Beyond Religion: Understanding true spirituality

Has your right hand ever fought with your left hand? Have you been a witness to a discussion on the topic – ‘Why the left leg had a melee with the right leg?’ If these sound strange to you, then let me tell you that it is as strange as this when you say you had a fight with your neighbour, you cannot tolerate your boss or you despise your colleague who is doing better than you.
You can’t have your right-hand fighting with your left hand because both are yours. If your left leg gets hurt, the right leg takes the weight and supports the left leg—because they both belong to the same body, they are not different. Even if you hurt your eyes with your own finger, you forgive your finger, and do not punish it. If you bite your tongue while eating your food, you don’t break your teeth in anger. The finger is different from the eye, and the tongue is different from the teeth, yet they all belong to you, and so you feel – ‘they are all me’; and so, you have no hatred. You have only love, forgiveness, and peace. This is the idea of spirituality.
Seeing oneness is spirituality. You will never be bored with this world if you see yourself in everything and everyone, and recognise the goodness in all and love all, just like you would love yourself.
We believe that spirituality is related to God. Who is God after all? The goodness which is in you and in all is God. Do not put God away from you. Look for God in tiny little things. When you smile at a stranger, greet them with all your love and warmth, and when the stranger smiles back at you—that is God smiling at you. When you step forward and open the door for an elderly person, and the person turns around to thank you—that is God speaking to you. When somebody is hungry, and you share your meal with him, and his hunger is satisfied—in that satisfaction, God is satisfied with you. When you help the sick and needy, in their healing and happiness, there is God.
In the flower that is blossoming in the morning, God fills the colour and the fragrance. In the bird that coos on the perfect note, it is God singing to you. In the sun rise, the sun set, and the colours of the sky—it is God and God alone. So also, in your salty tears, when you cry yourself to sleep—God is teaching you a new truth. There is no place bereft of God. God is everything, God is in everyone, and God is everywhere. Let us meet our God every day when we meet our people. We don’t need more spirituality than this.
What does God do? God loves and God serves. If you do the same as God does, then you are spiritual. All goodness is God, and all selfless love is spirituality.
Somebody asked me, what is God doing when so many things are going wrong in this world? To them, I said – ‘Yes, God already did something about it. He sent you and me to this earth to carry out His command, do His work, and look beyond ourselves.’ Hence, the responsibility is on us. You must be the miracle that the world needs today. This miracle is the miracle of love. Love is the most powerful human value.
Letting go of selfishness and developing more selfless love makes us better humans. Love is all about giving and forgiving. Do one selfless act a day; it keeps the ego away.
We are not born for ourselves; we are born for the sake of others. So as long as we live our lives in a way that helps others, we will be happy and doing everything right. We are born to love and serve. Study and acquire knowledge, skills, and capabilities so that you can serve others; earn money so that you can help others; eat and sleep, so that you can remain healthy to be of service to others. This way, everything we do can be transformed into selfless service. The purest happiness is when we do something unconditionally for someone.
In this way, you can be assured of leading a perfectly spiritual life.

By: Sadguru Sri Madhusudan SaiFounder of Sri Madhusudan Sai Global Humanitarian Mission







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