Man is a spark of God and his soul is a shard of the Great Light. The Soul passes through countless life forms in the Universe and finally when it wishes to merge with God, it assumes the human form on Earth. The human form is equipped with intelligence and facilities for the return journey of the Soul to God. All other life forms on earth live by instinct and their base natures. Only man is given the capacity to rise beyond the form, to reach and merge with the Origin of the Universe.
When we live our lives on earth, we undergo various emotions repeatedly - desires, fulfilment, yearning, pain, joy and sorrow. We accept that these experiences are a part of our day to day existence. Yet there is something within us which pushes us to reach for higher levels of existence where there is no pain or sorrow and there is unending bliss. Bliss is an intrinsic part of our nature and soul. The Nature of our Soul is bliss. We do not realise that we reach out for this state as it is our nature to be blissful. Sorrow is not a part of our Soul. Sorrow comes as part of living in material world and seeking our joys and fulfilment in material things and not in the eternal light which abides in us.
We walk the spiritual path in order to free ourselves from sorrow and vices which afflict our lives. We seek to get knowledge and wisdom by which we rise above the duality of life – pleasure and pain and live in the inner joy and bliss. Bliss is the reality of our existence. Knowledge of Self or knowledge of Soul gives bliss and both are interdependent. We suffer in life as we have imperfect knowledge of the Soul and the reality around us and our bodies and span of years in body are limited. These cause great unhappiness as we do not know what happens to us after death nor do we know how to live our lives in peace and happiness. The knowledge that there are ways of attaining our original state of nature –bliss – gives us great peace of mind and we are ready to face the journey on the spiritual path.
The Guru teaches us the practices of the path and gives us knowledge. He teaches us how to free the mind from the shackles of material world. Meditation on divine name or divine form is one of the means by which we separate the mind from the external data of senses which pours into us with tremendous force at all times. When the knowledge of Soul is acquired, the mind is freed from the senses and their impact on the mind and our lives. This allows the radiance of bliss shine within us.
We tend to approach the path of spirituality the same way we study a course in mathematics or sciences – with logic and intelligence. This approach does not work as Divinity is beyond the senses, logic or intelligence. It is essential to have the guidance and help of a Master or Guru who knows the path to Divinity and has walked the path successfully. Such a Guru can guide us successfully. We have to implicitly follow his teachings and the practices and then Grace works to help us overcome hurdles and fill up the gaps in knowledge and experience.
Many fear walking the spiritual path as they feel that they will lose out all sensory activities and enjoyments of the world. It is not so. Knowledge of the soul and living in bliss enables us to live in this world with greater peace and harmony and we are able to function and do our duties more effectively than before. The senses are keener and sharper than before and the enjoyment is to the fullest. The great difference is there is no yearning and attachment for the sensory joys. We are able to take them as they come and let them go when they go. So we enjoy without the resulting pain of attachment and sorrow when it is over.
We should do our SitaRam Mantra Japa and meditation daily and in a disciplined manner so that we can live our life of bliss. In the initial states we feel bliss for a short time during the practices. With practice or abhyasa, we are able to live in peace and bliss at all times.
