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A Treasure of Great Spiritual Stories: Health & Spiritual Series
A Treasure of Great Spiritual Stories: Health & Spiritual Series
A Treasure of Great Spiritual Stories: Health & Spiritual Series
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A Treasure of Great Spiritual Stories: Health & Spiritual Series

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This collection of spiritual stories and precepts supplement and buttress peoples moral sense, which is our conscience or the spark within that tells us to do good.

Learning spirituality is not simply the domain of sublime philosophy and drama. It lies at the heart of the task of successful everyday behavior, whether it is controlling our tempers, or our appetites, or our inclinations to sit all day in front of the television. As Aristotle pointed out, here our habits make all the difference. We learn to practice our spirituality the same way we learn to do math problems or play baseball well -- through practice.

The benefits of focusing on our spiritual-self include tranquility, increased production, a resurgence of vitality, mental clarity, and joy of living. And the understanding of our spiritual-self will put us on a road to love and happiness irrespective of our faith.

In the legend of Mahabharta, Yudhister could see no evil in any man and Daryodhan could see no virtue in any one. And Buddha was attracted to seek nirvana (spiritual enlightenment) in seclusion rather than being a king. We all have something like this. Truthful and spiritually oriented books help refine the sense of right and wrong. Just look at the fallen towers and religious wars all over the globe to see the need for books like this.

"The language of the head is words.
The language of the heart is love.
The language of the soul is silence."

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 9, 2018
ISBN9781466394773
A Treasure of Great Spiritual Stories: Health & Spiritual Series
Author

Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon

Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon, Yale-educated University Professor, has an advanced degree in life sciences and molecular biology from the west and a fascination with yoga, breathing, religion and spirituality from the east crafted out of studies at Yale University, U.S.A. and Punjab University, India. Therefore, he is uniquely qualified to present a synthesis of eastern and western approaches towards concept of Spirituality, God, science, and religion.  He has published over 12 books and 40 research papers, and has expressed his views in the news media and workshops.  He has been the President, Chairman of the board, and life-trustee of a non-profit religious organization and has expressed his views in the congregation and at international seminars. He is affluent in 4 languages. Most of his titles are now available from popular booksellers throughout the world.

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    A Treasure of Great Spiritual Stories - Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon

    Introduction

    •The Spiritual State of Mind is the Ultimate State of Happiness.

    •It is this State of Mind which Rajnish called Orgasmic, Saints call Peaceful, Psychiatrists call Tranquil, and drug addicts call Getting High.

    •I found pleasure in wine.  I found pleasure in women.  And I found pleasure in spiritual experience.  Only the last one was permanent.—-A King

    Dr. S. S. Dhillon, Science, Religion & Spirituality

    American youth are returning to religion but a different kind of religion.  A major poll reveals a breadth of tolerance and curiosity virtually across the religious spectrum. And everywhere, we see a flowering of spirituality (Newsweek, September 5, 2005, Spirituality in America).  Furthermore, survey shows that more than 95 percent of Americans believe in God, while 90 percent meditate or pray (Dean Hamer, Harvard University, The God Gene); but regular church attendance is declining in America and Europe. 

    Everywhere we look, the spirituality is on the rise.  In Catholic churches the worshipers pass the small hours of the night alone contemplating spiritual communion with God.  God to them is just more than somebody you visit on Sunday.  For those who've chosen this new flavor of Catholicism, the nourishment comes daily.  Younger generation of American Muslims finds its shared faith is erasing the old boundaries that separated their immigrant parents.  They are looking to achieve a more God-centered Islam.  There are Jews who are seeking God in the mystical thickets of Kabbalah, in order to experience an intimate connection to the Almighty.  Zen and innumerable other threads of Buddhism, whose followers seek enlightenment through meditation and prayer, find the divine within that helps them make peace with themselves.  Also, in the rebirth of Pagan religions the followers look for God in the wonders of the natural world (Jerry Alder, Newsweek, 2005).  Personal- transcendent experience of God is at the heart of much of what we do.

    Whatever is going on here, it's not an explosion of people going to church. Gallup poll cited by Time in 1966 showed 44% attending worship services weekly. Now, researchers who have done actual head counts in churches think the figure is probably more like 20 percent.  The fastest-growing category on surveys that ask people to give their religious affiliation, says Patricia O'Connell Killen of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, is none.  But spirituality, the impulse to seek communion with the Divine, is thriving. The 2005 Newsweek/Beliefnet Poll found that more Americans, especially those younger than 60, described themselves as spiritual (79 percent) than religious (64 percent).

    The new generation of 21st century is not looking for a solid theology and be orthodox to the core, but to experience God in their own life?  Rather than being about a god who commands you, it's about finding a religion that empowers you spiritually.

