4 Important Lessons I Learned From My Spiritual Journey of 2 Decades

Here's what a genuine spiritual seeker can learn to speed up their blissful journey.

Rewind 2002, my daily meditative sitting was 15 minutes. Today, meditative living 24X7 has become effortless.

Life is at ease and joyful, without effort. It's incredible to be alive and in bliss. But that was not always the case.

From being suicidal to a blissful life was an exhilarating journey. Now I guide people on their spiritual and life journeys.

These 4 things are common among spiritual seekers that prevent them from attaining their highest possibility.

1. Not everybody is a genuine spiritual seeker

Beliefs are easy to protect. Many hardcore can easily kill people to prove their beliefs.

Religion is easy to follow. You don't have to apply your brain to follow some rituals. Do it, and you are done.

But spirituality is a different ball game.

Faint-hearted people stay at the surface. Only courageous people dive into the fire of true spirituality.

During the early phases of my journey, I met many intellectuals. They would debate on what was right or wrong.

Being a novice, I'd get impressed by their knowledge. But slowly, I realized their show-off is not spirituality.

True spirituality is death.

To let go of all the perceptions that you thought you were. Let go of all your beliefs and unlearn what you have learned so far.

I knew that the life I was living was not true. Something more profound hides within crevices of life that I can't see.

The thirst increased to heights. I was ready to sacrifice what I considered mine to get a glimpse of the truth.

And it indeed happened.

If you consider yourself a spiritual seeker, ask whether you are ready to let go of everything. Because if you can, life opens its door for you.

Spirituality is a conscious and intimate affair with life. Not an unconscious behavior that lurks on outer boundaries.

Only a genuine seeker can give away his everything in pursuit of finding what life is.

2. Life brings opportunities and miseries to test you

Life gifted me with many things on my spiritual journey. I received love, prestige, and money. Life graced me with many esoteric arts and supernatural experiences.

But before all this, I was suicidal and in depression.

The journey was slow and painful. At times, I was so fed up with life that I just wanted to give up. But I did not want my helplessness to overpower me.

I threw myself into the fire of spirituality to burn all my limiting beliefs about life. Gradually a new me was born.

Nobody wants to experience pain. Everybody craves happiness. But one can not happen without the other. It is called duality.

Duality means the stark opposite of it balances one thing. Like happiness and suffering. Laughter and tears.

Once my friend confided, "I become afraid of too much laughter. Because then I know I have to encounter misery again. The cycle never stops."

My answer came, "Then go beyond the cycle."

"How?"

"By recognizing your prison of the mind and getting centered in your inner being. Then there is no happiness or sorrow. There is only bliss with no opposite."

Duality has a significant purpose. The purpose is not to make you suffer. But to wake you up from the sleeping nature of your mind. And to become conscious of the beautiful life throbbing around you.

Suffering increases your thirst to know — "What the hell life is? Why I'm here. What is my purpose?"

Good times give you rest and time to prepare for the terrible phase. It also tests your dedication and willpower to progress ahead in spirituality.

It is easy to slip back into dreamy affairs when life runs according to you. No questions. No seeking. Only enjoyment for a brief time.

But if you show dedication during good times, it makes it easy to handle your critical times.

Because you can only practice before going to war. And not during the war.

Never detest your bad or good phases. These experiences push, shape, and guide you beyond mundane life. They both are here to help you navigate your life toward the highest path.

My master often says,

Misery is bound to happen until you are free from the cycle of happiness and sadness. But good times prepare you for your sufferings. It is a resting stage as well as preparation time.

If you slip back into an unconscious state of ego when good things happen to you, life will jolt you awake.

3. Your journey grows when you understand deeply that 'you know nothing'

I have seen people fighting and arguing about their truths. This morning, a dramatic argument started between my cousins.

Both were spewing past toxins on each other. The actions and words spoken years ago were dragged to justify their points. A minor disagreement turned into a full-blown war.

Aren't we doing the same?

During hard times, I'd blame my situations or people. Sometimes I'd blame God or myself for my miseries. I was helpless and didn't know what else to do but blame.

As I progressed in my journey, I realized trying to prove myself and blaming others is nonsense.

My unjustified sections are my making. I had to take full responsibility for how I felt and reacted.

Responsibility shifted my entire perspective. I became more conscious of life. I noticed how stress and anxiety were my makings. The stories I fed myself according to my limited mind were the source of friction if life.

I realized I would never know enough.

This realization made me relaxed and accepting of what life has to bring. Either misery or happiness, all was accepted.

Nobody can know enough. And that is the wisdom of every spiritual seeker.

When the mind thinks it knows everything, you become rigid. You become open to life's immense possibilities as soon as you say you don't know.

Not knowing is a blessing in spirituality. Only then can you explore life and beyond it.

4. Accept your truth to fly on your spiritual journey

Once during my painful journey, my spiritual mentor said, "Accept everything. It is your key to total freedom towards life."

It worked amazingly for me.

Saying accept it is easy. But doing it was a humongous task.

Tears would choke me. Screams would deafen me. Sadness would engulf me for days or weeks.

Although it was not new for me, but consciously doing it was a unique experience.

Slowly, it dissolved my dense emotions and led me to a beautiful and light-hearted life.

Accepting bitter emotions is a challenging task. It was ugly but necessary. I needed constant guidance while churning out the decayed portion of me.

Without acceptance, you will remain stuck where ever you are.

In between, you will encounter various other truths about people. Don't get distracted by others' opinions or facts.

Everybody has their truth. You can reject it or argue with others. But it will not dissolve their reality. Never!

The key is to be aware of your truth.

Focusing on other people's truth may make you a psychologist. But focusing on your truth liberates you.

Life is pushing everyone to the ultimate truth of life. By accepting your reality, you understand the vast possibility of life unfolding in everyone uniquely.

It is ironic how human minds see the truth. During my spiritual journey, I have realized one profound truth —

Everything is truth. Yet nothing but just one is true.

Life may seem to contradict itself.

But as a genuine seeker, dismiss nothing. You may not understand, which is not in your experience yet. But that doesn't make it false.

These steps can give you clarity if you follow them with dedication:

Seek your truth.
Keep rest aside without accepting or rejecting it. Let it be.
Dive deep into your experience of life.
Allow life to unfold through you without resistance.

Takeaways

The universe teases you but also helps you. It shows you how dedicated you are on a spiritual journey. Use both good and bad situations to speed up your journey. Staying stuck will never work.

Don't worry. It may take time.

But remember, life is always on your side. But are you ready to be on life's side and allow life to happen through you?

Is life dragging you, and you don't know how to handle it? Download my FREE guided meditation to heal your traumas and embrace your magical self.