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| Photo Credit: SSRF |
Principles of Spirituality - 4
Spiritual Practice as
per the Era
There
is a time for all things. This is true for spiritual practice too. If the right
thing happens at the wrong time, then the desired result is not achieved. For
example, if seeds are sown in the dry months instead of the rainy season, they
do not take root, no matter how fertile the land is. Similarly, certain types
of spiritual practices are more conducive for spiritual growth depending on the
era of the universe that they are practiced in.
As per the Sanatan
Dharma and the ancient Indian scriptures there is a cycle of four eras or
Yugas – Satyayug (Era of Knowledge), Tretayug (Era of Penance and
Meditation), Dwaparyug (Era of Ritualistic Worshi) and Kaliyug (Era
of Strife – path of chanting the Name of God along with personality defect
removal and ego removal). We are currently living in the Kaliyug,
in fact as per the calculation of the cycles as of 2022 we are in 5124th
year of the Kaliyug.
The spiritual
level kept on decreasing with each subsequent era. There are two types of
spiritual practice, namely vyasthi sadhana and samasthi sadhana. Vyasthi
is individual spiritual practice for one’s own spiritual growth. Samasthi
is undertaken to help spread the awareness of spirituality and for other’s
spiritual growth. In the current era of Kaliyug we see a lot of Indian
Masters spreading the awareness of spiritual development and growth all across
the globe. All of them are getting great traction as there is an overall
awareness of the need for inner growth considering the terrible times we are living
in! This is because there is an overall increase
in spiritual pollution in the environment and the spiritual level of people are
lower and they are in need of spiritual help. However, the world in the period
of 1999-2023 is currently going through a turbulent phase and there is an
imminent threat of War. Is Russia-Ukraine just the beginning, actually if you
go to see the dimensions of war have changed – it is less on the battlefield
and more in the minds of the people. Only spiritual practice can help seekers
survive these adverse times.
In the current era, the world environment is not
as conducive for spiritual growth compared to previous eras. There is a
significant increase in the Raja and Tama subtle components due to a high proportion of
personality defects in people and higher activity of negative
energies from the spiritual dimension. This has given rise to spiritual
pollution which poses as a serious obstacle to any form of spiritual practice
and hence hinders spiritual growth.
Considering the turbulent and stressful times in the current era
and along with our lack of spiritual capacity – God has made a simple provision
for us to grow spiritually against all odds. This is through making efforts to
reduce our personality defects and ego and simply chanting
the Name of God. Actually, chanting the Name of God in the true sense of the
practice (i.e., with concentration and spiritual emotion, throughout the day)
can only be done at a higher spiritual level.
However, by working on oneself and eliminating the personality
defects and ego from one’s mind, a person can stay focused. Due to this, one is
able to practice chanting the Name of God continuously while meditating. With
due course of time this chant starts automatically within one’s self as the
mind stays calm and peaceful.
Ref: SSRF
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