733. The Hour of the Spirit

We rarely ask ourselves the question, "What is Spirituality?" because it is our understanding that we know it, an obvious fact. What we know as spirituality is worship, a religious ritual. Those who are in it know the ritual has no life or reality, much less an inner spiritual elevation that is expansive and makes us feel we are born anew. It is not as if we do not know it. When it comes to the rare few, it does not come while the puja is being done. The elevation comes at a moment when we witness an act of excessive goodness done in our presence. It is much more so if we are the author of that act. Lesser versions of it occur when we are praised truly for the good qualities we possess or our capacities. Genuine praise is somewhat spiritual. It opens the heart. A thrill passes through if the outside players' performance is applauded by the home crowd.

As a rule, the inner territory is made fit for the deep-seated Spirit to come out and play when we are entirely positive, GOOD and expansive because of impulses of goodness. Anyone has experienced several such occasions. Maybe it is not recognised as an Hour of the Spirit. But its atmosphere will be unmistakably felt. There is a phenomenon of the SOUL overcoming our human goodness as well as human smallness coming out of its shell, charging our being with intense joy of an extraordinary nature. It has the capacity to fill and saturate the nervous system with that joy. Should it reach the Mind, the Mind becomes light, shedding it usual weight and grows bright, taking us to the occasion of what is usually described as mental joy. Such persons are blessed.

It has a further dimension too. The body of flesh which usually lives in darkness is sometimes capable of opening to this invasion of a heavenly vibration. At its touch, there is a thrill. It is the thrill of spiritual gratitude the whole Being feels to the Divine. At its peak, people find that human individual in ecstasy. One can usher himself into this condition of beatitude. The RIGHT beginning is the causeless, native, genuine cheerfulness which Shakespeare called the ‘milk of human kindness'. Once we enter into that desirable human state, all that one needs to do is to increase the intensity by a concentration turned inward. It is better done without the aid of a mantra. If you cannot, one of the formulations of devotion, as "I am Yours" will serve the purpose of increasing the inner consecration. Its ultimate capacity is to outgrow the body and make us see that the body is inside the SOUL. Its white brilliance is unmistakable. Mother's atmosphere does it for us if we care to be Self-aware spiritually when it comes.