What is spirituality? In simple words, it is knowledge of God, not an intellectual knowledge but an illumined personal experience of the Supreme.
Spirituality teaches us to look within. Even as there is an expanding universe outside of us, there is a larger and more wonderful universe within us of which we are not aware. Something happens deep within you and your life becomes new. You are filled with light and warmth, joy and peace. You realise that the life you have lived until then, a life of creature -comforts and of pride, pelf, power – was no life at all.
Have you heard the beautiful hymn, ‘Sukh Sagar meinaayke, mat jaopyasapyare’? It is one of Sadhu Vaswani’s immortal compositions. It is a bhajan (hymn) that stirs within us an urge for the higher values of life. The song awakens the slumbering spirit; a sudden realisation dawns upon us: “My life is precious. Let me make the most of it. Let me not go back from this ocean of grace without tasting its sweet waters. Let me not go back exhausted. But let me drink the Divine Nectar and be blessed with bliss and peace.”
To move Godward, we need to get up and open the door and let God in. This happens only when man realises the need for God. Out of the very depths of his heart, there awakes the cry: “I have need of You, Lord! I cannot live without You!”
This is known as ‘spiritual awakening’.