Often a question comes to the mind of everybody moving along the spiritual path. Why this path is so difficult and why does our mind get stuck on one or the other worldly things? We get attracted to the objects of pleasure and run after money to acquire these objects. Sometimes, we get attracted to the appreciation, name, and fame. Sometimes we get inclined to accumulate power and get certain positions. We are mostly afraid to lose the resources and positions we possess. We are mostly afraid of criticism from our family members, friends, and society. Where is the space left for spirituality after all these? After all, the spiritual path requires just holding on to truth and nothing else.
Probably there is only one underlying reason for these fixations. We are internally weak and therefore wish to cling to one or the other things. This internal weakness makes us shaky and we seek support from all these things. So long we are convinced that these external things will make us stronger, we keep clinging to them. We see most of the people in the society either having money and power or making efforts for them and naturally get inclined to make efforts for the same.
There is no doubt that money and power give us strength. However, probably, there are two crucial points we miss. Firstly, money and power are very temporary and limited. Secondly, we miss the joy and beauty of life since money and power make us so limited. Even the strongest dictators of the world such as Hitler could not hold power for long. Even the strongest of the rulers such as the British had to eventually run away from the countries they ruled. The same is true for money. Even the strongest of the business empires go bankrupt. We have seen many in the last few decades. Both money and power are not absolute. The pleasure and comforts provided by them are quite limited. More the power one gathers the more he becomes fearful of losing them. It is because of the simple reason that the efforts required to maintain the powers rise exponentially because there are many competitors ready to pull you down. The same applies to money. A few wrong decisions and the money is gone. It requires continuous efforts to keep the money secure and well-invested. Do we wish to build our lives on such shaky foundations? Probably a natural question would be that we do not foresee a better alternative to setting ambitions in terms of money and power.
I feel that there is a better alternative but since childhood, we are so conditioned that we refuse to see the alternative. Our society, friends, and family have advocated and followed the linear path of living to run after money and power. That is the reason why it's difficult for us to look at reality. Even if the reality is so evident, we wish to deny the same. We become quite uncomfortable looking at the reality. We see so much poverty all around, exploitation of one human being by another, widespread inequality, mad traffic, polluted water of rivers, bad quality of air, poor animals starving on the streets, children in the streets living a life worse than the animals, nexus of the crime and police personnel, dirty politics and so on. We close our eyes to reality because we feel helpless. We find an escape mechanism of accumulating money and power and feel that we will carve out a beautiful world for ourselves out of this dirty world closing our eyes to the fact that we can not live in isolation. Even the most powerful have to go back to the poor to get the votes. The richest has to get the work done by his employees. There is no possibility of living isolated in this integrated world. At the end of the day, we have to breathe the same air drink the same water, and share the same biome.
It is only when we realize the futility of running away from the world, we start experiencing the connection with the universe. We start realizing how different cells and atoms in our body dance to the tune of the consciousness. The same dance is going on inside all the creatures of the universe. As we start connecting to the consciousness, we become aware of the wonders of nature. The ambition to carve out a separate world full of money, power, and objects of pleasure looks stupid. Rather we wish to connect to the consciousness within and enjoy the wonders of the same. The world of money and power looks so artificial and shallow. We feel connected to everyone around us and realize the pain of disconnection. That is the reason why we wish that more and more people get connected to the consciousness so that they live a life full of joy rather than the pain and suffering they have accumulated due to their ignorance and social conditioning.
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