From what others used to comment about me, especially during the childhood days, I found it worth while to look at one comment that was a bit common. It was about the 'type' of some of the questions that I used to ask others. I was unable to understand what was so strange about the questions, then, at that age. The other usual comments which most elders say about most children then(we used to pool those comments, and then discuss them), used to be given only scant attention though after some due consideration (if it is so, it is so.... okay... what else to do about it? Was the usual approach, when such comments(the negative ones) did not accompany any practical suggestions). It is the 'type' of some of the questions, that gave me perhaps a good head start. But, whether fortunately or not, whether it was beneficial for me or not, none of them 'named' the 'type' of questions. Peculiarly enough, in those days, the general trend or attitude of the people that I came across around me was to ignore such questions, as something very irrelavant! Now, when I look back, I am able to 'feel' its tremendous significance, and also am able to view the people then, with a judiciously discrete angle. Fault finding attitude does not help at all.
All these observations are to give a feel of what the earlier generation would have looked like, to the younger ones of today. It has significance, when we try to ask why that spiritual training did not form a part of 'main' menu at domestic front , or how it dwindled over a period of time.
Now, we are at a point where 'spirituality' seems like a matter of choice, its being liked a matter of chance, or even a 'left-out' alternative for those unfortunate ones who do not find themselves to fit into anything else, because of their peculiar emotional disposition or attitude. (My elders, ofcourse, well meaningly, tried to dissuade me from undertaking those strenous routines suggested by the Yoga programs that I chose. And I too, on my part, due to great respect for them, and my trust in their genuine concern about me, always looked at the reasons put forth by them, while advising so. It is the bulk of these observations made by me , about two decades and over ago, that also provides an insight into the common mind-structure of the people around at that point of time). All this goes into how spirituality is looked at. How the words resonate into the children of the next generation would decide how they would look at life, how they would look at ancient values, etc. (It is not just the vocabulary, the language, the words, the accent, only that goes into the child. It is the concepts, that become instinctive when they respond, and they struggle to strip it off themselves, when they find it inappropriate to the situation later on in their lives. For instance, some of our children feel ashamed of certain traits that they are unable to rid of when they 'settle down' at jobs in western countries).
Those words which are used to convey the affairs of inner well being are the ones, perhaps, which underwent more of needless distortions, though maybe inadvertently.
Spirituality is one of those. That is why the question ...... whether “hard work” or 'working hardly” takes a person onwards on a spiritual path! 'Hard work' is about physical strain. Spirituality is about the spirit. If spirit is something intangible, and hence difficult to believe, then, allow it the concession that 'maybe' it has something to do with our life, which is not the body, the mind, but something that keeps us going, till somebody else finds it fit to dispose our inanimate body as a needless or useless garbage! That is what those medical certificates are as yet able to define death as... just the 'clinical' death! So, where is the question of going 'hard' on the spirit, if spirituality is what we are trying to pursue? May be we are required to go very intense about it, at our very best. If that seems hard, then comes the issue of what makes it hard. That is where, the 'initial' practices deal with the hard aspects....... these hard aspects are usually gross..... the gross body, and its gross influence over “our” attention..... the “our” being our “being” itself!!! (The bulk of later practices, seldom require any strain or hard work... it is more about dynamic state of inaction rather!)
Politically, and diplomatically, all the foregoing explanation is not at all needed to substantiate the answer for the question about hard work being attached to spirituality. It is enough to state instances where somebody got enlightened in a moment, unasked, unsought, just like that, as a matter of chance, as a matter of luck! But that kind of reply does not help to persuade, inspire and motivate people.
My answer did not seem to find an appeal in the asker's mind. Perhaps, the asker has already decided, that the way spirituality is supposed to be understood, and the way the bulk of the people appear to look at it, there is no way, other than its being hard, other than fulfilling its demand of a very hard work, to make any noteworthy progress! So, this time, I decided to look at it the other way. If similar views are held by many more, let us try to open a possibility to look at it other-wise too!
psn(18th June, 2011)
What makes you easy to move on spiritual “path” working hard or hardly working in life?
My answer:
Spiritual path does not even ask about how we work (hard or hardly). To the very fortunate people, the ultimate possibility of a spiritual path happens in just one moment!!! (In such cases, where was the time available for hard-work or lazy(ing) hours!
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Some of us are very eager and a bit restless (like those children who do not take their eyes off a package of gift just arrived for them on an occasion, and are very restless, excited etc!!!).
Such people, go to any length to progress on the spiritual path. It means they do whatever it takes! They may sit very still at the very same place for 'unreasonably' long period of time! The onlookers may call it 'hardly working' (but those who sit like that know how tough it is to sit thus!).
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The reason why this question arises, relating spiritual path with 'work' is simply because we see lots of unusual exercises, exertions, undertaken by spiritual people. The rigid routine observed dissuades ordinary people (Oh! that is not my cup of tea! No guarantee even, after so much circus!).
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So, we have several dissimilar, disproportionate examples and instances. Zen masters(may) 'appear' to be the most crude and gross ones! But in reality, they are the most compassionate ones!
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Like any other technology, spirituality too has undergone lots of "advancement". Today we have good tools that can mix "working in life" and spiritual pursuit simultaneously. For spiritual path, only requirement that could not be diluted or compromised is the "intensity". The results are directly proportional to the intensity, and never related to hard work or hardly working! Intensity makes the "MOVE" easy.... not the hard work or hardly working! (For proof, please look at students who struggle with academics to score. Though very rare and few, there are students who are very intense, and grasp the deep fundamentals, the deep concepts very quick, and for them, the "move" is easy, without the need of much hard work! The grasp is 'perception' dependent. Deeper the ability to perceive, better the results, and lesser the efforts required!).
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