Spirituality and Relationships

We are living in very challenging times nowadays. Each and every person is struggling in life. Especially relationships are very vulnerable these days. Be it marriage or other family members, its tough to maintain a healthy relationship for long.

The percentage of Divorce and family disputes has risen immensely in the past 10 years. New concepts of Live-in relationships or open marriage are in trend.

Why? Why are we facing these challenges? Have you ever thought about it?

Let’s try to understand, some people say it is because of so much exposure i.e., social media, etc. Some believe that Western influence is the reason. Or in the case of marriages people often say that nowadays girls are earning and living life on their terms or girls have refused to adjust the cause. 

All of these do contribute to the scenario, but there is a different perspective also.

Only girls or boys are not responsible for it, people believe human values have gone down. We are not in alignment with our own souls. We have come far from our own basic values. Our integrity is lost.

And Spirituality is the only way to reverse this situation.

Why and how?

You may feel that spirituality means Sanyasa, it will detach you from the material world. No it doesn’t mean like that. Spirituality is reaching to your highest potential. Spirituality activates wisdom, clarity. It becomes your own internal GPS (Guiding System). It develops discernment within you. It connects you with your higher self. It can make your relationships beautiful. It can give you wisdom to tackle difficult situations wisely.

1. Spirituality says the concept of the inside out. It says you can work on yourself only. You cannot change others but it also says that if you purify yourself it will reflect in your environment. It’s the law of the universe what you give out in universe, comes back to you in manifolds. So if you spread love, you will receive love. If you spread hatred, you will receive the same.
2. Spirituality is based on the theory of Karma. Another universal Law of cause and effect.  Karma of past and the present will jointly create the future. When you are connected with the higher source you become aware of your thoughts, words and actions. You do karma consciously.
   • For example – in Jyotish, it is said that while reading horoscopes desh, kaal, vaatavaran needs to be considered. It means that the effect of the country, era and environment you live in can give results of the same yoga differently. For instance – it has been observed that yoga of becoming an addict or gangster did not manifest because the child lives in the holy city and his family has sown seeds of dharma and sanskara since childhood then his mind, thoughts actions are wise and his conscious did not allow him to do wrong and in the reverse case, in case of a child born in a very advanced country and parents were busy in their career, the child has grown up without any affection, proper guidance and protection, the same yoga clearly manifested in child’s life.
3. Spirituality leads you to your higher purpose. When you have a higher purpose, your perspective towards life changes. You don’t get disturbed by petty issues. You can see things in top view and get solutions.
4. We Indians are very fortunate that all the precious knowledge is our heritage. Our shastras can guide us to do the rituals, practices to achieve everything in life.
5. Guru parampara is the base of our culture. When we have a Guru in our life, he can direct our path to the destination with the right guidance and protect us from falling down.

Spirituality works in two ways:

Practice for self

Practice for self means: becoming closer to our real own self. The original human being which God has created, the pure one, the pious one, who is wise, courageous, compassionate and know how to balance and be in neutral state emotionally.

Our shastras guides us to purify ourselves, how to apologise and ask forgiveness for our past karmas. Few relationships are the result of our deeply rooted karma.  Even in that situation it guides us to face it gracefully and move on.  A human life is much more worth than a relationship or any exam or career. It teaches us to utilize this birth to achieve moksha.

As it is said – “Bade bhaag manushya janma paava.”

If we follow few practices daily. The percentage of suicides and depression can decrease significantly.

Practice for others

Practice for others means working for the people, Society, country, and environment. As our shastras says we are indebted towards our parents, family, people in the world, our country where we are born or live and towards mother nature. This whole universe works as a combined effort.

 Someone sow seeds, some people manufacture things, and some supply it to others. A single person cannot survive. We need to have people around. We have to pay our debts towards all of these. We can do it by serving them and helping people, animals, and nature in any possible way we can. It can build our good fortune account also because it is good karma.

If you purify yourself and work for others, you are creating a bright future for yourself and your coming generations as well.

There are many more solutions given in different modalities of spiritual practices.  Other than traditional methods, we can make our life better in form of simple habits and prayers. For example, prayers for forgiveness, gratitude and happiness for self and others can bring a remarkable change in relationships and other areas of life.

Change comes when we accept our karma. It means whatever the situation, it’s the result of my own past or present life karmas. When we accept our karma, we take charge of our life. Because if we have created the karma, then I can only change it. Otherwise, we complain, crib or blame others for all our problems. In this way, we give authority to others and how can other people change my life? So firstly take charge in your hands by accepting your karma. Then you can see the difference in a situation for the good.

If each and every individual thinks and live in sync with spirituality then definitely the world will become a better place.