The chief obstacles in the path of spirituality are an ever-active mind and the desire for worldly pleasures. What we seek as happiness is in fact the brief pleasures that we encounter in our life-journey. Life is not about gathering educational qualifications, making money, having relationships, becoming famous, etc. You may achieve all that you set out to, but your inability to deal with the various situations in life may cause you much agony. Life is about making your own space where you are able to function joyously and peacefully while moving steadily towards your final goal on earth, Self-realization.

If you get immersed in sadness due to your circumstances, then understand that you are asking the Cosmos for more sadness to enter your life. If you carry the qualities of joy and fulfillment, no matter what your situation in life be, you will attract greater joy and fulfillment into your life. Always remember, the Cosmos attracts the quality that you communicate to your life-space. When you create the right space, all the desired events flow into that space just as you want.

Pleasures are temporary, do not run after them. Just as a child overgrows the toys it had during childhood, it is important to grow out of the toys of worldly objects and into the spiritual goals of life. Often, we consider our minds to be storehouses of wisdom and knowledge. This may not be the case. Our minds are active, conniving, and wavering. What is pleasant for us need not be good in the long run, and what is good for us need not be pleasant. Most people are unaware of the very purpose for which they have taken birth. Completely immersed in ignorance, constantly engaged in activities, going through the ups and downs of life, alternating between pleasures and pains. These will fail to realize that they are not the body but the spirit within.

The ones who think that they are understanding and learned, while engaging themselves in activities and pursuits, are in fact ‘fools’. In ignorance, they go about aimlessly, like blind men led by other blind men. They keep going around and around, enmeshed in cycles of births and deaths, being born again and again to learn the lessons that Cosmos is ever keen to teach. They fail to understand the need for examining themselves from within, and to rethink about their purpose of existence. The ‘wise’ are those who have learnt what existence has taught them, and who go about seeking the eternal Self within.

Our ancient Vedic culture teaches us to stop identifying with the body, and to realize the inner Self. If only one understands the divinity of the eternal spirit within, the purpose of existence will be realized.

When a child is born on earth, it is the duty of the parents to nurture the child, to provide it with food for the body, and for the soul. Our ancient culture has provided for such learnings, our Gurukul system of education has always imparted the right values to growing minds. So now, let us start by reviving our wise culture, by re-igniting the values that need to be inculcated in the minds of the young. It is never too late to begin.

Begin by teaching the children and youth who are close to you. Teach them to concentrate their minds on the inner world of learning, rather than the outer world of learning. As you teach them the right values, they will begin to realize the temporary nature of the body, and the divine character of the soul. When they realize the divinity within, all their confusions of joy and grief will disappear.

Attachment to bodily pleasures has brought about so much misery. We come across so many cases of suicides, for all kinds of silly reasons, for having failed in an exam, for not getting the desired car, etc., etc. Wisdom lies in discarding the worldly desires and attachments, and starting upon the journey within. Self-realization happens only when the heart is pure and dedicated. It does not happen through study or reasoning. It happens by experiencing the sacred inner space through meditation and other spiritual practices.

Continuous effort and the earnest belief in God will help one to reach the divinity within. Those who desire for realization, and whose minds have turned away from worldly pleasures, earn the grace of the supreme consciousness that resides within each one of us. The body is temporary but the soul is eternal, everlasting, and has always existed through the various lifetimes. We must utilize this human life to achieve the purpose for which it has taken birth. If we engage ourselves in sense pleasures, our physical body may perish without reaching the destined goal.

The cycles of births and deaths will continue to occur without any fulfillment, unless man becomes wise and stops succumbing to the wavering mind. Mere knowledge is not enough to escape the tangle of illusion. It is not learning but detachment from worldly affairs that helps in attaining enlightenment. Faith and discipline are very essential for this purpose. Dedicated practice of meditation and yoga helps to detach oneself from worldly objects.

When the knots within the energy centres of the human body are untied and when one is freed from worldly attachments, the divinity within is revealed. So, instead of wasting this precious life in gathering possessions and satiating desires, it is important to engage oneself in meditation. And also other suitable spiritual practices that will help achieve the very purpose of human lifen Self-realization.

May you understand the importance of adapting to a spiritual way of life, may you achieve the very purpose for which you have been born on this earth.