Monthly Round Up – Spirtual Wisdom – Discover Your Truth

Jai Sri Hari to my dear spiritual family. I am writing this monthly round-up from Delhi. I spent the last week roaming the streets, eating delectable food, and meeting some amazing friends. I write about Spiritual Wisdom and support Nikunj Om as the volunteer for this category. 

Since spiritual wisdom is a broad umbrella term for much of what we share in OS.me, we have chosen to have theme-based monthly round-ups. The theme of this round-up is Truth. It’s a subject close to many of our hearts and something Swamiji has spoken about extensively. I wanted to weave a small narrative for you based on some fantastic posts we have in our community. 

When we start walking the spiritual path and searchinf for our truth, we typically start by taking inspiration from spiritual leaders and seekers. Rishi Sridhar narrates a beautiful tale where Ananda sees Gautam Buddha smiling in meditation and concludes that he must be thinking about another great soul. Gautam Buddha describes the story of a monk named Dharmakara who goes on to become Amitabha Buddha. Dharmakara has vowed to create a great pure land. A land that would be a beautiful place where no evil occurred. Dharmakara does not know how to create this land and goes to Lokesvararaja Buddha for guidance. He receives the following advice. 

“If one keeps on bailing water out of a great ocean with a pint measure, they will eventually be able to reach the bottom. There is no vow that cannot be fulfilled.”

Rishi then states two beautiful reasons why we should seek inspiration from other seekers. Firstly, it guides us down the path that others went on. We can learn from their experiences and thus be better prepared to tackle obstacles and challenges. Secondly, it helps us keep our egos in check because we are constantly reminded there are several people whose achievements surpass ours. 

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We have embarked on the journey, and life is motoring along when we hit a few roadblocks. The spiritual path can often seem confusing, and you may receive contradictory advice for the same problem. There are so many routes to the truth and so many versions of truth that you may get confused. Komal Om offers help as she shares a beautiful blog, Are You Discovering Your Own Truth?

It is futile to try to discover God or your Guru through the eyes of others. And perhaps that’s where courage and self-confidence are essential. But as with everything in life, this, too is a gradual process, and patience is key.

All that said, it is much easier to believe and idolise other seekers or another person than to dig deep, contemplate, turn inwards and seek the truth within ourselves. When we choose to be courageous enough to not believe anyone else, when we only seek truth from one source, it ends up becoming a journey which we undertake on our own, and some may feel lonely. But the freedom this search and discovery brings, is very rewarding and liberating.

Komal makes a crucial point that the truth you seek is your own personal truth. Other people can never reveal them to you. If they do, it would not be your truth. Hence courage and patience are necessary prerequisites to walking the spiritual path. 

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You have taken inspiration from others and walked your own path courageously. You have had some spiritual experiences and would like to know if you can share them, so others benefit. How do you decide if you should share your truth? Nikunj Om has a fantastic blog on sharing spiritual experiences. She has transcribed an eye-opening story shared by Om Swamiji on how you have to consider the capacity of the person reading your experiences before sharing them. Nikunj urges you to answer the following questions before sharing your experience:

What I am about to share will help this person in his spiritual growth?
Is my share going to weaken this person with jealousy or an inferiority complex?
Is it going to strengthen his/her faith, or are you leaving this person with a question – why has it not happened to me?
If your experience is the outcome of your sadhana, is this validated by your Guru? And if yes, then have you taken his permission to share it with the world?

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This may seem like a lot of information so let me do what I should have done in the first place. Let’s read what Om Swamiji has to share about truth. You can read the complete blog My Truth at your own leisure. 

Subscribing to any philosophy or believing a certain theory to be the truth – both of which are functions of the mind – are not going to help you uncover your true self let alone any samadhi or a darsana of your deity. The most beautiful thing is that you can experience your true nature and you can experience that incessant flow of bliss by taming your mind

You will go through three stages as follows:

Dependent: This is the first stage. You are dependent on the world for everything. Their comments or criticism arouse positive or negative emotions in you. Their presence or absence makes you feel good or bad. Their actions can give you fulfillment or grief. In essence, your world of thoughts has a lot of people.

Self-dependent: With unfailing morality and purity of discipline, you will start to form your own view. A view about yourself and your world. A view that will remain mostly unmoved by what others think of you. They will still, however, be able to dictate often how you feel about yourself. As you become increasingly self-dependent, you will find solitude a reasonable companion. 

Independent: You experience an unceasing bliss that permeates your being. You exude radiance, and you no longer have any confusion about anything at all. It all makes sense to you now. The realization has dawned on you. You are no longer driven by your mind. You have a still mind with no thoughts, and you develop super awareness and super consciousness. 

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So my fellow seeker, all of us are striving to move towards the third stage shared by Swamiji. Don’t let the ups and downs of the path deter you. Don’t let your own laziness hold you back. I am sharing a few stanzas from a beautiful poem written by Sadhvi Vrinda. You can read the whole poem here. 

It’s the saintly way

 to prepare

 to find each day

 a little more concentration

 than yesterday

All our lives

 we toil to live

 and yet

 the preparation

 is for that one moment

 when there’s breath no more

The saintly way is to find

 each day a little more love

 in the heart

 than yesterday

Saintliness is then perhaps

 a matter of preparation

 a deep

 driving

 heartening concentration

 and no more…