I see a lot of people who consider themselves very spiritual just because they are doing some practices, breathing exercises, visualisations in the name of meditations, chanting or affirmations. Due to all this, they think they are very spiritual.
However, in many of their lives, there is not much Dharma coming in. Dharma, in this context are the universal principles of living that cut across religions, cultures, nationalities. These are universal human values, like honesty, integrity, love, compassion, sense of justice. If these values are not there in one’s life, then spiritual growth is very unlikely.
Besides the pillar of Dharma, the other major pillar on which spirituality stands is your psychological growth. If one has not taken care of one’s hurt, guilt, addictive behaviors, then all these practices will not give any spiritual growth. Spiritual Growth is supposed to be over and above psychological growth. If basic emotions have not been managed, then spiritual growth cannot happen.
Without Dharma and psychological growth, one is fooling oneself or being escapist. One will be flitting from one practice to the other because the previous one has not worked. So, one tries something new and that will also not work.
The problem is not with the practices, if these are genuine. The problem is that one has not had enough Dharma and psychological growth. One does not use spirituality or any of these practices for psychological growth.
Yes, some of these practices can bring in a certain degree of self-awareness, which helps one to move ahead. But beyond that, if what is to be taken care of psychologically is not done or universal ethics are not brought into one's life, there is no way any spiritual growth will happen. Then one will be just experimenting and flitting around from one practice to the other, from one guru to the other, without really wanting a guru, but only wanting some experiences, which they hope will make one more spiritual.
Spiritual practices can work only by bringing Dharma and psychological growth into one’s life.
(The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com)
