Spirituality is
a science of experience. Theoretically, one knows that God exists and that the
Self is God, but one has yet to experience it. The only way to get such experiences
is by doing regular and appropriate spiritual practice. Just as God is beyond
the comprehension of our five senses, mind, and intellect, so are the spiritual
experiences given by Him. The sole importance of these experiences is to increase
our faith in God and thus, encourage us to do more spiritual practice.
| |
Experience (Anubhav) |
Spiritual Experience (Anubhuti) |
| What it gives |
Information |
True knowledge
|
| Medium of obtaining it |
Five senses, mind and intellect |
Beyond the five senses, mind, and intellect, i.e., the soul
|
| Result |
Satisfies the intellect |
Increases faith |
| Knowledge retention |
Degenerates with age; Have to learn again in every birth |
Never forgotten; Carried to the next birth |
| Importance for spiritual progress |
2% |
98% |
| Who gets it? |
Jiva |
Jivatma,
Shivatma |
| Example |
Getting the fragrance of incense on lighting an incense stick |
Getting the fragrance of incense even when there is no incense stick lit
around |
The types of spiritual experiences one could get on the spiritual journey, are
as follows:
Jivatma is an individual being who has just started his spiritual practice
and gets spiritual experiences of the following nature:
Gross experiences -
Such as getting a good job, small wishes and desires being fulfilled very effortlessly,
positive change in personality, etc.
Subtle experiences -
Inferior experiences, such as getting fragrance in absence of external stimulus
(this is related to the pruthvi
tattva or the Earth element), receiving an answer
to a question without asking the question, etc. Medium level experiences, such
as seeing a vision (this is related to the tej tattva or the Fire element), or
hearing a subtle sound (this is related to the akash tattva or the Ether element).
Shivatma is an individual being who is in the process of merging with the
God principle. He is one who has had superior spiritual experiences such as attaining
higher siddhis (supernatural powers), anand (bliss), and shanti (serenity).
If one does not get any spiritual experiences after doing spiritual practice
for a reasonable period of time (this may vary from a few weeks to a few months),
it could be because of one of the following reasons:
Insufficient spiritual practice Incorrect spiritual practice The energy generated from the spiritual practice is being used in settling
one’s sanchit (accumulated destiny)
If one has intense faith, there is no need for gross spiritual experiences
Reference: The Sanatan
organization's publication, Vol. 21 - Introduction
to the Science of Spirituality and Individual Spiritual Practice,
Compiled by His Holiness Dr. Jayant
Athavale and Her Holiness Dr. (Mrs.) Kunda Athavale. |
