Is Spirituality Selfish ?

Selfishness is often thought of a non-spiritual quality. In the world One craves for possessions - money, gadgets, a big house, swanky cars etc. or people - relationships, friends, popularity, power etc. At some point the mind gets tired of these amusements and starts looking at spirituality. One does the Art Of Living course and now finds himself or herself in new exciting company of people in search of other things.

It starts with small things. The craving now shifts : How many courses have I done, How many senior teachers do I know / hang out with ? How many spiritual friends do I have ? What organizational position do i hold ?

For a while all this troubled me. Whats the point of being on the spiritual path if the objects of craving change but the tendencies remain the same ? But there was a realization that I also had the company of kriya, meditation, satsang, knowledge and the Master - stuff I did not have before. All these brought me back to the center whenever the focus was on gaining something.

As someone said : Being on a spiritual path does not mean it won't rain, just that you now have an umbrella.

Then the cravings moved to less material and more abstract ones.

"I want to conduct a satsang at my place so that the sattva of my home goes up". "I want to meditate so I am peaceful". "I want to do kriya every day so I have less problems in life". "I do seva so my karmas are dissolved". "I will volunteer for this event so I can meet Guruji"

The goals then move higher. Let me meditate so I am liberated / enlightened in this life time.

It is so interesting - this path of spirituality. One maybe selfish in ones goals, but the result is yet a better life for a lot more people other than myself. If I meditate regularly, I am a more peaceful person and that means people around me are more peaceful. At the very least I am less of a pain for others around me. If I do seva - even non-altruistically - people benefit from my efforts. If I participate in a group meditation / long kriya - the group effort results in a more peaceful environment around for all. As I am more spiritually inclined, I am also more grateful and consequently more generous with my money, time, effort.

And when one reaches the ultimate goal - Nirvana / Liberation / Enlightenment - then What ? Just looking at Guruji's life gives the answer. One who has nothing to take cannot but give.

As Guruji says : The Divine is complete responsibility.

One who can go to the Himalayas and quietly sit in meditation is instead on the road, in the air, day after day, meeting terrorists and naxalites, resolving conflicts, bringing more peace to this planet. What a wonderful state to be in - where one cannot but give !!!!

And He wants us all to be like HIM !!! How fortunate we are !!!

What a beautiful journey this - from utter Selfishness to utter Selflessness, from doership to complete and total responsibility, from taking to giving, from darkness to eternal light.

Jai Guru Dev,