Meaning of Life

Meditation & spirituality

Relevance of Spirituality in Life

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Updated on October 4th, 2022

Why is Spirituality Important

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I was never a spiritual person. In fact, I never understood what spirituality really meant. To me, being spiritual was synonymous  with being a religious person who is always engrossed in prayers at home, temple or church. I felt that spiritual persons depended too much on God for all their achievements in life.

I always believed that human beings are architects of their own destiny through dedication, hard work and constructive employment of their time. Taking refuge in God for meeting your challenges and for achieving success in life was not my cup of tea.

I always felt that one’s purpose of life was to be engaged in productive and fulfilling activities which  would ultimately bring success and contentment in one’s life. To me, seeking help form spiritual powers  for achievements of one’s goals and  success in life appeared to be lack of self confidence and will power.

Turn-around from Non-Spiritual to Spiritual

I was not an atheist. At the same time I had never been a religious person but always believed in God as some superpower that controls the entire universe and all forms of  life  and activities therein. But then came a time in my life when I turned to spirituality. 

What brought this turn around? Even after achieving a satisfying  career and reasonable degree of success in all my endeavours, I still found hollowness and lack of  meaning   in my life. Even after having met nearly all my mandatory responsibilities, many a times, I still felt restless, anxious and insecure. After retirement, with more free time at my disposal, these feelings occurred more often. 

Unable to control my wandering mind, I started perceiving that there was  more in life to just being busy and being engaged in worldly activities. I realised that the path to lasting calmness and peace was in spiritual pursuits. Researching on the subject of spirituality, I was fully convinced that this was the only path towards achieving lasting peace and contentment.

Meaning of Spirituality

Spirituality may mean different to different people. For some it is total belief and surrender to the will of God, some others may relate to their passion for an activity they love, and for some it is moral conduct and a life of principles.

Some take it as a means to achieve some greater meaning in life. But at it roots, it narrows down to acquiring wisdom of answering the following  questions: what is my relevance in this world? What is the purpose of my live? What gives meaning to my life?

Spirituality teaches us that contentment and peace of mind lies within us and is not dependant on external factors. It involves love, devotion and alignment to that higher spiritual power to realise it.

Man tries to find a solution to his physical and mental problems from outside through more money, medical and technical advance which provide him with all all material luxuries of life. But as a matter of fact the solution lies in tapping the invisible untapped potential of human body and mind. Spirituality shows you a path towards harmonious development of your latent capacities of  the body, mind and soul.

How to Achieve it?

How to achieve spirituality

Meditation is the Key

While theory and philosophy of spirituality has its place, but to really understand and appreciate spirituality, one has to experience it. Meditation is a known scientific technique for focussing and concentrating your mind on higher spirit to make your soul become one with the divine spirit of God. Experiencing this within you through Meditation and Prayer gives you the real effect. Once you feel the divine cosmic power flowing within you, the joy and positivity that you get will be far higher than any material pleasures of life.

Everyone’s goal in life is to avoid pain and acquire happiness, peace and wisdom. Man seeks happiness in wealth, love, sex, entertainment, liquor and even in drugs only to be disillusioned as all these pursuits do not bring a lasting joy but disappointment and distress in the end. Regular practice of Meditation  will bring your body, mind and soul in perfect harmony and will give a greater physical and mental power to achieve a successful, happy and peaceful life.

You may believe in any God or religion. You may even consider God as an impersonal spirit, an all powerful intelligent force providing and governing the universe. Meditation is the tool which will remove all doubts in the existence of God. In Meditation, you can perceive God as an infinite light or vibrations from universe which bring divine qualities of wisdom, love and joy.

Today there are scientific techniques and methods as against blind beliefs of the past to realise God and truth within you. You will need a Guru who will guide you in your quest for God Realisation. After a lot of Research and some experimentation, I have been guided by my inner voice (which I consider it as divine intervention) to chose the path given by Yogananda Paramhansa through YSS ( Yoga Satsanga Society) and SRF (Society for Self Realisation Fellowship). I have benefitted immensely and feel Blessed having chosen this path.

Known Benefits of Spirituality

Benefits of Spiritualiy

Spirituality and Purpose of Life

Having a clear purpose of life is the  key to achieving  contentment and eventually peace of mind. Spiritual People  have a clear purpose which makes their lives meaningful.They realise that the purpose of life is to find Happiness which is means communion with God. The joy and calmness one achieves with this communion cannot be expressed in words.

They are clear on: “Why am I here?” and “What kind of Impact do I want to make in the world?” They enjoy strong relationships, are self confident and have a high sense of self respect.

Spirituality and Health 

Studies have proved that spiritual people enjoy a better health and live longer. Such people are always calm, mentally strong and have a better immunity to cope up with illness and suffering. Spirituality helps  in healing their bodies through effective control of mind rather than the physical methods. It helps in reducing stress as they have a better emotional state and a good support system within their spiritual community. Being always positive and morally strong slows their ageing process.

Spirituality and Fear of Death

Fear of death is a common concern for everyone. However spirituals do not fear death as they don’t see death as an end but a new beginning. They believe that “I am not my body but  I am a soul in my body” and the soul never dies. The body is known to be mortal and it has to die one day. So why fear loss of one’s body. Death is only a transition as soul get a new body through reincarnation. Thus they are always free from the psycological fear of dying which is a common cause of worry and anxiety amongst the non-spiritualists.

