The great teachers and Gurus always emphasize practice of spiritual truths and not just preaching. Unless one practices the truths and experiences them, there will be no power in the words or speech. Unless a man speaks with conviction of experience and knowledge of the truth, his words are hollow and will hold no sway. It is very easy to find out the persons who simply talk with eloquence and those who speak with conviction of regular spiritual practice. There is strength, confidence, assurance, sincerity and fervor when one speaks with the reality of experience.
Besides the path of spirituality, even at home or work place, the principle of “practice what you preach” is extremely valid. Ask any parent. He will say with a wry smile that every child knows when to point out the truths of the parent not practicing what he preaches to the child. Ask any employer. He too will verify that unless he does not practice what he preaches, the employees will not respect him. When we hear someone speak about God and spirituality, we too can understand if the person practices what he preaches or not. Eloquence and the right vocabulary, knowledge of scriptures and ability to quote are all essential. But what really matters is the actual practice and the wisdom which comes from practice. Without practice, we cannot reach our goal.
Books, scriptures, talks, lectures are means by which we find the path to God. Their function is pointing out the way. Once we know the way to reach God, we have to walk the way and make effort to reach the goal. Knowing the way without taking action is of no use. Sri Ramakrishna gives a lovely example of this:
A man received a letter from home. This letter contained a list of items and presents which he had to buy to send to his relatives. As he was about to go shopping, he found that he had misplaced the letter. He searched for it anxiously and others who were with him also searched for the letter. After a long search, the letter was finally found. He was very happy that he had found the letter. With great eagerness, he opened the letter and read it. He was asked to buy five kilos of sweets, a piece of cloth and few other things. Once he knew the list and where he should go and buy them, he no longer needed the letter.
The letter is needed as long as the contents are not known. Once the contents are seen, we must act on them and not preserve the letter or simply speak about it. Scriptures teach us the path to God. After we collect the information, we must start our practices. Then only we can realise our goal. Splendid oration from sacred scriptures may enthral the audience for a short time but will not have any positive impact as they are not backed by personal experience of practice. Study of holy texts for mere purpose of showing-off is futile.
The almanac give the forecasts of rainfall for the year. Even when we squeeze the book with all our might, we will not get a drop of water. Books show the way – but we must practice. Reading my advice on anger management will not get rid of your anger unless you put in efforts. When we read about the vast array of blessings of the SitaRam mantra, it sounds very enticing and exciting. But knowing them verbally or having them writing on paper does not help. We must take the mantra and practice regular and regulated japa for getting the results and grace of SriSitaRam.
“Talk talk and no power“makes us suffer in life and unfit to walk the Divine path!
