Who is a spiritually enlightened person?
Recently, we saw the culmination of the largest gathering of faith and religion on the planet. People from all streams and faiths gathered to take a holy dip in the Sangam—the merging of three rivers—in Allahabad, India. Some chose the event to walk from their materialistic world to the other extreme of renunciation of their past completely and attain sainthood.
In a world that values money, position, and status, spirituality has inevitably been seen as the opposite extreme. It is perceived as very difficult for those pursuing materialistic goals. To be considered truly spiritual, a person is expected to relinquish all worldly material things and lead an impoverished life.
Because we have gone to the extreme of materialistic values, seeing the grandeur of wealth, the rapid extraction of resources, degradation of human values and the pollution that has resulted, we try to imagine ourselves in the opposite extreme to gain spirituality; we are required to sell everything, leave our family and make an escape to lead an impoverished life. We imagine going to the opposite extreme is the only way out. Therefore, when we see a monk who fits this image of ours, we generally tend to look at them with respect and awe.
However, the way out of narrow, selfish materialism is through an entirely different concept. The concept of ‘Balance’ is what gets you the desired blissful life. The entire system of the universe exists because of this balance. Our planet is held in its position because of the balance. Balance is the very basis of our existence. Nature holds itself in balance. The food chain of the planet has to have balance for us to exist. The flowers bloom because of balance. Species reproduce to maintain this balance.
There are millions of colors in nature, and they all exist because of this balance. So, if a person is naturally inclined to live in a particular way, it may just be a part of their nature.
The takeaway is that we don’t need to force ourselves to a particular way of life just by following someone, and we don’t need to force ourselves to produce wonderful results. Every aspect of life is a fact, and one should have the required wisdom to live a balanced life.
What is a balanced life, and how can we attain it?
Get it in my new upcoming book – ‘Self-Image’. It will be on online platforms and prominent book corners in 3 weeks from now.
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