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Table of Contents
5 Delusions of Spiritual Progress
- The mind tricks us into seeking validation.
- False signs of divine intervention lead to delusion.
- Ego creates self-importance disguised as devotion.
- Spiritual narcissism clouds true surrender.
- Fake experiences distract from real sadhana.
The Commercialization of Spirituality: A Trap for Seekers
Spirituality is not what the common or average man takes it to be. Right now the Digital Media projects Spirituality in a very bad light. There is too much talk of Spirituality and a projection of blind faith, gimmickry, sycophancy, fake statements from so-called spiritual figures and promotion of concepts of spirituality which do not suit a context.
There are so many people who have made spirituality as a means of livelihood in the name of doing Seva or spiritual service. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence people are losing their jobs by the minute, stress levels are high and human beings are undergoing unmanageable levels of depression.
Naturally people seek respite through Spirituality. Unfortunately Popular Spirituality has become the new business avenue for so-called Spiritual leaders who have built Business Empires. Now why are falling into this trap laid by stealthy spiritual tricksters? Let us analyze the reasons behind this. Are the tricksters responsible for the falling state of Spiritualism in the world or are we directly responsible for such a sad state.
The Mind’s Deception: How Ignorance Leads to Pseudo-Spirituality
Where are we erring in our approach and why do we get caught in pseudo-spiritual practices or get trapped influenced by a pseudo-Guru? The reason for this is our ignorance and lack of commitment to genuine spirituality.
We tend to spend 22 years getting a college degree but do not spend enough time to even get the basic definition of spirituality right. Leave alone spiritually progressing, becoming a genuine spiritual aspirant or graduating as a genuine Yogi or a Bhakta, devotee.
The root of all problems is the human mind. An average man, the common man is tormented by the threats of the mind. The soul is held captive by the vicious devious mind. Each and every individual is under the mind’s siege. The mind’s only business in its natural unenlightened state is to project things that are not the way they seem to appear.
Under such conditions, the mind’s only job is to muddle and confuse the individual. The light of the pure soul is unable to impinge through the murky dark corridors of the mind because in its unenlightened state the mind is hard, severely contaminated, heavy and utterly distracted. Under such circumstances, the light of the soul gets coloured by the dark hues of the mind, distorting one’s understanding, intellect, and conclusions.
This obviously has nothing to do with pure intelligence which is the function of the spiritualized, purified mind, which is clear, transparent, suffused with the brilliant light and effulgence of the soul.
The Trap of Validation: How the Unenlightened Mind Seeks False Spiritual Affirmation
Let us now see why the unenlightened mind falls prey to thugs who portray spirituality in the wrong light creating a make-believe feel-good environment trapping dull minds in the name of spiritual care.
Our unenlightened mind constantly seeks validation. This is the nature of murky minds because the mind is blind and therefore requires assurances from the external world, because the mind is unaware of the inner beatitude of the spirit that is buried under the debris of fleeting experiences and wrong conclusions that it has accumulated over untold past lives.
That means, even while seeking validation, the mind is seeking new experiences as the validation cue. This is certainly the biggest blunder that the mind and the sullied intellect commits the individual to.
One other symptom of the experience for the mind to believe that it is genuine is to get confirmation that these special experiences make us feel important. Right at this step, a genuine aspirant shall know that the experience has been induced and is a trap. But on the other hand a commoner shall regard this experience to be the correct indication that he is heading the right way.
When the average man uninitiated into the spiritual domain tends to exaggerate ordinary events, happenings as divine, because he has mentally set out for such situations to manifest and may conclude almost every ordinary encounter as out of the world, divine, at the drop of a hat.
The individual may believe that he has been chosen by the divine if he meets someone who is talking favorably to the seeker say if in the encounter with the stranger even makes a casual stranger that “ You are truly spiritual, you are perhaps been chosen by the Lord. Without the Lord’s Grace you could not have come to this place.”
The Illusion of Divine Signs: How the Ego Misguides the Seeker
Immediately the seeker starts believing these words because something positive and spiritually encouraging words have been spoken about him. This is indeed sad. After this meeting, when the average seeker is asked by a temple priest to go to a certain temple and at his behest the average individual visits the temple, he starts believing that “It was the call of the deity.” This is an absurd conclusion, extremely delusive.
