Yes, decided to express my views on ‘MY PATH TO
SPIRITUALITY’. Whatever I am putting
here is all from my personal experiences.
Three years back I was a person who did not know ‘S’ of
Spirituality. My life was engrossed in a race of collecting materialistic
things and I perceived collecting gadgets, clothes, jewelry, shoes, bags,
partying & eating out, etc were the source of happiness. In pursuit of this
superficial happiness, I put my body, brain, and soul into undue stress. Working
9-6 then partying and waiting for weekends was my way of life until I, fortunately, bumped into Bihar School of Yoga through my cousin. Probably, some
Karma of my previous birth brought me on this beautiful path which has brought
so much of meaning in my life.
Got intensely connected to Bihar School of Yoga, Munger,
which has been working on promoting and developing the real meaning of Yoga
(Here, I am not referring Yoga as asana but Yoga as a way of life, a lifestyle
as learned in Bihar School of Yoga which made huge sense as I went deeper) which
I have started strongly believing is needed by each and every individual if we
want to become a good human being.
There are many many things which life teaches over a period
of time and yes spirituality teaches to discover oneself but my path to
Spirituality also taught me:
Start living for others: This is such a joyous path and so
tough to express. At every moment in life when we start thinking about others
first, it automatically gives such a sense of satisfaction. Trust me, this need
to be experienced from within. All our life we have thought about ourselves why
not think about others and do whatever we can even if at times we need to go
out of the way. Swami Sivananda Saraswati is a great example of this. He, in fact, says, when we buy anything we should buy the same thing for someone who is needy. Well, I am yet to reach this level in everything I buy. And trust me, the moment we boast about it, it
all goes in vain.
Living Simply: Just for an example, it feels so good when
every month, I open my cupboard, take out clothes and give away to the needy.
Emptying my cupboard also brings lightness to my mind. Just for more
understanding, ‘Aparigraha’ is one of the Niyama by Sage Patanjali.
Finding good in every individual: We all know each one of us
has a positive quality and a negative quality. Most of the time we end up
looking at a negative quality in the person but with every negative quality,
there is a positive quality associated. So, after understanding Pratipaksha
Bhavana from Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati of Bihar School of Yoga (Countering
positive for a negative) moment we look at a positive quality in the person
when we are hit with a negative, it brings lightness in us.
Right Intent: Most important, any activity we carry out has
to be done with the right intent and not with any motive hidden. If any personal
motive is hidden we might succeed for some time but then downfall is there for
sure.
Shedding Expectations: This I realized is another big secret
of happiness in life. The root cause of most of the distress in our lives is
that we have high expectations from others be it our spouse, parents, parents
in law, friends, kids, relatives, and even service providers. When this
expectation is not met it leads to distress and anxiety in our minds. When we
start expecting nothing then whatever we receive sounds like a bonus and the
mind then becomes happy and cheerful.
Balance of Mind: This sounds simple but is one of the most
difficult tasks to achieve. Balance here means we look at any activity in life
from both aspects of good and bad and do not let our preconceived notions or
emotions drive our decisions. It’s a unique blend of logic and emotions working
in tandem to drive the best outcome from the decisions we take. Meditation for a few minutes daily morning helped me a lot in achieving this state of mind.
By
Ekta Sareen
Bangalore, India
All this brings smile, happiness, balance of mind, gives
immense strength and peace and eventually good Karma pays off.
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