The difference between science and spirituality is brought out vividly, albeit succinctly, by the two simple equations:
- Spirit of love = Spirituality
- Split of love = Science
Students! Bhajans and japas do not constitute devotion, Bhakti. You must yearn for the love of the Lord. Along with your studies cultivate devotion and spiritual discipline. Spirituality is summum bonum of education. (D3 , p. 166)
Spirituality means merger with God. You are not different from God. You are God. God is you. If you are firmly established in this faith, you need not undertake any other Sadhana or spiritual practice. Of course, some people repeat parrot-like, ‘I and you are one’, but they do not live up to it. (ICS , p. 142)
Spirituality is an activity. It is an activity of the Atma. (SSB 1979, p. 143)
No one among the young men and women today understands what is the meaning of spirituality. They imagine that spirituality means meditation on God, bathing in sacred waters, and visiting holy shrines. This is not the correct meaning of spirituality. Spirituality means destroying the animal nature in man and making him realise his divine consciousness. Spirituality implies that one should not develop egoistic pride on account of the divine potencies in man but utilise them for achieving spiritual strength. Spirituality calls for the recognition of the manifold capacities manifesting in man as emanating from the Spirit and not from the mind. It means developing the faith that all powers come from the Divine.
Spirituality does not mean proceeding from the human to the Divine. It seeks to unfold the divinity in man. Spirituality does not mean passing from the mundane to the Divine. Spirituality means making man manifest the divinity in him.
People today have the wrong impression that spirituality is concerned with the journey from the mundane world to the higher realm and vice versa. Because of this mistaken view, students today are in a state of confusion about spirituality. Spirituality appears meaningless to them.
Spirituality is the realisation of the role of the Spirit in daily life. It is a way of life. Our entire life is bound up with the Spirit. All the powers of man are derived from the Spirit. It is totally wrong to think that Spirituality is divorced from daily life and that our daily concerns have no relation to spirituality. Nor does spirituality mean leading a lonely and secluded life. True spirituality calls for the recognition of the oneness of all mankind and to demonstrate the spiritual truth underlying this Divine unity.
Our entire life is bound up with the spiritual. Whatever one says, whatever one does, whatever one thinks, all of it is related to the Spirit. Spirituality is the expression of the promptings of the Inner Spirit. The good deeds by the external instruments of the body cannot be deemed spiritual.
The very first thing one has to do is to destroy the animal nature in man. Without eliminating the animal nature, all rituals and acts of charity are of no avail. Of what use is it to foster one s animal instincts, while doing acts of charity or conforming to religious injunctions? As a man grows older, his desires also grow, instead of diminishing. Performing external rituals without subduing the animal nature, men are only pursuing wrong courses. However much one may contemplate on God, from time to time he is a prey to Raga (attachment) and Dvesha (hatred). These two animal propensities have to be got rid of at the outset. (SSS Vol.25, pp. 163-164)
People talk about spirituality. What does it mean? Is it performance of Japa or sitting in meditation? No. Spirituality means the quest for oneness. It means discovering the underlying unity in the apparent multiplicity. Preoccupation with one’s own destiny is not spirituality. That also is a form of selfishness.
The essence of spirituality is mental transformation. The feeling ‘I and you are one’ should grow. Spirituality consists in filling the heart with love, dedicating all actions to the Divine and striving for the welfare of all. (SSS Vol.23, pp. 53-55)
Everyone should feel proud about Bharat’s ancient culture and its spiritual heritage. Spiritual knowledge and scientific knowledge should go together. There should be no dichotomy between science and spirituality. True bliss can be experienced only when science and spirituality are combined. Development of science and technology alone will not help people to get rid of bad thought, bad desires and bad deeds, because science by itself is not competent to sublimate life. Only spirituality can promote ethical values, the spirit of tolerance and equal-mindedness.
The science of spirit is essential for developing human values. Devotion to God is the first stage in the spiritual journey. Instead of developing devotion, men are immersed in the deep ocean of worldly life. When the Ocean of Milk was churned, the first thing that emerged was the Halahala, fuming poison. Amrita (nectar) came later. When the ocean of worldly existence is churned, Vairagya (renunciation) will emerge first. The nectar of bliss will come later. Vairagya is renunciation of attachment to the physical and the material. (SSS Vol.20, p. 169)
Spirituality calls for the removal of the animal qualities in man and developing his divine qualities. (SS Apr 95 , p. 90)
The human heart is full of positive desires. You can never light a bulb with the positive wire alone. You may hold the bulb in your hand but you will not get light. You have to connect the negative and positive to the bulb, only then the current will flow. Therefore, convert all negative desires into positive ones; that is devotion. Just as it is said that the proper study of mankind is man, work will be transformed into worship. You may do any work. It is God’s work. It is God’s form. We should have full faith in the truth. If you think this is my office work and that is Sai’s work, the Sai Organisation is separate and my office work is different and have such distinctions and difference, it is becoming business. Spirituality is not business. Spirituality should have relationship with the inner self. (DTB Vol.3, pp. 9-10)
What is spirituality? satyam bruyat priyam bruyat na bruyat satyam apriyam, priyam ca nanrutam bruyat esha dharmah sanatanah (speak the truth, speak sweetly and softly and never utter truth in an unpalatable way). ‘Satyam Bruyat’ –speak the truth. That is moral value. ‘Priyam Bruyat’- speak what is pleasant. That is Dharmic. ‘Na Bruyat Satyam Apriyam’ - do not speak the unpleasant truth. That is spiritual value. We worship and go on pilgrimage. These are only aspects of spirituality. We have to develop sacred qualities. There is no other spiritual path more than this. (DTB Vol.6, p. 10)
Three principles are expounded in respect of spirituality. These are:
- Don’t put all your faith in your body for you do not know what will happen at any moment of time.
- Don’t put your faith in the external world.
- Never abandon your faith in God.
Once you are fully aware of these three principles, you can achieve anything. (DD on 24.11.99, p.12)
Spirituality is not mere worship, recitation of the name or meditation. These may be good activities but they do not constitute spirituality. The driving away of animal qualities and proceeding from the human to the divine is real spirituality. There are human, divine and animal traits in everyone. You should get rid of the animal nature and develop divine quality by transcending the human traits. (NNSG Vol.5, p. 146)
What is spirituality? Spirituality is nothing but the blossoming of love. Whereas science is the split of love, spirituality is the spirit of love. It is the spirit of love that unites entire mankind into one. Then mankind will have no problems at all. (NNSG Vol.5, p. 147)
Spirituality has no meaning to a person suffering from hunger. To the hunger-stricken, bring God in the form of food; to the distressed and distracted, in the form of peace; to the sick, as medicine; and to the afflicted, a remedy for affliction. Only thus can spirituality enter one’s heart. Anything done otherwise produces agnostics and atheists instead of believers. Before you celebrate My sixtieth birthday adopt at least six thousand villages. The spiritual benefit deriving from Japa (silent repetition of a mantra), Tapas (penance), Yajna (oblation) and Yoga (religious sacrifice) will accrue from divine love alone. And of all the means to attain divine love, Seva (service to mankind) is unrivalled. (Tapovanam, pp. 285-286)