WHO IS GOD?
We are talking about the greatest of mysteries when we attempt to speak of God; mystery that which is partly revealed and partly veiled—is an affair of the heart.
We come to know God the same way, we come to know love. Though we have never seen love, we know with certainty that love exists, because we have experienced it. God can best be known through experience—perhaps a moment of deep silence, an unexpected feeling of peace, a sense of an unseen presence...
The limitations of language become very evident when we talk about our relationship to God. The word relationship implies—two separate entities have become linked in some way. Instead if we say that we are always connected to God, again there is a problem with regard to language. Connection also implies that two entities, which were once separate and now have been brought together. This is not so. There is no possibility of existing separately from God.
What happens when we perceive separation from God or from other people— we fall into an us-them mentality? First, division comes. When there is division, fear comes. In Sanskrit, perhaps the oldest language of the world, the word used for fear means ‘two’. In reality, there is no ‘two’. Separation does not exist. You cannot separate God from any of God’s creation. Separation is an illusion created in the mind. When you recognize that you and God are one; all of God’s creation is one whole—fear vanishes.
WHAT IS SPIRIT?
When you feel very happy, have you noticed that something in you expands? When you are upset or angry or sad, have you noticed a feeling of contraction? Something in you shrinks? What is this something that feels as if it is expanding or contracting? It is the spirit. When you feel expansive and happy, when you feel energetic, that is the spirit. When you feel down and your energy drops, you are not experiencing the spirit.
There are certain qualities that are associated with spirit. We can call them spiritual values. Here is a short list:
We all carry these qualities within us. They only need to be skillfully kindled. Just by paying your attention on them with sincerity and without being hard on yourself, you will enhance them in your life and in the lives of others. There is no lack of love, no lack of anything, whatsoever in you.
According to an ancient story, there was a beggar who sat every day on a particular spot. When he died, the people in his village said that he had spoiled the piece of land where he sat every day. “Let us dig out the mud from here and throw it away,” they said. When they broke down his small hut and started digging where he used to sit, they found a box full of treasure. The poor beggar spent his whole life in poverty, if he had dug down just a little bit, he could have been a wealthy man.
Each one of us has come into this world to contribute, to express love, joy and peace, that we are, but we can remain unaware of our wealth for whole lifetime. Count yourself fortunate if you have awakened to the reality of who you are.
WHAT YOU CAN DO How to get back to your Self? Wanting to get back— having a passion to get back—is the first step, the first qualification. When you close your outside door, an inner door opens. When you keep thinking about people, situations and the circumstances of your life, you will be completely lost in that. Just for a little while, shut that outside door. Don’t think, “This person is bad, that person said something unkind.” In this you are lost. When you shut the door to these things, an inner door opens and one day there will be only love. That’s all. Innocence, goodness and love.
WHAT MORE YOU CAN DO Which of the spiritual values that were listed earlier are important to you? Is there any value on the list that surprises you—something that you wouldn’t have thought of as spiritual? Would you add anything? Make your own list by circling qualities that you would like to increase in your life and in the world. Add qualities that you observe in others and yourself, which you value. You might want to choose one quality from your personal list and focus on expressing that in your life for sometime. Be sincere. Let what you do or say come from your heart. Then take note of how you feel when you have expressed yourself in this way. Also notice—how the people around you respond.
These spiritual values are common to all major cultures and religious traditions, and to all people. Spirituality is a way of life based on these common values. To see the distinction between religion and spirituality, we can think of a banana. Religion is the banana skin; it gives us outer rituals and codes of conduct—a way of life. Spirituality is the banana, the quest for the source of life—going back to the source and knowing deep within us we are part of Divinity. Sometimes people mistakenly hold on to the skin and throw away the banana.
When this distinction between religion and spirituality becomes clear, the journey to the source begins. Then we become united to that principle that has enormous intelligence and orderliness, and lies beneath all existence, beneath every happening. All wealth lies within. Remember, there is no lack of love in you, no lack of anything whatsoever.
As we live the values of spirit—as we take responsibility, act with generosity and find our own peace—life attains its richest form. Without these values, life becomes shallow and we are dependent and unhappy.
Just as the nature of fire is to burn and the nature of water to flow; it is the nature of spirit to uphold and sustain life. When you pay attention to the spiritual values, when you bring them more fully into your life—you become solid and strong. You feel connected to all other human beings.
WHAT IS THE JOURNEY?
The spiritual journey is a homecoming; a journey to a centre space within you where love, joy and peace abide. Truth is often paradoxical: you are coming back to a home which you never left. It has always been a part of you, but you may have been unaware of this aspect of yourself or felt separated from it.
Your journey is for you and about you. It is unfolding right now—wherever you are and however this moment may be. The goal of the journey is to experience the love that you are and to express that love in the world.
As you bring the love, happiness and peace—that is your nature—more fully into your life (in ways we will talk about in the pages ahead) you will benefit yourself, people around you, people you don’t know and may never meet. And the benefit will come back to you.
Every action that you take, comes back to you. This is the law of karma. If you do something harmful, it comes back to you. If you do something beneficial, that merit comes back to you.
It is one thing to know—who you are, to have an intellectual understanding of your true nature. It is another to experience that abiding love, happiness and peace. For this, you need to understand the ways you may be robbing yourself of that experience.
Here, we will look into the nature of the mind and its habit of leaving the present moment, and all the potential it holds to dwell in the past that cannot be changed or to worry about the future that may not be as you now fear it might be.
We will see that when we are caught up in wanting what we do not have or in worrying about losing something we have, we become anxious, fearful and miss the joy available to us in this moment.
We will see how we postpone being happy by looking for some anticipated future event—a promotion, a home, a marriage, a child—to make us happy.
We will learn how to handle the negative thoughts and emotions that bring us down.
We will find that when