A foreigner asked a saint, “Could you describe the uniqueness of India as briefly as possible?” The saint responded by saying “The Guru-disciple lineage”. Seekers who have practiced Spirituality through various paths for several years and not progressed beyond a particular spiritual level yearn to attain the Guru’s grace
The success of any activity depends upon the functioning of the various components constituting that activity. Just as the hydrogen bomb is more powerful than the atom bomb, so also is the subtle in comparison to the gross. This point will be illustrated by the example of the various methods employed to destroy the enemy, given in this article.
Maharshi’s Divine words:
Complete faith in the Guru is essential to obtain the Guru’s grace ! If an individual has yearning, the Guru’s grace is automatically obtained. The Guru does not have to make any efforts for it. Only complete faith is essential. Only the Guru prepares him for it. – H.H. (Dr.) OmUlganathan (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 4.7.2016)
Serving God (Guru) is service unto the Truth ! This is the third step in the eight-fold spiritual practice in Gurukrupayoga (Path of Guru’s grace). It is important to serve God as service unto the Truth and not merely as an activity, so as to be able to get maximum spiritual benefit.
A Guru has all the qualities that an ideal teacher possesses. The Guru’s real quality is Atmanubhuti (Self-realisation).
One may ask, why in this age of scientific research and progress, are we ignoring the modern physical sciences and going in the supposedly reverse direction to the study of the science of Spirituality? According to the saying ‘Old is gold’, to make spiritual progress it is the eternal science of Spirituality alone and not modern physical sciences which is useful.
Spirituality is not a subject to be understood at an intellectual level; instead, we need to practically follow it and obtain spiritual experiences. The individual undertaking spiritual practice and the God-realised soul acquire spiritual knowledge initially from the Guru and later within, that is, from the soul.
Every living being, from the smallest 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. Happiness which is everlasting and of supreme quality is called Ānand. The science which teaches how to acquire Ānand is termed, ‘the science of Spirituality’.
Some feel that if they chant God’s Name as sādhanā, they will not be able to fulfill their other worldly duties. Such a feeling is absolutely ill-founded. Nowhere in the history of mankind has there been a case in which one has incurred a loss by chanting God’s Name.
Most people, especially the younger generation, have a lot of misconceptions about Spirituality. Therefore, let us understand what these misconceptions are and ‘What Spirituality is not’.