After that point, even a temple bell ringing at a distance shall make the individual believe that “it is the call of the divine”. This becomes the level of absurdity the pseudo-seeker gets into it. He starts feeling that there is a spiritual calling. He starts going behind Gurus. Unfortunately at this stage he is ill-prepared to get into any sort of spiritual practice because he has not known what genuine spirituality is and has never focused on his shortcomings.
He has been only been driven by the hard shell of Ego, naturally he shall gravitate to a guide who reflects that very quality, an amplified version of himself. That shall be catastrophic.
The Trap of Spiritual Delusion: When the Ego Masquerades as Divine Guidance
A spiritually unprepared individual can be deceived in many ways because although inspired by spiritual motivation, the mind is not worked upon and Ego becomes the dictator of his thoughts, words and actions.
These are the mental deceptions of a spiritually lost individual. He feels that the deity is communicating with him. He believes that every event in life is divinely orchestrated for his exclusive benefit. The main thing to note here is the hidden agenda is “benefit”, which is always material, keeping the mind far away from the possibility of any loss.
The mind also fabricates preposterous levels of coincidences that makes the individual believe that these cosmic signs reinforce his/her self-importance.
One may also start believing in extreme cases that one’s choices, desires or thoughts are deeply affecting the status quo of the world which is the height of spiritual narcissism or spiritual illusion. These ideas stem from self-centeredness rather than true surrender to the divine.
Maya’s Illusions: The False Sense of Spiritual Attainment
One fails to grasp the very fundamentals of spiritualism. Maya literally means “that which is not”. Another name for Maya is the unillumined mind, that makes every individual roam about in the universe literally like a zombie, Physically Conscious but Spiritually dead.
Maya manifests in many ways, especially for those on the spiritual path. It creates an inflated sense of spiritual importance, making one feel chosen, enlightened, or uniquely blessed. The fakery of induced sense of divine intervention leads to complacency and distracts from actual sadhana (spiritual discipline).
Many seekers fall into the trap of thinking they have already attained something significant when in reality, they are still bound by desires and ego. Maya operates in subtle ways, reinforcing the illusion that we are making spiritual progress, even when we are merely indulging in self-glorification.
We get influenced by the external display of Tyaga (renunciation), ochre dress, fake appearance of so-called sadhus who are in fact thugs, populating the many spiritual destinations especially in the land of Bharath, all because these thugs know how to get their work done through spiritually disillusioned souls who come to Dhama in search of a self-presumed, self-acquired understanding of spirituality far from genuine spirituality.
7/8 Questions from Sanatana Dharma
The scores generated in this Quiz may or may not be absolute. There may be right or wrong answers to each Question. A percentage towards 100 indicates that you are more aligned to the overall subject matter.
True Gurus Remain Hidden: The Myth of Public Spirituality
We fail to understand that genuine spiritual aspirants do not expose themselves to the general public, because they are committed to genuine spiritual discipline.
Genuine practitioners have realized that it is Bhagawan alone who manages the affairs of the world and it is totally a false narrative that a Godman is needed to wake up other souls.
Yes, waking up souls by genuine Gurus happens, but then that meeting of Guru and the genuine disciple happens secretly under the direct supervision of Bhagawan and there is no need for advertisement or fan following.
The Lord alone is the true owner of the universe. Lord allows fake associations to happen, although he has no hand in making these fake associations between a fake Guru and a self-importance seeking happen. These meetings happen under the misguided counsel of Maya Devi’s mandate.
The Trap of False Spiritual Experiences and Validation
One should never forget that the mind is a storyteller, constantly weaving narratives to suit its ego-driven needs. Common delusions of a pseudo spiritual seeker are “I saw a vision, so I must be spiritually advanced.” “Everything is happening for my benefit because I am divinely protected.” “The Lord is revealing secrets to me that others do not know.” “I am receiving divine messages or mystical signs.”
Such experiences often lead to pride, making the individual feel superior to others. Instead of surrendering to the divine, the person starts believing in their own special role in the universe. What confirms one’s delusions is that the person who comes to these fake conclusions discusses these matters openly, on the internet and wants to casually discuss this with every single person that he meets.
The reason being, he needs social validation for him to feel good, trying to stoke someone’s envy in the process. This is a clear indication that the dubious ego is at work. A genuine seeker discusses his experiences or realizations only with his spiritual master and that too alone, never in public.
The experiences and realization of a seeker is unique and the seeker wants to know from the Guru whether his realization is genuine and that his dubious mind is not at play and that his mind is not playing tricks with him.
