What is Spirituality?
We often ponder over this very subtle subject, torn between wearing the masquerade of words so as to sustain in this material world and beating each second engulfing its very essence.
What is that essence? The knowledge that embraces the entire world, carving each of its corners with beautiful asymmetry and symmetry.
How do we interpret spirituality, distill it from a world of notions and ideologies and see it as a part of ourselves? Spirituality is simple. When I say it is simple, I mean it. Meaning what you say is spirituality. Believing in oneself and others is spirituality. To do something putting your utter faith in it, is spirituality.
I was reading an account of a person, who was a hairdresser by profession. Once he was talking to a customer. He was telling him about a painful heart attack he survived. He said ‘: “It was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I lay there on the table, and I said to God, ‘Kill me or let me live, but take away this pain.’” To this, his customer replied “I bet God is delighted! For the first time in your life, you talked to God in your native tongue, your own natural voice — like you talk to your best friend. Catholics believe that God is father, right? Supposing it was your child who cried out like that in pain, what would you do?”
Spirituality demands us to be the real version of ourselves. We could realize our full potential and merge our being with the divine only when we put off our masks of pretence, hate, jealousy, cheating and stand head held high facing our inner light.
It asks you to use your ‘voice’ to connect with the source. Many people associate spirituality with meditation, which is actually true. Our ancient were profound in technology, invented rocket science, found cures of many diseases before the modern technology walked in. They were skilled scientists, artists, engineers and doctors. One thing that was common in all of them was that – they all meditated.
But, what is meditation? Focusing on our breath as it comes in and goes out is meditation.
2 years back, I used to learn yoga. Being a naïve and curious girl, I used to discuss a lot with my guru, my questions were endless. Once he came up with a life changing answer. I asked him, “What is meditation, sir?” He replied, “Try holding a cup of tea in your hands, feel its warmth – savor each sip you take. Dive deeper into its taste; concentrate only on the tea and nothing else. That is meditation.”
The feeling of oneness with whatever you’re doing Now is connecting with the divine, that is spirituality.
Each one of us may feel the feeling of oneness in different ways. We all use different mediums to connect with the source. Some people offer prayers, while some meditate. There are people out there who consider art their medium. The only thing they worship is art. As I’m growing older, I am coming across different mediums to connect. The easiest medium has always been : WRITING.
To use writing as a spiritual means is to use the foremost art form known to human, language as a medium to feel one with God.
Anything that your inner being pushes you towards in life realizing its purpose. Anything that makes your inner being happy even after having a chaotic mind becomes your medium. That very thing makes you a spiritual being, that very thing embeds knowledge into your being. My puberty marked the beginning of writing as a spiritual practice. I began my journey of writing poetry while I was in class 7. I got transformed into another person as puberty hit me. From being a bubbly lil’ girl, I started growing up into a dark, introverted person who had no social interaction. I had no actual friends to talk to so I found my solace in words.
Writing kept me sane; it protected me from getting indulged into wrong things. It made me aware that I wasn’t alone feeling way too much. It made me aware about the social issues for I started reading what others wrote. I wanted to know what others had to say. I started finding beauty and disturbance in the world, it made me vulnerable. Writing saved me from giving in to the fundamental darkness that we all carry and made me a better person who cared about others, who knew emotions, who valued people, who cared about the environment and the world. Writing liberated me in its truest sense.
Now, I realize that writers from all over the world are born with a responsibility; a purpose to save this world, but for this, they got to suffer a lot internally for writing demands compassion, intensity, a heart with depth and eyes so pure that they could foresee violence, rebel against it and write about it.
I never think of a topic beforehand writing. I feel too much, I feel like there is a fire in my soul and I need to obey it and listen to what it has to say. It makes me write. I don’t realize at times where I am sitting while writing, as if there is a greater power holding my pen. People often call it as ‘divine intervention’.
Our ancients definitely practiced writing as a spiritual practice. They knew that passing on knowledge is their sacred duty. It is believed that knowledge of the Vedas came through the words of the mouth of ‘Brahma’. Great epics like ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ were written so as to guide us humans. The life changing conversation between Krishna and Arjuna is in written form which is called ‘Bhagavad Gita’. The knowledge of sex is compiled in ‘Kamasutra’. Today, every drama school abides by the principles of ‘Natya Shastra’ written by Bharat Muni which is often called as the 5th Veda. These people knew something great and they knew that they were born with a purpose. They preserved and passed on their knowledge through their writings. They could connect with the medium, that’s why they could offer the world something.
What is your medium?
