The advancement of technology has dehumanized us in a way. We lead a fast-paced life and opt for instant ready-to-eat food and try to finish the bulk of our office work over mobile phones. We are in a deathly hurry and cannot afford to wait to see results. Traffic jams are the order of the day and our roads are bursting at the seams, vitiating the atmosphere and adding to noise pollution.
This fondness for speed and craving for instant results has also affected our attitude to spirituality. We cannot wait and patiently pursue the prescribed age-old path to peace. Instead we want some OTC products that will fetch us immediate spiritual awakening.
Present-day Scenario
We are searching for modern versions of the ancient time-tested yoga practices. Identifying this desperate need and driven by an eagerness to exploit the situation, several modern-day spiritual gurus have sprung up to provide instant remedies to life’s ailments.
Today, the pursuit of spirituality has been seriously imperiled by all types of people – right from the professional astrologers who claim to have foreknowledge of individual destiny to the erudite speakers who are out to reorient the teachings of the ancient scriptural texts to suit modern times.
Pseudo-spirituality
We have abandoned the traditional painstaking methods of attaining spirituality and have instead embraced pseudo-spiritualism attempting to find ready-made solutions in our spiritual quest. Several self-styled Godmen are having a field-day and exhorting us to abandon the traditional approaches to spirituality claiming them to be outdated. They have been concocting new methodologies more in keeping with the present-day brand of pseudo-spiritualism.
Traditional Spirituality
The ancient texts had unambiguously explained the nature and role of the spiritual seeker as also the spiritual master. The spiritual seekers should be able to exercise total control over their mind and rein in the senses. The spiritual teacher, on the other hand, must have known and realized the Absolute and be well- equipped to guide his followers attain similar Realization. It is now evident that these definitions of the spiritual seeker and the spiritual master have lost relevance. Today’s spiritual seekers as well as spiritual masters cannot even be remotely compared with those revered figures of yore.
Religion and Spirituality
That religion is the pathway to attain spirituality is a universally accepted fact. Religion may be described as the means to achieve and spirituality or the state of realization the end-objective. But in the present fast-paced environs, we want some bypass road to reach the spiritual destination.
Religion, with all its dogmatic rituals and austere practices, prepares the finite beings for reaching higher realms. There are many specific rules to be observed for a spiritual seeker to persevere and ascend the spiritual heights. We are now flagrantly ignoring all the spiritual laws and leading hollow lives.
The commercialization of religious institutions is becoming part of pseudo-spiritualism. Sages of yore gave up all worldly pleasures, led austere lives and went on foot to the far-flung corners to spread the spiritual messages. In stark contrast, today the so-called monks travel in costly limousines.
Anyway, they cannot be faulted for this. It is pointless if they confine themselves to lonely hermitages and do not venture out to preach the religious doctrines. A religious establishment certainly requires finances for its upkeep and propagation of religious ideals. But what is condemnable is the hypocrisy and the willful enjoyment of luxuries in the guise of a monk.
The larger question is – how to set right this malady? The simple answer is we have to become less frenzied and learn to be more sedate. Once we cease to be restive, we can experience a soothing of nerves and a sobriety of mind. This disposition will enable us to probe deeper within ourselves to realize the truth. When we become genuine truth-seekers the true master will doubtless appear.
Join the Conversation