Those who want to achieve the Ultimate Goal of life, who want to live a life of eternal bliss and everlasting happiness, go beyond religion. To them, Moksha, Enlightenment, and Nirvana are no different from each other. They respect all the concepts as different roads that lead to the same goal. They realize that religion is a kindergarten to spirituality. Just as we need to go to kindergarten to achieve masters in anything, we cannot reach our spiritual destination without the help of some religion. However, those who get stuck in religious dogma keep going round in circles. Only those who evolve spiritually will achieve the Ultimate Goal.
As spiritual aspirants, what must we do? We must adopt a philosophy of spirituality in our everyday life. To make it convenient, we can use the method of listing the philosophy as the A to Z of spirituality.
A. Ask questions: As a spiritual aspirant, we must use our intellect and question everything. Just accepting myth or certain beliefs will not take us forward on the path. We must ask questions – who am I? Why am I here? Who is God? Where is God? What is God? Why should we follow these rituals? What happens after death? Our spiritual journey starts with asking questions and we must continue asking questions till we live as an embodied Soul in this body-mind complex. Those who don't ask questions and just accept whatever they are told, may get caught in a maze of false beliefs.
B. Beauty is Divinity: A person who is spiritually evolved sees Divinity in beauty. We must realize the Truth that everything beautiful is a manifestation of the Divine. The Divine appears in a beautiful buttery, a bird, a rose, even in us human beings. The moment the Divine, the life energy departs, there is no beauty left. Therefore, we must live with this realization that beauty is Divinity.
C. Consciousness leads to Peace and Bliss: If we want to be peaceful and blissful, we must be conscious of our Divine self. The consciousness that we are not the body, not the mind leads us to being conscious that we are the Soul, the spirit, the Atman. One who lives a life conscious of the Truth will experience peace and bliss all the time.
D. Discriminate thoughts: As a human being, we think up to 50 thoughts a minute. This can be about 50,000 thoughts per day. To achieve the Ultimate Goal, we must use our intellect to act as a lter that discriminates every thought. We should not let our thoughts become feelings and actions, without rst discriminating whether the thought is right or wrong.
E. Enlightenment is the goal: The Ultimate Goal of Life is to overcome the darkness of ignorance that covers us in a blanket of misery and pain. The only way to overcome this darkness is with Enlightenment. When we are Enlightened with the Truth, the darkness of misery disappears.
F. False beliefs are dangerous: Those who want to evolve spiritually must overcome the myth by realization of the Truth. If we continue to accept false beliefs that have been passed down, we will be trapped in the myth and we will never realize the Truth.
G. God exists: We may not know who God is, where God is or what God is, but God is. This is a principal belief of a spiritual aspirant. We are nothing, God is everything. The spiritual aspirant realizes that God is a power beyond human comprehension and beyond any religion. It is with the grace of God that we can achieve ultimate peace and bliss.
H. Happiness will follow: If we want to be happy, we must realize that happiness is like a shadow. We cannot go behind it. But if we live as the Divine Spirit, we can be happy all the time. A realized being lives in a state of everlasting joy being conscious of the truth that he is the Divine Soul.
I. "I" stops us from Bliss: It is the “I”, the ego that stops us from achieving the Ultimate Goal of being peaceful and blissful. As long as we don't realize who the “I” is, we will never reach our destination. “I am nothing”, must be on the lips of every spiritual aspirant.
J. Journey of life has no destination : A spiritual aspirant realizes that life is not a chase for us to become an ace. We must realize and get out of this maze and live with grace. If we want peace and bliss, it is available every moment in this journey called Life. It is not a destination that we must reach.
K. Karma is a universal law: As spiritual aspirants, we must accept the Law of Karma, but we must also transcend it. We must go beyond Karma, realizing that Karma is for the mind and ego, ME, but we are not this, we are that, the Divine Soul. This will liberate us from all misery and sorrow.
L. Love is the source of joy: As spiritual aspirants, we must learn to Love, understanding that Love is Divine. Love manifests as the 7 colors of the rainbow, from the time we are born till the time we die. We must love one and all, seeing the Divine, manifesting in everybody. Without True Divine Soulful Love, one cannot experience Bliss.
M. Manifestations of the Divine: As spiritual seekers, we must realize that everything we see is a manifestation of the Divine. The mountains and the trees, the rivers and the seas, the butteries and the bees, you and me, we are all manifestation of the Divine. This realization lls our life with peace and bliss.