    You don’t need to switch your religion or be a yogi living in a cave far away from the civilized world to be spiritual to learn spiritual practices. And you don’t need to go to some ashram in India or expensive spiritual and meditation centers either, because the book provides, not philosophies, but simple spiritual tales that touch your higher-self. 

    Once a wise man said: The sun is the sun because it gives light; fire is fire because it gives heat; salt is salt because of its salty taste. And man is man because of meditation, consciousness, and awareness—that is his nature! The person who loses these qualities is a person in name only. Though he still looks like a human being he is actually an animal, because he lives like an animal. We never criticize an animal that lives according to its nature. We never tell the dog he is behaving like a dog; that has no meaning to him. But we sometimes tell a person he is behaving like a dog or, Don't be an ass!  Spirituality is not about changing anything but to realize our true nature. That is to attain our own consciousness, and to find that it is the portal to the consciousness of all of existence. And it is the only way for man to reach God and to discover the innermost basis of his own nature.

    Learning spirituality is not simply the domain of sublime philosophy and drama. It lies at the heart of the task of successful everyday behavior, whether it is controlling our tempers, or our appetites, or our inclinations to sit all day in front of the television. As Aristotle pointed out, here our habits make all the difference. We learn to practice our spirituality the same way we learn to do math problems or play baseball well—through practice.

    Practice, of course, is the medicine so many people find hard to swallow. If it were easy, we wouldn't have such modern-day phenomena as multimillion-dollar diet and exercise industries. We can enlist the aid of trainers, therapists, support groups, step programs, and other strategies, but in the end, it is practice that brings self-control.

    The benefits of focusing on our spiritual-self include tranquility, increased production, a resurgence of vitality, mental clarity, and joy of living.  And the understanding of our spiritual-self will put us on a road to love and happiness irrespective of our faith.

    This book is a collection of spiritual stories and precepts that serve to supplement and buttress peoples moral sense, which is our conscience, or the spark within that tells us to do good.  In the legend of mahabharta, Yudhister could see no evil in any man and Daryodhan could see no virtue in any one.  And Buddha was attracted to seek nirvana (spiritual enlightenment) in seclusion rather than being a king.  We all have something like this.  Truthful and spiritually oriented books like this help refine the sense of right and wrong.  Just look at the fallen towers and religious wars to see the need for books like this.

    "The language of the head is words.

    The language of the heart is love.

    The language of the soul is silence."

    What does spirituality mean?

    It is a philosophy of life, which points out a certain connection between all life and objects on earth. It is beyond and separate from any particular religion. And as it indicates the inter-relatedness of all, it also teaches us that every single thing we do has an impact.  It is not any specific religion, but science and logic. It can be learned and practiced.  And observing, understanding all is what spirituality is about.

    There are of course unexpected things happening in life, which make you feel good and think that the world is not that bad. But it is hard to believe a benign God looking after each one of us. Otherwise there would not be so much suffering. Still, there is definitely a force that connects us all, an energy field as science would say, with a sense of order and set patterns. It also creates in us a sense like altruism. Otherwise why would we care for a little bird falling from a nest? Or bother to capture Pelicans from Gulf-oil disaster (2010) and clean them. There is no gain in it apart from some satisfaction. But what makes us feel happy that way? The connection to that bird, that bonding is what spirituality is all about.

    Spirituality in everyday life is about the relationship between you and other people and things, with an aspiration for humanity, care and compassion. It is not a separate thing— going to work and then coming back home and having some spiritual activities.  It is the idea of doing things on a bigger plane and for the larger good—a kind of idealism. 

    It is possible to have spiritual inspirations in a religion like Buddhism and others when they tell you to question and never take anything for granted. This non-dogmatic view appeals to science-oriented younger generation as it synchronizes with the scientific approach.

    Does belief in predetermination, or fate, or destiny make sense in spiritual and scientific world? Personally I have gone from one position to another without much planning.  But there is always overall thinking which is about contribution.  I spent over 20 years to promote religion of spirituality; and hope that humanity will rise above religious wars.  I also continue to devote considerable amount of time to help those abused bodies where over-eating is causing lot of over-weight people.

    Does belief in phenomenon like reincarnation in spiritual and scientific world make sense?  Recycling is a process that takes place everywhere on our planet.  We see it everywhere in nature. So reincarnation would only make sense to a scientific mind in that context.

    In conclusion: Spirituality is scientific. Spirituality is light. Spirituality is darkness. Spirituality is intelligent, loving energy.

    The Power of Spirituality

    Spiritual life is invisible comfort like fragrance in a flower,

    taste in a fruit, cream in a milk, and fire in a wood.

