Stages of spirituality in life

Spiiritual life is unique for individual Yoga practitioner. However, broadly speaking it can be classified into four stages. An average practitioner undergoes these four stages progressively. Depending on his progress a practitioner can be termed as:• Worldly Person• Spiritual Aspirant• Spiritual Seeker.Spiritual MasterA worldly person is the one who sees objects and events happening the world around him. For him the sense organs are utmost important and he spends tremendous amount of efforts in feeding them. Such a man cannot think beyond the five senses. Sensual pleasure alone gives him pleasure and if restrained from it he feels annoyed. A worldly man doesn't even like to hear about God or spirituality. Even if he praises God his praise has selfish motives. He prays God and pleads Him for money, wealth and sense pleasures. He also offers Him bribe in various forms. What a shame! Is there anything that you can offer to God? God possesses everything. What will you give Him? But a worldly man doesn't understand this. He remembers God only at the time of difficulty otherwise God doesn't exist for him! STAGES IN SPIRITUAL LIFEThere are many worldly people who believe that there is no supreme authority than man. There is no higher Truth than the physical world around them. They ask tangible proof about existence of God. If you ask them to follow some spiritual path they are not ready. Turning the mind-body equipment inwards is a horrible idea for such people. It would be interesting to note that many spiritual practitioners belong to this stage in the early stages of their spiritual life.Every individual comes across difficult times in the life. Life always puts forth challenges and tough situations. Most of the worldly people don't learn any lessons from such tough situations. They curse God for his cruel ruling. After the bad patch is over they engage in the same kind of activities that gave them misery in the first place. They simply can't escape from this cycle. In fact they don't want to escape from this cycle. The way a worm lives happily in mud, in the same way they enjoy their worldly affairs.When difficult time comes some of these worldly people turn to God. They realize that life is a play of pleasure and happiness. They feel sorry about their mistakes. They understand that uncontrolled life can never give them true happiness. They feel disgusted at the offerings of life and they make up their mind to turn to spiritual path. Such people are Spiritual Aspirants.A spiritual aspirant is a person who acknowledges that his present condition cannot give him permanent happiness and something must be done to overcome this limitation. However, an aspirant is often a confused person. He knows that he wants to change but he doesn't know how. He then starts looking for various spiritual paths. While searching a spiritual path an aspirant often shows selfishness. He expects that the path he selects should be easy. Though he knows that some change is need in his life he is not wholeheartedly ready to take efforts in that direction. Once he feels that the path of Knowledge is right for him and the next moment he thinks that path of Devotion is more suited for him. When he comes across the path of Yoga he starts evaluating its merits and demerits. The idea of rigorous self-disciplines makes him nervous. Can I do it? Why is such strict life needed? Well, I can do that even without any disciplines, such are his thoughts. Another sign of aspirants is that they tend to read a lot. They read books after books. They surf web sites after web sites. When asked as to why are they reading so much they justify their act by saying that they are acquiring knowledge. Poor fellows! They don't know that knowledge doesn't come from reading it comes from the direct experience of the Truth. The only benefit that such reading can serve is that it may push them to seek guidance of some teacher. However, my observation tells me that reading makes such people more confused. They may grow intellectually but they never grow spiritually. By such reading they can participate in wonderful debates. They become capable of convincing others of their point without ever experiencing that point!An aspirant often hops from one Guru to the other. He considers himself so much knowledgeable that he tries to judge the Gurus. He decides on his own that Guru A is bad and Guru B is good. If asked why they are saying so, their answer is that teachings of Guru A contradict their reading. What a way to judge! Such an aspirant sticks to some Guru for some time and then looks for something else. He selfishly tries to extract knowledge from the Guru. In doing so he makes full showoff about his honesty and sincerity. Such a poor aspirant doesn't know however that the Guru has seen many such "short term" disciples. A true Guru can very well understand such tricks. It is impossible to fool a true Guru. A true Guru, in spite of dishonest behavior of the aspirant, tries to help such aspirants. But often the aspirants don't listen to advice. They behave as if they know much more than the Guru. When such aspirant go to another Guru they hide from his the fact that they followed some other Guru earlier. They repeat the same tricks again and try to learn something different. Unfortunately, at the end of the game they remain at the same level. They never make any progress. Their reading can't help them make any real progress. They realize that reading or hopping from Guru to Guru can't help at all on the spiritual path. Many of such aspirant drop the idea of pursuing spiritual path altogether. They find it too difficult or too confusing and conclude that the worldly life is much better than spiritual life.Out of thousand spiritual aspirants only few realize that in order to attain some spiritual progress honesty and determination is needed. Changing path or Guru often provides no solution. In fact it makes the situation worst. They now make up their mind to follow a chosen path and Guru. They sincerely request the Guru to impart his teachings. They are now ready to spend their entire life in the pursuit of the spiritual goals. This how an aspirant evolves into a seeker.A spiritual seeker is a person who has chosen a particular spiritual path and Guru and is dedicated wholeheartedly to the path. A true seeker rarely engages in acquiring knowledge via mere reading. He may read scriptures but after that reading he tries to experience those teachings. More importantly Guru's words are scriptures for him. He has full faith in his Guru's teachings. No situation in life can shatter his belief from his path and Guru. Such a person alone can make any real spiritual progress. A true seeker rarely engages in intellectual debates. He rarely criticizes other paths of spiritual unfoldment. He says "My path is good for me but the other paths are equally good for their followers." Such a seeker works hard towards his goals. He has no doubt left about his path. At the advanced stages he starts getting glimpses of the Truth. Though he has made considerable progress there is still danger of degradation. Even an advanced seeker can get carried away from his path if he is not alert and allows worldly events to interfere in his spiritual life. Even if he might have got glimpses of Divinity but still he comes back to the material plane again and again.After a lot of rigorous practice a seeker realizes the Truth. He gets convinced by the Truth and is able to dwell day in day out in the state of realization. He now becomes a master. Now he doesn't have slightest of doubt about the Truth because he has experienced it. He continues to live like an ordinary person but he is no longer affected by material events. He eats, drinks, sleeps and works like an ordinary person but he has become a Jivanamukta. Such a master can kindle the spiritual flame of thousands of seekers or he he may opt to serve silently to the God. His life is now controlled by the Divine will. He lives his life only to finish the prabdha karma never to return back in this worldly plane.Most of the people climb this ladder of four stages one step at a time. However, some start as an aspirant or seeker and evolve further. A very few are Siddhas by birth and come to this world to guide others and finish their karma. Whatever stage one may belong to one should eye to the next stage with constant and sincere efforts. Never feel sad about your current stage. We all can try our best and strive to reach the next level finally reaching the ultimate goal. This is the only way to cross this ocean of birth and death. Share

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Stages of spirituality in life

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