N. Now! Only Now exists: To be happy, we must realize that there is no past and future. We cannot be happy in a yesterday that is gone, nor can we be happy in a tomorrow not yet born. If we want to be happy, we must be happy in the NOW. If we are conscious of the NOW and we are happy in this moment, and we live moment by moment joyously, we can be happy forever.
O. Omnipresent - The Power that we call God is everywhere. Can we not see the Divine power everywhere? In the wind that blows, in the water that ows and the sun that glows? Divine power exists in every human being. It is the life that gives us breath, without which there would be death. Spiritual seekers experience the omnipresence of the Divine.
P. Purpose of life is Unication: If we do not realize that the ultimate purpose of life is unication with the Divine, we can never achieve that state of eternal peace and joy. Every moment of Life must be lived with this focussed purpose to enjoy Soulful ecstasy all the time.
Q. Quest will take us to freedom: We must realize that Liberation from misery and sorrow starts with a search, a quest for the Divine Truth. Unless we go on a quest, to realize the Truth, we will continue to be prisoners in this world of pleasures and possessions and never achieve the freedom called Liberation.
R. Realize the Truth: This is the rst door that a spiritual aspirant must unlock before reaching the ultimate destination. Most of us live believing in the myth. We think that we are this ego, mind, and body. The moment we realize the Truth of who we are, we are liberated from misery and we enjoy a life without fear, worry, and anxiety. Realization gives us the gift of peace, joy, and love.
S. Soul is our true identity: When we realize we are not the ego, mind, and body, then we realize that we are the Divine Life energy, the Soul that ows in each of the trillions of cells in the body. As an embodied Soul, it is our goal not just to realize this, but to be liberated and to unify with the Divine cosmic universal Soul.
T. Tranquillity and peace is the foundation: As Spiritual seekers, we must y far above the low and ordinary waters of pleasure. We must realize that pleasures are momentary and transitory. We must live with contentment and fulllment, tranquil and peaceful, in Divine surrender and acceptance.
U. Unhappiness can be overcome: While most of the world thinks that there is no way to escape from misery, realized Souls transcend all suffering from the realization of the Truth. They watch the drama of life which is both a tragedy and comedy, realizing that is a part of the cosmic show called life. They don’t let anything that happens, to cause them suffering.
V. Victory will not give happiness: Victory, success, achievement mean nothing for the spiritual seeker. We must realize that monetary success, name, and fame are the illusions that bind us to this world and ultimately make us suffer. Spiritual seekers do not chase success. They realize success is not happiness, happiness is success.
W. Wealth is a roadblock to Nirvana: Those who consider wealth and money as their possessions can never evolve spiritually. We must realize the Truth that we come with nothing and go with nothing. Nothing belongs to us. We must not imprison ourselves in a cage made of gold and diamonds.
X. "X-it” we all have to exit one day: Can we escape death? The body will die, but we, the ones who are embodied, alive within, never die. If we are spiritually evolved, then at death we will be liberated and we will unite with the Divine. If not, we will return, in another life as the ME, Mind, and Ego, to face our Karma.
Y. Yoga is being in Union with the Divine: Yoga is not what the world thinks it is. It is not physical exercise, nor is it just breath control. While these two may be part of Yoga, the true meaning of yoga is union. Real Yoga means being in constant union with the Divine, never losing the connection. It is like a good SIM card that is always connected to the network. Yoga is a connection with the Divine. It may be through action, devotion, education or meditation.
Z. Zen is Meditation that slows down the mind: The “Z” of spirituality, last but not the least, is the power to meditate. What is meditation? It is about slowing down the mind and contemplating a single thought. Unless we stop the production of unnecessary thoughts, we will continue to be the victim of the enemy, our own mind! We must kill the mind before it kills us and this is possible only with meditation.
The A to Z of spirituality is a spiritual philosophy created so that it reminds us to constantly live within this domain. The A to Z acts as a guideline and a constant reminder of the spiritual Truth. It helps us live a life of realization and achieve the goal of Liberation. Those who live a life with the A to Z of spirituality are liberated from all misery and sorrow and they experience eternal peace, everlasting joy, and Divine love, unknown to the common man.
If we live as the Divine Soul,
If this becomes our Life Goal,
If A to Z of Spirituality, we are able to learn,
We will unite with the Divine and never return.