It is easy to say that one is practising spiritual disciplines but in the absence of strict continence such practice is but a sham. The foundation of spiritual life is the adherence of the strictest code of physical and psychological purity. Spiritual life entails a heavy expenditure of energy because the mind is naturally geared for outward pursuits and to turn it inward requires a psychological exertion which is impossible to achieve without conserving each and every ounce of energy at one's disposal. Chastity is, thus, the bedrock of spirituality. The energy otherwise dissipated in frivolous sensual pursuits, when conserved and sent inward, raises the system to finer levels whereby subtler truths of nature become apparent whose end-point is the perception of the Self of man. The vital force within man, saved and sublimated, sends the soul careering to higher energy levels where its essential divinity is revealed. But all these are easier said than done. A few words, a motley collection of catchy phrases, some quotes and aphorisms, stray instances of pseudo-reporting of divine realisations by quack gurus (spiritual preceptors) --- these do not make up the substance of genuine spirituality. The true children of the Lord do not advertise on television channels their realisations nor do they fabricate instant stress-busting recipes for the multitude, themselves masquerading as messiahs of men. The glorious ones of God lead silent lives steeped deep in the nectarine bliss of godliness which like the fragrance of springtime flora flows spontaneous from their surcharged beings and transforms many a fortunate one into gods among men. Such are the incarnations of divinity that ought to be followed and not the charlatans posing to be votaries of truth. But truth is ever mixed with untruth in this world of delusion and counterfeits confer with commoners seducing them to their malefic ends and so deluding the fools into self-oblivion for God knows how long! The Hindu scriptures being open-ended, these defrauders among men pass off during their lifetime as illumined personalities and are venerated by millions who in their stupendous ignorance are duped into gullible giving of devotion to these dubious double-dealers and so they forge fresh chains of bondage to the already heavy shackles that bind them to this world of despair and death. Who will open the eyes of men who have chosen to sleep in the wakeful state? Who will smash the delusive dreams of deliberate dolts? Swami Vivekananda had visited planet earth to wake people up. Some did. Others are in hibernation. Till then let the miracle-mongers make money and live in 'palaces of peace', let the stress-busters fake stress away while not talking of the fundamental questions of life like relinquishing desires as the secure means of ridding life of stress and let the belly-twisters tie bells round the necks of their foolish flock and wring them dry while ringing the common commotion. Those that will daydream will find alleyways to untruth at any rate. They form the bulk of the believers and none can take the scales off their eyes easily for instinctive ignorance persists for a while and only the sublimity of eventual inspiration dispels the dark. The Vedanta waits in the wings till then as Maya rules the world of men with her dubious designs ever spreading the web that careers men to their doom after their brief hour of apparent triumph on the stage of this earth.
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