    Many spiritual masters have described spiritual power by different names. Buddha called the enlightened one; Christ and Messiah also meant the same.  St. Paul called this state the peace of God that passeth understanding and Richard Maurice Bucke named it cosmic consciousness. Guru Nanak described as realization of ultimate truth.  In Zen it is satori, in Yoga it is samadhi or moksha, in Sufism it is fana, in Taoism it is wu or the Ultimate Tao.  Gurdjieff labeled it objective consciousness, Sri Aurobindo refers to it as illumination, liberation, and self-realization. Dante said, trans-humanization into a God.  Likewise, enlightenment has been symbolized by many images: the thousand-petaled lotus of Hinduism, the Holy Grail of Christianity, the clear mirror of Buddhism, Judaism's Star of David, the yin-yang circle of Taoism, the mountaintop, the swan, the still lake, the mystic rose, and the eternal flame are all different imagings of the same phenomenon.

    How does an individual describes the spiritual power may seem quite different and even opposed?  As one and the same pain may be described either as a hot pang or as a cold sting, so the descriptions of the enlightened experience may take forms that seem so different.  One person may say that he has found the answer to the whole mystery of life, but somehow cannot put it into words.  Another will feel that he has experienced, not a transcendent God, but his own inmost nature.  One will get the sense that his ego or self has expanded to become the entire universe, whereas another will feel that he has lost himself altogether and that what he called his ego was never anything but an abstraction.  One will describe himself as infinitely enriched, while another will say he has not a care in the world.  A theist may call it a glimpse of the presence of God.  Rajnish called it orgasmic, saints may call peaceful, psychiatrists may call tranquil, and drug addicts may call getting high.

    Characteristics of a Spiritual Person in Everyday Living

    Regardless of the experiences mentioned above, some of the characteristics of a spiritual person in everyday living include:

    1.  An absence of need to dominate others, kindness, forgiving, mercy, compassion, peace, joy, acceptance, non-judgment, joining, and intimacy. 

    2.  A spiritual being focuses on authentic personal empowerment, utilizes multidimensional thinking, and believes loving guidance is available. 

    3.  He/she feels connected to all of humanity and practices a life without desire to control someone or to prove that he/she is right and the other person is wrong. 

    4.  He knows a dimension beyond cause and effect.  He is motivated by morality, serenity and quality of life. 

    5.  He knows a violent response to evil as participating in evil and focuses on what he stands for. 

    6.  He feels a sense of responsibility and belonging to the universe.  He has a tendency to extend love and help others rather than feel enmity and competition.  So he loves everybody and all the creations, never spread any hatred, instead spread and give love to others.

    7.  He shares others grief, and helps the poor and down trodden people. 

    8.  His mind is not controlled by anger, fear, lust, greed, attachment, false ego, or envy.  He kills his ego and become an utmost humble person.

    9.  He kills his doubts and distractions of mind.  Only the ones who kill their mind's doubts (duality) achieve salvation.

    10.  He achieves a high spiritual condition of his mind and heart; and has a spiritual heart and mind that are saturated with divine wisdom.

    11.  He has chosen a path that leads to the discovery of the Truth, and started to pursue the path to salvation.  He leaves the life of hypocrisy and become merged in Truth.

    12. He is always trying to become a completely truthful person; and has been elevated spiritually to a level where others are blessed by his company.

    13. He has won over worldly hopes, desires, slander, gossip and back-biting and overcome the effects of the mammon snake. He rises over all the worldly ties.

    14. His existence is not affected by time and age.  He is not afraid of getting old or of dying young. 

    15. He sees no sin in the world to escape from.

    16. Spirituality starts with faith. He starts with having a faith in higher power.

    17. He accepts and obeys the Lord's Will; and prays for blessings of higher power.

    18. Upon arising early in the morning, he cleanses himself in the name of higher power. Any feelings of sins, misdeeds and negativity are erased. He meditates on Lord’s name with every breath and every morsel of food.

    19. By true living in Spirituality, he earns his livelihood and eats the fruit of his labor sharing the same with others.

    20. Those who are engaged in the service of His creation are leading the Spiritual life. Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life in the service of needy and helpless humanity, is the example of Spirituality. So was Bhagat Puran Singh of Pingalwara in Amritsar, India who took care of the poor and sick.

    21. Those who are able to achieve their spiritual goals, can make this earth a worthwhile place to live, make this society a worthwhile society to belong to and exist in, make the world full of true love for each other and end hatred and crime.

    A non-spiritual person, on the other hand, lives in a state of fear and experiences anger, abuse, pain, greed, addiction, selfishness, obsession, corruption, and violence.  He/she may hold grudges and seek revenge for perceived wrongdoing.  He is only motivated for acquisitions' sake.  He often experiences loneliness and separation from all others.

    God’s Will

    "All beings are the owners of their karma.

    Their happiness and unhappiness depend on their actions" 

    —Buddha

    A disciple once asked his Guru, the Spiritual-Master, "what is the need to do anything when things work only according to ‘Will of God’.  If He wants us to do well and good, we will do well and good; if He wants us to do bad and evil, we will do bad and evil.  So once we surrender to His will, it’s

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