Spirituality and its importance in human life

Normally in the present times a human being experiences happiness 25% of time and unhappiness 75% of time. Everyone constantly struggles for gaining maximum happiness by any means. With this motive, everyone tries to find happiness through their five senses, mind, and intellect, though it is temporary and inferior in nature. On the contrary, inner happiness i.e. bliss is permanent and of supreme quality. Spirituality is the means of acquiring bliss.

Despite spirituality being of so much importance, sad part is that very few people turn towards spirituality, a subject which bestows supreme bliss and omniscience. When it is understood that supreme bliss is infinite times greater than the happiness acquired through the five senses, mind, and intellect, anyone would strive to acquire bliss as compared to acquiring happiness. This article has been prepared with the objective that such efforts are indeed undertaken !

To understand the importance of spirituality in human life, one should first understand the goal of human life and other aspects of human life.

1. Goal of human life – attaining everlasting and supreme bliss

All living beings, from an ant to a human being, all work tirelessly to gain supreme happiness, but the way to gain this supreme and everlasting happiness is not taught to us in schools or colleges. Everlasting and supreme happiness is called bliss. Bliss can be achieved only through spirituality.

Western science is indulged in making human life more and more happy. However, due to this the human beings are getting distanced from God or everlasting happiness. – H. H. Dr. Athavale.

2. Reasons for happiness and unhappiness

Reasons behind happiness and unhappiness are physical, psychological or spiritual. Some examples of unhappiness are given below :

A. Physical : Physical disease causes physical sorrow to our body.

B. Psychological :  When somebody cheats us or insults us we feel bad. This is psychological unhappiness.

C. Spiritual : When an individual tries hard to achieve something but continuously faces failure, e.g. repeated failure in exams, failure in getting married, etc.,such incidents bring sorrow in our life which is spiritual in nature.

Reasons of happiness are also physical, psychological or spiritual in nature, however no one usually mulls over them, because there is no need to think about them !

3. How should one recognize through intellect that the reason behind unhappiness is beyond intellect i.e. spiritual in nature?

If one of the below points are applicable then the reason for unhappiness is most probably spiritual in nature :

A. Despite multiple genuine attempts, one does not get success as expected.

B. Many members of a family facing spiritual distress, e.g. One of the sons in a family was mentally ill, second son got separated from his wife on the tenth day after their marriage, third son left education half-way through and despite being beautiful, highly educated and earning good salary, there were difficulties in getting the daughter married. The parents were mentally stressed due to these things. In short, all members of the were in sorrow. In such situation, most probably the distress is caused by the dissatisfied souls of departed ancestors.

4. Importance of spirituality

From all the above discussion, it would have been noticed that the subject of spirituality is useful for everyone in relation to both worldly and / or spiritual aspects. Details of usefulness are as follows :

4A. Subject bestowing everlasting and supreme bliss

Every living being from the subtlest insect to the more evolved human being, wishes to acquire supreme quality of happiness continuously and constantly. Every moment he makes attempts to acquire it. The science of spirituality is the only science which teaches us how to obtain everlasting supreme happiness (which is also known as bliss).

4B. Subject bestowing omniscience

There being innumerable subjects in the universe, studying even for several births will prove insufficient to become proficient in all of them. To merge into the omniscient God, one must become omniscient. However, God has made this easy by providing us with the subject of spirituality. This is the only subject in which if one becomes omniscient, one becomes knowledgeable in other subjects too. This is because, finally all subjects have originated from spirituality.

4C. A chance for an individual to free himself from the cycle of birth and death

Humans are born again and again for two reasons. The first, that is 65%, to complete their destiny by enduring it and the second, that is 35%, to make spiritual progress so as to acquire bliss. Both these causes are related to Spirituality.

4D. Beneficial for spiritual practice performed with expectations as well as without expectations

A famous Saint from Maharashtra, Saint Tukaram Maharaj had perfectly said, ‘Sorrow is like a mountain whereas happiness is like a barley seed’, and most people have experienced this. In general, the life of a human being has on average 25% happiness and 75% unhappiness. Most of us do not know how to gain happiness hence everyone tries to find happiness as well as avoid suffering through their five senses, mind, and intellect; though it is temporary, e.g. eating his/her favorite dish, and avoiding sorrow at the same time. A person opts to take medicines to combat disease, repair a television set etc. to avoid sorrow. Briefly, in the case of the 2 types of diseases mentioned below, spiritual remedies (e.g. chanting) are important.

1. Humans cannot do anything to get rid of oldness, critical incurable disease, and death. In such situation, spiritual remedies can act as a philosopher and thereby a cure for one’s despair.

2. In mental illness such as futile obsessions, to ensure that the patient’s mind is engaged.

4E. As a cure for 80% of the problems faced in one’s life

Around 20% of problems in an individual’s life are caused due to physical or psychological factors, 30% of problems are caused due to physical or psychological factors along with a spiritual cause and remaining 50% of problems are caused only due to spiritual factors. This means that 80% of the problems in one’s life can be solved by spiritual practice, or we get the strength to bear our destiny through spiritual practice.

4F. Beneficial for both – those wanting materialistic gains and those desirous of spiritual upliftment

There is no certainty in human life, there are troubles at every step. On the contrary, there is a certainty of acquiring bliss in spirituality. A great Saint, Brahmachaitanya Gondavlekar Maharaj has said, “If your spiritual practice is only for your physical body and for keeping it happy and healthy, then it is equivalent to giving away our own Kamdhenu (Wish fulfilling cow) in exchange for a donkey.” Spirituality is beneficial for both those desirous of materialistic gains and for those desirous of spiritual upliftment.

1. Those desirous of materialistic gains

By performing spiritual practice with expectations, they gain happiness as well as their sorrow reduces.

2. Those desirous of spiritual upliftment

By performing spiritual practice without expectations, they experience bliss as well as they experience reduction in their worldly sorrow.

Spirituality is not a subject to understand just at a theoretical level, it is a science of putting into practice what we have learnt and gaining spiritual experiences from it. We pray unto the holy feet of ShriGuru that after reading this article, let at least few people start their spiritual practice and by the virtue of their spiritual practice, let the flow of bliss get initiated in their inner self !

Reference : Sanatan’s holy text ‘Introduction to Spirituality’