MAN, MIND AND SPIRITUALITY.

Faith came into being with the sensitive and sensible Man thinking deeply of matters relating to Birth and then the inevitable end, Death. It started with an immediate insight that everyone born should die one day. Death has always been defying understanding and it shall remain an enigma forever. This led to the belief in many that there must be something, which is beyond surmise, which would perhaps be understood intuitively with some kind of deep and committed envisioning. Perhaps Good and Bad are posited first. Primarily the sense of right and wrong through a specific sense may be called a religious sense. Then Divine Supreme is posited. With that Good and Bad came to be understood in depth leading to the insight that in after-life, that is life after death, the being which has had a span of life would be assessed by his/her deeds in the broad and never 'scientifically' 'defined' categories, Good and Bad. We the ordinary people think these are just relative terms. The seers knew intuitively that they were best left for the judgment of the Supreme Being.

Great sages and seers, drashtas, as they are called in Devabhasha, language of Gods, Sanskrit, wrote out long and inspired visionary experiences to reveal to us what they envisioned in an inspired effort to illumine what is dark in the likes of us. They invariably believed in a Supreme Being and showed time and again in their envisioned narratives what should be viewed as Good and what its dangerous opposite is. Belief and Faith are aspects of Theism. Theism is a dynamics of thinking, which believes in these intriguing concepts, intriguing because of lack of basic understanding. This cannot be served on a platter and this is where the concept of intimate one-to-one relationship with God through a mental state and contributory way of living called Bhakti emerged.

When bad is done, wrong is committed, it would be brought to book. It would be punished. This belief acts as a deterrent to bad deeds. While asking people to cultivate belief and have faith in God, the sages and seers went on to explain the consequences of bad deeds, also called evil-doings. This is what we now call a two-pronged approach to instil Faith. While detailing the fruits of right action and good deeds they also told us with deep concern how evil would be 'punished'. In our languages we have punya and paapa. The western world has near equivalents like 'merit' and 'sin'. 

Spirituality is a quality of mind, and a way of thinking, specially given to a human being. Exercising this faculty, man tries to mull and find the relationship between a human being, himself, and the Supreme Being. This attribute of mind leads man to a quest, a search, with yearning to delve deep ino the complexities of life and existence. Man is unique in creation in that he is bestowed with discrimination, judgment and capacity to choose between several courses of action. Spirituality surfaces in man when he intently wishes to know the purpose of human life. When he is befuddled and is intent on trying to understand the declarations and caveats of his elders, teachers, the wise and the knowing ones, he is led into spirituality. 
Right from his early childhood he finds himself presented with alternative courses of action and even belief. There comes a time when he mulls as to why things should be so, why there should be joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain and all the dualities. Religion, Faith and things like that appear to answer the many riddles to the mind. Discretion, judgment and reason are there to help him make choices according to the situations and conditions he is paced amidst. Either with his own inner resources or with the exposure he has, one begins to be drawn towards things subtler than reason like faith, god or spirituality. Thus, spirituality boils down to a faculty, a stance, a condition of the mind. This spirituality is either imbibed or intutited instinctively with the stage and condition of one's own inner evolution.
The lamp of jnana is essential both for physical welfare and spiritual well being and the soul's journey upward. When worldly desires and turbulent physical pleasures suffocate the psyche all around and all along, there would come a day when the individual is confronted with questions like 'Who am I?' 'What is the purpose of life?''Does life end with the burning ghat, the crematorium or the burial ground?' Answers to every one of these questions have to be found by the individual all by himself or herself. It is at this juncture that the lives and teachings of great sadhakas, seers, saints and mahatmas help us to find a little light for the mind groping in darkness. It is only with a sincere effort that we can realise the greatness of our forefathers, the seers (drashtas), sants and munis. Jnana, knowingness, is gnosis as opposed