What is Spirituality?

“There are two aspects of life, one is its maintenance and the other is its use/ purpose. Both are important. The maintenance of life is achieved through ‘Vigyan’ and the purpose of life is accomplished through ‘Gyan’. Gyan is the knowledge of the self and all other knowledge is Vigyan.”

Through vigyan we earn our livelihood and take care of requirements such as food, clothing, shelter etc. It helps us run our life smoothly. To gain the knowledge of vigyan we go to a guru of vigyan, or in other words to an expert/ teacher/ professor who inculcates in us this knowledge.

The other aspect of life is its use or its purpose and this is achieved through gyan. It gives us happiness and satisfaction. To gain knowledge of this aspect one goes to its expert/ teacher or to a Sat-Guru. Sat-guru means a guru who takes you towards sat (truth).

This can be understood with an example too. When we have a car we fill petrol, service it regularly or in other words we maintain it. This is important because without it the car won't run efficiently. But if we just keep maintaining the car and never drive it then isn’t it worthless to own the car? Similarly, if we just focus on the maintenance of life then even life will start to seem worthless. 

Every person desires peace, happiness and satisfaction. However, all our efforts are directed towards livelihood or basically towards maintenance of life. How can we reap these fruits of Gyan without making any effort towards seeking it? The happiness that we experience through vigyan is temporary. Once the situation changes, the happiness changes into grief/ pain/ boredom. This happiness that is dependent on a person, object, situation cannot be permanent, it cannot be true happiness. It just seems so for a short period of time. Gyan, or knowledge of the Self gives us that happiness which is independent of anything and lasts forever. To receive this knowledge one must go to a Sat-Guru, a person who has gone through the journey and reached the destination of Bliss, thereby being able to guide.