Posts tagged: spirituality

May 25 2011

Are You Serious About Your Spirituality?

If you are, then don’t be. You’re wasting your time participating in the (usual) second-class entertainment, called spirituality.
Said Nisargadatta Maharaj: “The spirituality that you see around is simply activity, mere entertainment.”
That’s right, all the so-called spiritual activity that you enjoy so much, all these Facebook pages and fans, forum posts and discussions, meetings organized by the gurus, seminars, classes, group meetings, consultations and whatever else excites you, is a pure waste of time. They are all spiritual traps.

Whatever you’ll “gain” by taking part in those activities is valueless and useless; if you truly want to realize your true nature. No amount of money and time spent on following the spiritual circus will move you one inch closer to where you want to get. Going through all the right motions: attending, visiting, spending, loving, sharing, participating, promoting and contributing won’t do you any good. You may as well give it all up, and something decent with your live, like becoming a champion pigeon breeder or an expert in the Etruscan ceramics… Throw your spirituality out of your life! Said Nisargadatta Maharaj: “Later I understood the meaning of spirituality and came to the conclusion that it is as discardable as dishwater.”

spiritual activity

Spiritual activity... for some.

The first sign of success will be when, according to Maharaj: “Once you understand the object of spirituality, you also understand that spirituality is unreal, and in the process you dismiss all this world.”
Yes, what used to be important to you becomes totally unimportant. You become unattached, indifferent to the results that the play of consciousness will bring.
And for those who thing their spirituality thrives on discipline, asceticism, self-denial and harsh rigours, Maharaj offers this advice: “In the name of spirituality many people commit a lot of atrocities on the body, thinking they will get superior knowledge. From where and what? What are they going to gain? This knowledge is provided – ‘I am.’”

Indeed, your only practice should be centred on realizing your “I Amness” and realizing that it belongs to the universal consciousness. This is the Enlightenment that you strive for so much, using all the “advice”, methods, secrets and shortcuts that spiritual markets have on offer.
Get these Maharaj’s words into your heart, and for once become serious about your “spirituality”: “So who is it that needs enlightenment? There is no entity that needs enlightenment. There is no such thing as enlightenment!”
Of course, what is it that you hope to be enlightened? Your body? Your mind? Neither exists! When you discard both of them, you’ll realize that you are THAT already; that you are what you are seeking! This is the knowledge which makes you enlightened, liberated, or self-realized – whatever name resonates with you stronger. Maharaj explained it clearly: “It is only for reasons of communication that we say a person is realized. The knowledge has realized that it is knowledge; that is all that has happened. I am not the body, I am not the words; when knowledge recognizes this it is called Self-Realization.”

And the shortest way to realization that you are THAT is by going within. Yes, instead of going without in search of new gurus, new schools, new ashrams, new mantras, blessings and anointments, go within. Only relentless and uncompromising self-enquiry will deliver that that you are seeking. Stop acquiring new knowledge – it only adds to the burden you already carry, and in the end, you’ll have to discard it all. One hour that you spent on meditation has the potential to deliver what days of hyped seminars and group meetings won’t.
Once you know the main thrust of your guru’s message, it’s up to you to live by it. But in the end, nobody will pull down the screen of illusion blinding you. This is your call. All the power that’s needed resides in your “I Am.”