Spiritual Knowledge and the Real World.
When your mind and heart are truly open abundance will flow to you effortlessly and easily.
Question:
After studying Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination [and then living in the real world],is like driving the Coast Highway without traffic and then having huge semi slam on its brakes immediately in front of my car. How do we continue encouraged, sorting out Maya while living with spouses, children, work, homes, etc.?. Does gratitude for blessings (experienced thru our senses but generated by our heart )not qualify as devotion? Daily meditations and reading spiritual books and teachings guide us as well. How do you suggest we live daily life without discarding our families and all that Shankara suggests?
Response:
Shankara emphasizes the importance of knowing one’s true Self above all else in spiritual awakening. The way to incorporate his teaching in the world of responsibilities and relationships is to have a time set aside each day to experience one’s real nature, or Atman, in meditation. The rest of the day is then where that pure consciousness is integrated into one’s everyday life. Both steps are necessary in order to make enlightenment a practical living reality. In this view, the outside world and families are not the enemy of spiritual growth, but rather the arena where spiritual bliss, wisdom and love takes form.
Love,
Deepak