Recognizing True Spiritual Progress and Seeking a Genuine Guru
Now let us see what are the guidelines for Understanding True Spiritual Progress.
A genuine seeker of spirituality never trusts his mind or thoughts. He is ever convinced that his mind is impure and heavily conditioned and is the devil that constantly provokes him to take the wrong calls.
This in a way is an excellent start to anybody’s spiritual journey. The seeker experiences extreme vulnerability and therefore is on the lookout for a genuine spiritual master. He is endowed with Grace owing to his acceptance of his unillumined condition. His Spiritual greed, and fever to know and practice genuine spirituality is intense.
This propels him to seek genuinely with utter humility and genuineness. This inner value draws upon him the Lord’s Grace that leads him to his spiritual master. The sadhaka often prays for a Guru and expects Providence to lead the way.
Faith born out of such sincere and committed prayer lights up the dark corridors of the otherwise hidden spiritual path. The genuine seeker does not arbitrarily chant mantras or take up practices for “worldly benefits” , not try to get a stop gap arrangement nor does he care to attain worldly possessions through his spiritual endeavors. One is only on the lookout for a genuine guide.
The Sacred Bond Between Guru and Disciple: A Divine Secret
When the seeker is in search of a Spiritual Master, clarity and Grace is bestowed on him and he shall be able to recognize the Guru. Similarly even the Guru shall be able to recognize the genuine sadhaka. Only a committed Guru-Disciple relationship can lay the foundation of a mature Spiritual Practice.
The relationship of the Guru and disciple is always secretive and never made public. There are three members in the relationship namely the Guru, the disciple and Bhagawan. No one else is a part of this relationship triad.
Having a Guru and revealing details about our Guru is not a very healthy practice because Bhagawan is secretive about His true nature and only when the Guru Disciple relationship is kept under cover only then does Bhagawan reveal his nature to the disciple to the Guru. Guru or disciple are not a subject for public consumption, thereby it is obvious that Bhagawan never reveals his true nature to the Public.
The Humble Path of a True Disciple: Surrender, Service, and Silence
Every revelation of Bhagawan is a personal revelation transmitted from Guru to a specific disciple. A committed disciple is surrendered to the Guru, never sharing the details of his Guru to anyone and follows all instructions of the Guru, performs service or Seva to the Guru and remains ever bent and humble to his Guru just as an innocent child surrenders to his mother.
The Committed disciple trusts his Guru 100% and takes every possible step to remain committed to japa, meditation and scriptural study or swadhyaya without seeking divine visions, premonitions or other-worldly dreams.
Even when the seeker inquires about various spiritual subjects from the Guru he does so in all humility and never in a challenging mode. Such a committed disciple moves within this society of exploitation casually without making a show of his spiritual purpose and stops seeking validation from society.
In fact he takes the first opportunity to duck spiritual talks or spiritual inquiries from strangers. He relies on divine teachings and scriptures rather than subjective feelings or personal opinions. His opinionated views get slowly obliterated, supported by his advancement in spiritual practice.
He develops a deep sense of insignificance in the scheme of things. He is no more agitated with Profit or Loss, Success or failure and Life or Death as he becomes advanced as a sadhaka and serves his Guru with extreme surrender.
True seekers have little or no belief in astrology, they do not seek omens, miracles or divine signs from nature as signals of validation. A Sadhaka is more interested to Serve rather than get something from the world or do something “good” to the world, having totally realized that it is God or Bhagawan who is totally responsible for Creation, Preservation or even destruction of the world.
Here the individual jiva has no role to play other than learn his lessons and say goodbye to the land of exploitation, the earth planet.
True Surrender: Walking the Path Without Seeking Signs
There is no necessity for manipulation for a seeker and is established in the Truth that Bhagawan or the Lord is the reason of all reasons (Sarva Karana Karanam सर्व कारण कारणम ). The simple ways in which a neophyte seeker can progress on the path of spirituality is to ignore the mind’s narratives and focus on discipline and surrender under able guidance.
True Bhakti island spiritual progress are not about experiences or a feel good factor but of deep realization born out of intense spiritual practices and Grace born out of Service to Guru and Bhagawan. Instead of seeking proof that God is helping us, we must act as humble servants without expectations.
If we truly surrender, we won’t feel the need for validation through miracles, signs, or supernatural interventions.
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