The Impact Of Mind-Body Techniques On Spiritual Well-Being

AiR Atman in Ravi Mar 04, 2024

What is spiritual well-being in reality? It is the ability to use our body and mind effectively. The techniques of our body and mind, whether they are more material or spiritual, will decide whether we will have spiritual well-being or not. In this fast-paced world, we are running the race to be an ace. We get caught in this chase and ultimately, we’re lost in the maze of this world. For what? To leave everything behind. Spiritual well-being is realising that we are the Divine Soul. We are not the body that will die. We are not the mind that we cannot find. Therefore, we have to shift our paradigm. Instead of letting our senses seek gratification, we have to use our senses effectively for spiritual well-being. Instead of being in the mind state, where thoughts pour like rain, push us down the drain and make us suffer again and again, we should tame the monkey mind, make it a monk and shift to the state of consciousness. It is in this state of consciousness that we can live spiritually. What is it to live spiritually? It is to have peace, to have bliss. It is not to seek pleasure that comes and goes, but to live in eternal bliss that forever flows. Spiritual well-being is living as the Soul, realising the truth that life is temporary. This body will ultimately return to dust, to the 5 elements. And the mind, which doesn't exist, will stop troubling us with emotions like fear, worry, stress, anxiety, regret, shame and guilt. When the body and mind are not controlled by a spiritual paradigm, a spiritual philosophy, it gives rise to the ego that creates anger, hate, revenge and jealousy. But one who has spiritual well-being moves from the state of ego to the state of an enlightened ego. The enlightened ego realises: I am not I. I will never die. The body will die but I will be free.

Unfortunately, most of us live and die but we don't realise, ‘Who am I?’ It is because we are trapped by the body and mind. And therefore, we have to change our body-mind techniques. We have to stop living with greed and instead, live with fulfilling our need. We have to stop letting the mind be in the noise of this world. We have to still the mind and kill the mind to hear the Divine voice that is within. When we are in the state of spirituality, we are able to feel and experience the Divine that lives in the temple of our heart. The body and mind, no more trouble us with material pursuits. We evolve and live a life of fulfilment and contentment, till we ultimately reach that state of Enlightenment, the state which makes us realise that we are the immortal Soul. This is our goal.

When there's no spiritual well-being, we are slaves of the body-mind complex. We live and we die, we create Karma, good and bad and then we return to earth in a rebirth. At most, we think that as a good body and mind, we should do good karma. Little do we realise that even good Karma will bring us back to earth. This is the ultimate truth. Unfortunately, because we are lost in this world, we don't realise our true identity. We don't realise that we are the Divine spirit, the Soul, S O U L — the Spark Of Unique Life. The moment we change our body-mind techniques and we live spiritually, we are enlightened, we are spiritually awakened, we are free from all misery on earth, from the pain of the body, misery of the mind, agony of the ego. Then we are also liberated from the cycle of rebirth. In that moment of death, we are liberated and united with the supreme. This is our ultimate goal — to realise we are the Divine Soul. But unfortunately, with the wrong techniques of the body and mind, we are lost in Bhoga, this material world. We don't learn to live in Yoga, a Divine life in union with the supreme. It’s time to stop, to take an exit on the spiritual path and to change our techniques of body and mind, a body that will die and the mind that we cannot find. We must learn to live in consciousness and experience that state of Eternal Bliss.