When Should Spirituality Start?

Revered Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari or Chariji, the venerable guide of the Sahaj Marg system of spirituality says, the moment of conception is the right moment to start spirituality. It is the time when the being comes into its mortal existence. Should you miss that moment for want of knowledge, then you have to wait till the 18th year because in between, the child is too innocent. He/ she does not know what it wants, and why it wants what it wants.

You must come willingly in spirituality. You cannot be compelled to love God. The spiritual path talks of self-realization and not of achievements. The realization that you are looking for someone, who is within you, and the entity that you are desperately seeking, is Him and you too, dawns at the end. It removes the veil of ignorance from our consciousness.

The grand climax of the spiritual life is the merger in the beloved. The spiritual adventure is a divine romance, where the soul of the aspirant is torn with longing, love and separation. And when you do achieve the union with the beloved you find you are lost, you are no more there to enjoy that union. The ultimate goal of a spiritual endeavor, therefore, is the merger.

Spirituality has two aspects: one is the personal evolution and growth; second is the human elevation. Spirituality trains us to be capable of higher responsibility, a higher life, a higher purpose and a higher fulfillment.

The right way of acquiring a spiritual status is to go to a spiritual guide (Masters of Sahaj Marg), who is capable enough to give you that state, and obey him. The first teaching, as far as the spiritual system of knowledge and experience are concerned, is obedience. There can be no teaching without this condition of obedience being met. It is not only the student who obeys; it is the teacher, also, who obeys. The teacher obeys his sense of duty, his need to pass on the knowledge and his achievements, to somebody else.

The purpose of the life of a spiritual seeker is to attract his guide and when that is done, all his work becomes divine and perfect. The teacher too cannot hold anything from such a disciple. He pours his entire spiritual wealth into the disciple. It is like a vast ocean merging into a glass of water. It is indeed a miracle!