Why spirituality is a nonstarter
I have interacted with a lot of people on the questions related to spirituality. Most people ask a question as to how spiritual pursuit is going to help in finding solutions to the problems of day-to-day life. That's a very valid question and in fact, if spirituality is not in a position to find the solution to the day-to-day life, then it is useless and not worth pursuing.
However, the solution offered by spirituality is quite out of the box and does not appeal to many. For example, suppose two people are fighting intensely levying all types of allegations against each other. In the heat of the moment, they become so bitter that they start abusing each other. In these moments, our brain gets into an overdrive. It feels threatened and reacts for survival. The flow of adrenaline is at its peak. In these moments, it is so obsessed with self-defense and attacks that even the slightest of the cue triggers a big response. The same cue in a normal situation would have been ignored by the brain.
Similarly, when a person is trying very hard to achieve a certain target, for example, success in a particular exam, he gets obsessed with the target slowly and gradually. I have seen this very closely during the preparation of civil services. The civil services exam is a very time-consuming preparation and one of the toughest in the world. That is the reason why students have to give their 100% to qualify for the examination. In the process, everything else, such as social gatherings, ceremonies, festivals, friendships entertainment, etc, takes a side seat. Students listen to a lot of success stories and the stories of failure. There is a very strong anticipation for dopamine due to expectations of success in the exam. That obsession again tilts the reality and as a result, when the students clear civil services and enter the Academy, many of the officers develop a sort of bitterness and aggressive behavior because the outcome falls short of expectations. The ones who do not qualify for the exam or do not get the service of their choice develop greater bitterness which in certain cases continues lifelong.
The same thing happens with the people aiming at the welfare of others. The warriors of equality, social justice, humanity, and the environment keep fighting for their cause. Fighting for the case gives them a good dose of serotonin. However, injustice in society is too widespread. Such people face all types of challenges while trying to reverse the situation. In the process, they get some success in bringing a difference to the lives of a few people and that gives them a good dose of serotonin. Slowly, they get addicted to the oxytocin and serotonin neurotransmitters that are released by seeing people around happy. That addiction results in their manipulation by people around who pretend to be unhappy (consciously or unconsciously) and make these people feel guilty for not taking enough care of such people.
In sum and substance, I mean to say that while being addicted to adrenaline or dopamine or serotonin or oxytocin neurotransmitters, it's hard to see the reality. We are all addicted to one or the other of these neurotransmitters in each moment of our daily life. Broadly speaking people addicted to adrenaline have been referred to as Tamasik, dopamine as Rajasik, and serotonin and oxytocin as Saatvik in Indian scriptures. In Chapter 14, Lord Krishna speaks the following words:
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः।
निबध्नन्ति महाबाहो देहे देहिनमव्ययम्।।14.5।।
14.5 Saatva, Rajas and Tamasa these alities, O Arjuna, born of Nature, bind fast in the body, the embodied, the indestructible.
तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम्।
सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाति ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ।।14.6।।
14.6 Of these, Sattva, which from its stainlessness is luminous and healthy, binds by attachment to happiness and by attachment to knowledge, O sinless one.
These happiness neuro-transmitters are Oxytocin and serotonin. In fact, the latest research in the field of neurology has also proved that these neuro-transmitters are happiness neurotransmitters. In the next verse, Krishna says:
रजो रागात्मकं विद्धि तृष्णासङ्गसमुद्भवम्।
तन्निबध्नाति कौन्तेय कर्मसङ्गेन देहिनम्।।14.7।।
14.7 Know thou Rajas to be of the nature of passion, the source of thirst (for sensual enjoyment) and attachment; it binds fast, O Arjuna, the embodied one by attachment to action.
That's the nature of dopamine. It helps us set targets for different achievements. Krishna further said:
तमस्त्वज्ञानजं विद्धि मोहनं सर्वदेहिनाम्।
प्रमादालस्यनिद्राभिस्तन्निबध्नाति भारत।।14.8।।
14.8 But know thou Tamas to be born of ignorance, deluding all embodied beings; it binds fast, O Arjuna, by heedlessness, indolence, and sleep.
