Here is an article that I had written, an abridged version of which appeared
in The Speaking Tree Edition of The Times of India dated August 3, 2014.
Most of us who are on the spiritual path would have encountered the
terms spiritual ego, spiritual competition and spiritual shopping. When I
became conscious of my path, I was warned of these concepts also. But I was
sure that these things won't happen to me, or so I thought, this path was
supposed to be full of compassion, healing, love, peace and happiness. I
thought competition was a part of the corporate life which I had left behind a
few years ago.
But as I trod along the path, these terms began making an
appearance, albeit slowly. As people around you come to know of your spiritual
interests, conversations naturally tend to steer toward it. You will be asked
with anxiety, whether you practice reiki daily? How long do you meditate daily?
Have you read a book of this particular author? How many spiritual workshops
have you attended? Do you know pranic healing, tarot cards, angel cards, etc.?
Are you part of any spiritual organization? You will be given unsolicited gyan
on what a particular guru or teacher says and if you tend to disagree with
that, then Lord only spare you!!
All this can sometimes cause a lot of energy imbalance and anxiety
inside you. One needs to remember that at a deeper level this is a very
personal journey and that it needs to be respected for what it is. There are
many paths which lead to the same Source and to assume that yours’ is the only
path is a serious disservice to someone else’s journey.
My conscious journey started after the sudden and tragic death of
my parents in an accident when I had just been blessed with a lovely baby. This
was the first time aspects of duality- death and birth, anger and gratitude,
darkness and light were staring at me right at my face. This made me question
every concept I knew or was conditioned to believe about life and death. My
relationship with the Universe had got distorted and it had been of anger yet
of thankfulness. And this confused state of mind was affecting my daily life.
And I realised that to be a better person, I have to heal myself completely at
a soul level.
Clarifying my purpose helped me to get back to the place of
unconditional love and compassion once again.
We all got attracted to our own spiritual path in this lifetime for
a particular reason. The reasons could be various for each one of us such as
needing to manage our daily stress, loss of purpose in life in general, relationship
issues, a need to heal some disease, a loss of loved one and so on. If we are
clear about our purpose of getting on this journey, then it helps us stay true
to it. Monitoring our improvements on this front helps us increase our self-confidence
and thus reduces our inner anxieties to keep cross checking our efforts with
others. As Thich Nhat Hanh said “There is no enlightenment outside of daily
life”. If your practice is helping you in your daily life to become a better
person, improving your relationship with your loved ones, healing you, giving
you inner strength, then how does it matter how many hours your neighbour is
meditating or how many workshops he is attending?
To me, a spiritual journey is an inner experiential journey of
self-actualization. It is about discovering the divine place within you and not
outside of you. It is futile to judge others and draw comparisons on this path.
It is about listening to our inner voice who has been our eternal companion in
our journey and guides us towards finally uniting with our true being, provided
we listen to it!
