Being Myself  - Swami Tyagananda

Towards the end of a day-long retreat we had in April this year, a devotee asked this question : "What is this spiritual life? What does it really mean to be a spiritual person? Everyone uses the phrase "spiritual life" but not all care to be explicit about what it really means.  Could you please explain this to me in a simple way?

What struck me most in this query were the last two words : 'simple way.'  To explain something in a simple way is different from 'simplifying' something.  We can simplify only that which is originally complicated. If spiritual life were something complicated, it would need simplification.  Is spiritual life a complicated matter?  Perhaps it is.  Why else would anyone, after hearing several talks dealing with spiritual life, ask what spiritual life means?

It is, of course, not difficult to describe spiritual life. We could say spiritual life is a life of prayer, worship, meditation, selfless service, study of holy literature - a life built on the solid foundation of truthfulness and purity, a life which has no place in it for any kind of falsehood, compromise, hatred, jealousy, envy and pride.

© The Vedanta Kesari, June 1997.  Reprinted with permission.

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