What is spirituality? Spirituality is to live on a higher plane, a God-oriented plane. The spiritually inclined so elevate themselves in their thinking that they begin to live on a higher divine plane. They remain undisturbed in the face of provocation, their mental balance is not upset by unpleasant experiences, and the distasteful behaviour of others does not arouse any feelings of anger or revenge in them. Living strictly by their principles, their mental level becomes so high that the stone cast by others cannot reach them. In spirituality they find such sublimity that all else pales into insignificance. Spirituality in itself is such a great virtue that the seeker after divine bliss need quest no further.

On the other hand, those who have no such spiritual inclinations allow themselves to be constantly influenced by their immediate surroundings and thus remain unhappily embroiled in human strife. They cannot, like spiritual people, smile when abused. Nor, in countless situations, can they adopt the attitude of ‘forgive and forget.’ They reach such a low ebb mentally and emotionally, that, spiritually, they become incapable of making progress.

Life’s experiences for both the spiritual and the non-spiritual are like the grasping of a rosebush. On each branch are beautifully shaped and coloured blossoms whose scent refreshes from afar the weary in body and spirit. But also on each branch are the inevitable thorns. The spiritual individual will carefully avoid the thorns in order to take possession of the blossom, or if by accident, his hands are pricked by the thorns, he dismisses it as a trivial matter. But the unspiritual person, in his unseemly ways will rudely grasp both thorns and flowers, and will recoil in anger and dismay, baulked of his prize, and burning with resentment.

Where spirituality makes the best of life’s experiences — although there is no rose without a thorn — the lack of spirituality makes the worst of them. Where spirituality implies elevation of the soul, the lack of it implies the baser instincts of jealousy, greed, selfishness and exploitativeness.

It will only be when great numbers of the spiritually inclined come together that a society will be formed which shines like the sun and flourishes like lush green gardens.

Spirituality has great importance for every man and woman. From mental peace to human values, it has many aspects to it. Since spirituality is interwoven in the human personality, it also has a deep relationship with our lives: spirituality and human values are interlinked. If spirituality was absent from our lives, there would be no human values. From the moment I have discovered spirituality as supreme truth, I can safely say that the whole of my life has been a journey towards spirituality.

Spirituality as a philosophy has been sustained and developed by many great thinkers over a period of five thousand years. Some of the greatest of these spiritual philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, came from Greece. In our present time also there have been many spiritual philosophers such as Descartes, Bradley, Bergson, etc., in the western world, and Aurobindo, Rajagopalachari and Radhakrishnan in India.

Here, I do not propose to give a philosophical survey of spirituality or spiritualism. The academic aspect of spiritualism is not my concern at present. I would prefer rather to make an attempt to describe spirituality in a simplified manner, so that it may be understandable to all.

Our world is a dual world – a world of ‘material things’ and a world of ‘inner meanings’. When one raises oneself to a level where material things become secondary and inner meanings become of prime importance, then one is a spiritual person. Spirituality is only another name for high thinking. It is no exaggeration to say that spirituality makes a man a superman. Spirituality makes a nation a super nation. Spirituality elevates one from the limited world of things to a limitless world of meanings. Spirituality activates that intellectual process which is necessary for the development of one’s personality. Spirituality makes you an intellectual giant. Spirituality enables you to defuse your tensions. All other things become insignificant in comparison to spiritual achievement. It brings you to an eternal world of bliss, where there is nothing but eternal contentment. This is a point where losing is also gaining. Indeed, spirituality is the greatest source of crisis management.