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PURPOSE OF LIFE- HAVE YOU CREATED ONE FOR YOURSELF?

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Updated on October 18th, 2022

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I am sure everyone, at some time or the other, wonders as to “What is the Purpose of his or her Life”. The associated queries which come to ones mind while seeking an answer to this question are:

Questions on Purpose of Life

-Is it the God who has created you has laid down the purpose of your life? Is it your biological parents who gave you the birth have given you the purpose of your life? Is it that you yourself have defined the purpose of your life?

-Was your Future already decided at the time of your birth itself? Was  it destined that you would be what you are today?

-Is it necessary to have a purpose of Life?

-When and from where does the purpose of life come?

-At what stage in life you are clear that you have purpose in this life which you have to achieve?

-Once you have got your purpose, does it remains constant or it changes with passage of time?

-Is the purpose of life the same as the goals that you set for yourself to achieve in your life?

These are some of the questions which generally haunt us and to which we probably have no satisfactory answer.

Your coming into this world was not your choice. It was either Gods will, destiny or an accident. You never had a choice of your parents or timing or place for coming into this world.

Having taken birth, the journey of your life began. Your personality, your character and your values developed over a period of time is a result of your upbringing and  exposure to the environment you got.

 

Is there a God given Purpose?

Whether there is a God given purpose for your existence or not is not clear.  If God has laid down an individual purpose for you then how is going to be communicated to you. Spiritual minds  may tell you to discover your purpose of life inside yourself by getting connected to God through spirituality and meditation.  However, for most human beings to do so does not appear easy.

Are your Goals the Purpose of Your Life?

Mostly, when we talk about purpose, we are actually talking about goals that we set for ourselves.  If our goals are giving us our purpose of life, what is the ultimate Goal of our life? Is it one of the following?

–Earning adequate Wealth

–Building strong Relationships

–Becoming a renowned Professional- viz;   Doctor,  Engineer, Pilot etc.

–Becoming powerful by achieving a position in society

–Becoming a Celebrity

–Achieving good health and fitness

–Doing something useful to the society

All  the items listed above  point toward achieving something which gives you satisfaction in life by fulfilling your material, physical and emotional needs. The satisfaction that you achieve after fulfillment of these needs is temporary and not long lasting. Once you achieve your set goal, you feel satisfied but that satisfaction is temporary and you want more.

The cycle of Goal setting and Fulfilment

So you  create now goals which again when satisfied give rise to yet another set of new goals and the cycle continues. For example, if your goal is to become a Billionaire and you are able to achieve this goal, you feel very good and on the top of the world. However, with the passage of time the satisfaction and feeling of achievement fades away. Whatever you have achieved becomes a way of your life. It does not fascinate you anymore.

You now set new goals to achieve more material wealth and your threshold of satisfaction goes higher and higher as you start comparing yourself with others who are still better than you. This way you get into a cycle of goal setting, achieving and setting worldly goals once again. In pursuit of getting more and more, you tend to lose sight of  the real purpose of life. The wealth, power and position that you earn basically results in satisfaction of your wants.

Meditation helps in focussing and concentrating your mind

Everyone’s goal in life is to avoid pain and acquire happiness, peace and wisdom. Man seeks happiness in wealth, love, sex, entertainment, liquor and even in drugs only to be disillusioned as all these pursuits do not bring a lasting joy but disappointment and distress in the end. Regular practice of Meditation  will bring your body, mind and soul in perfect harmony and will give a greater physical and mental power to achieve a successful, happy and peaceful life.

Is having a Purpose in Life necessary?

If setting and achieving goals is not the purpose of your life then what is the Purpose of Life? Is there any other purpose? Does one needs to have any other purpose?

Every venture, mission and journey has to have a purpose. Similarly Life is a journey and a mission to be fulfilled and so it has to have a purpose. Who will give this purpose?

Who will give you the Purpose of your Life?

It is you yourself who has to decide and define Purpose of Your Life to make it meaningful. For justifying your existence, you and you alone and no one else has to identify, define and create a purpose of your life.  Yes, every human being is capable of creating a purpose for himself/herself.

Essential Elements of Purpose of Life

Whatever you decide and define to be the purpose of your life, it needs to have the following four elements:

–Love whatever you are doing and do it to the best of your ability. If you do not like what you are doing and there is something else you would love to do, switch over to doing what you like and love, as soon as possible.

–Make your existence worthwhile by being useful to society. Whatever you do must contribute something to community directly or indirectly. Someone must benefit.

–Whatever you do and achieve should not be at the cost of others. There should be no injustice done to anyone.

— Introspect & practise regular meditation to harmonise you body, mind & soul.

A purpose of life once defined incorporating these four elements will give a direction and a focus to your life. Your life would become meaningful to you. By doing what you love to the best of your potential, benefiting others and practise regular meditation without hurting anyone will bring satisfaction, happiness and contentment in your life. This would eventually give you Peace of Mind. And this is is the ultimate goal of life.

PURPOSE OF LIFE- HAVE YOU CREATED ONE FOR YOURSELF? Read More »