Tanya Sharma
After glancing over this title, what is the first thought that has come to your mind? Are you reminded of great revolutions of the past, the French or the American? I know, at the first instance it seems to be a bit radical. Because, the word “REVOLUTION” has to do with a fundamental change .Honestly, even I thought twice before putting this heading to the article .But , I believe “SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION” is the call of the moment and we must pay heed to it.
WHY? This is the first question that comes to our mind .Why do we after all need this change? What is wrong with the way things are going? For answering this question, I would first like you to peep into the glorious history of India. India has been a land of great spiritual masters. Ours is the land of wisdom and knowledge acquired through the path of spiritual -quest. But, over a period of time we have seen degradation in that proud tradition. Our colonial-past and westernization can be one factor responsible for that. Because, we were told by the colonial masters that whatever is “western” is superior to the “ancient-Indian/traditional” .Rather, what we are witnessing today is a sense of alienation from that tradition. The first challenge that people often experience when they try to follow this path is a sense of unacceptance. Unacceptance from themselves and from the near and dear ones. This is because of a wrong understanding of the word spiritual .Generally, people associate ascetism,”tapasya”,meditation, leaving the worldly life etc. with this path. But, in my understanding this is a wrong conception of this word. Although, the perceptions are changing. Today, people really boast about the fact that they meditate. But, there is a lack of true understanding .And one thing that is responsible for this is the erosion of the super-productive “Guru-shishya parampara” that was prevalent in India. . Anyway, that is a topic big enough to be discussed separately .The point that I try to make here is that we have forgotten our rich “spiritual -treasure” and thereby living a life of unhappiness and unfulfillment. Therefore, there is a strong need to revisit our past wisdom, understand it and bring a change by applying it into our lives.
The Word -To carry forward the discussion , I would like to throw some light on the word “spiritual” , as per my understanding .To me , spirituality means understanding your spirit or soul or (simply yourself ) and taking it to a higher level of consciousness , trying to connect it with the ultimate power /soul/energy/universe (whatever you believe in ). So , for me” self-discovery” and “self-transformation” is the basic mantra of spirituality .And it is an irony that today human beings are keen enough to discover life on mars , but not much keen to discover their own self !Although , now people are recognizing its importance and things are definitely changing . But, what we need is a thorough change.
So, the next question that follows is that how are we going to bring about this revolution?
The Self-Revolution-The good thing about this is that it is a self-revolution – A thorough, fundamental change in your own self .A way to conquer your own self. At later stages , you will observe that you will automatically start affecting/influencing the lives of others as well .Today , the lives have become so complex that people are not able to get answers to their own questions . The social bonds have also weakened to a great extent. People are living a life full of pretensions .The social media is an epitome of that where you try to portray everything rosy happening in your life , but hollow inside .In such a scenario , to understand the true essence of life ,get answers to your questions and to lead a really meaningful life , the spiritual journey is very vital.
What to do?
At this initial stage, it is not very easy to chalk-out how this revolution can come about. However, I can think of the following steps that we can take at the personal level.
* The first step I would like you to take is to simply spare thirty minutes every day for yourself, away from all distractions .Just sit down with yourself and try to connect with your own being. Some people may call it meditation. But, that will be little big a target to begin with. Initially we have to cultivate a habit to be in our own company, in silence. Believe me , people find it difficult to sit with themselves even for two minutes .Either they start negative-thinking or they need something to distract them ( mobile-phone, for instance ).But , gradually one can form a habit .
* The other step that I would recommend is that try accumulating the pearls of wisdom by reading some good texts. Our holy books are a great read for a spiritual experience -be it The Bhagwad Gita, The Bible, The Quran, The Guru Granth Sahib or The Buddhist texts etc. Reading the original version is quite difficult. But, there are good translations and interpretations available these days. Although, even I have not been able to move beyond Gita till now, but it is definitely in my bucket-list to enrich my personality .These books were written to teach us a way of life. Today, we have dissociated with this knowledge and therefore experiencing things like”Existential-Crisis”. Apart from that, we (especially the youth) should read the works of great personalities like Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji etc.
Reading such texts with a critical and analytical mind will definitely help us find answers to our questions.
I personally like to use the word spiritual rather than religious because religions have actually divided humanity instead of unifying it. The spirit is same in every human being. So, we can better relate and interact with the other being as a soul/spirit/divine manifestation.
The present state of human existence and society is not very encouraging. On the material front, we are progressing at a very rapid pace. But , at the same time we are experiencing an erosion of values , humanity , morality ,the rise in crime rates, violence and corruption .On the other hand , the gap between rich and poor is widening day by day . The natural environment is degrading -Corona was an alarm-bell for all .On the personal level, people are stressed,anxious, unhappy and in a rush to achieve more and more .The community ties and social bonds are not so strong. I do not intend to bring pessimism in the mind of my readers.But, I do believe that if each one of us at a personal level, imbibe the spiritual, ethical and moral principles in our lives, we are definitely going to take our living to a next level and lead a meaningful and happy life.
I would like to conclude by saying that the world has already witnessed the “Scientific and Industrial Revolution” led primarily by the west. Now, it’s the time for the magic of “The Spiritual Revolution”and let India be the pioneer of that.
“Spirituality is the greatest and healthiest exercise that human mind can have “-Swami Vivekananda
(The author is a a Probationary Officer at State Bank of India )
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