That's precisely the role of adrenaline. It acts in self-defense. The moment our survival is under threat, we get the secretion of adrenaline inside our body. Lord Krishna makes it clear after discussing the nature of different Gunas that He is beyond these three and the one who knows the reality of Krishna is free of all the three Gunas:
नान्यं गुणेभ्यः कर्तारं यदा द्रष्टानुपश्यति।
गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेत्ति मद्भावं सोऽधिगच्छति।।14.19।।
14.19 When the seer beholds no agent other than the Gunas and knows That which is higher than they, he attains to My Being.
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्देही देहसमुद्भवान्।
जन्ममृत्युजरादुःखैर्विमुक्तोऽमृतमश्नुते।।14.20।।
Practically, we all find that to be quite difficult because, in the state of obsession, it is almost impossible to change the vantage point. That is the reason most of the people in this world denounce spirituality. It is not possible to be fixated on the body and material possessions and at the same time to be free of these. It is not possible to be fixated on the targets for different achievements and at the same time be free of these. It is also not possible to be fixated on the public welfare and at the same time be free.
It does not mean at all to run away to run away from the world. The sole requirement is mental dissociation. This can be explained with a subtle example. If while playing at home, kids damage a glass vase, we get angry. The anger is the result of the loss of the vase because either we have a mental association with the vase or the money that was spent to acquire the vase. Now, take another example. If the same incident takes place at the office and the vase gets broken by a worker, we are not that angry. The incident is the same the outcomes are different because of the different mental associations.
Probably we can learn to live only after learning to die. We get freedom from all the material possessions and attractions once we realize their temporariness and mentally dissociate from all these things. Living in this world becomes like acting on a stage wherein the actor at the stage has a realization about the temporariness of all the characters and events at the stage.
However, Kabir has expressed the challenge in very explicit terms:
माया महा ठगनी हम जानी।
तिरगुन फाँसि लिये कर डोलै, बोलै मधुरी बानी।
केसव के कमला होइ बैठी, सिव के भवन भवानी।
पंडा के मूरत होइ बैठी तीरथहू में पानी।
जोगी के जोगिन होइ बैठी, काहू के कौड़ी कानी।
भक्तन के भक्तिन होइ बैठी, ब्रह्मा के ब्रह्मानी।
कहैं कबीर सुनो भाई साधो, यह सब अकथ कहानी
The same "Maya", the illusion or mental fixation comes in different forms in this world. It comes in very attractive forms. It comes in the form of wealth, fame, knowledge, power, and so on. Kabir has gone to the extent of clarifying that Maya may also take the form of devotion, yoga, and knowledge. He has warned the so-called spiritual seekers to introspect whether their devotion, yoga, and pursuit of knowledge of the spiritual world is actually spirituality of Maya-driven actions.
One, willing to move along the path, needs to introspect continuously so as to see whether the actions and decisions are driven by mental associations or by awareness of the true nature. If one is honest enough, one will soon realize where one is stuck. If one has genuine trust in the fellow travelers on this path, they will also help one realize where one is stuck. The problem arises when one lacks that authenticity and aims at materialistic possessions and achievements while pretending to move on the spiritual path. Since Maya is so attractive, it is quite difficult to find genuine spiritual seekers in this world. With my experience, I have seen even most of the spiritual organizations to be operating along the lines of commercial enterprises. While commercial enterprises do it explicitly, they do it in the name of spirituality.
The rewards of living spiritually are instant. When we live life fixated on adrenaline or dopamine or serotonin or oxytocin, we are always discontented, running after one or the other thing. Spirituality brings contentment instantly. Rama is so contended even after he is asked to go to the forest for 14 years by his father for none of his faults. Ravana is so disturbed even after having all the comforts and kidnapping the wife of Rama. That contentment is priceless and once a person experiences that contentment, all other materialistic possesions lose their charm. That contentment comes by experiencing the temporariness of different fixations within our body. Contentment can not come by knowing it at the level of intellect. In the state of that contentment, Krishna can decide the fate of Mahabharata without using any weapon.
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