fact that I had no idea of who
I was, where I came from, why I was here, and where I was going. In time I came
to understand that I was not the body but the soul, and that it is being aware of the
soul and all that it signifies that constitutes the true spiritual journey definition.
Some people believe that it is aging as a spiritual journey that evolves us. That
whatever we do, as we age we are evolving and maturing spiritually. This is also
a misconception because there is ample evidence to show that many in their old
age become more and more bitter and angry, even right up to the time of death.
Can we say they are evolving spiritually as they age? No. Unless the effort is made
consciously to improve one’s self spiritually, it will not automatically happen.
I often put the words – spiritual journey india – together because to me it is from
this country, more than from any other in the world, that has produced so many
men and women, who have dedicated themselves to spiritual excellence and self-
realisation. From them, and from their scriptural writing, have been left footsteps in
the sands of time that we can all follow to the betterment of ourselves.
