Om Aham Mani Foundation
Spiritual
Knowing is the Peak of Human Experience.
Without any knowledge of the Unity of Life, the Spirit that resides in All, and our relationship with this existence, then their will always be a missing piece in our jigsaw of life. Material wealth is not enough to secure everlasting happiness, only spiritual wealth can bring this success.
We have been told to "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God then all else will be added unto thee", and the essence of this saying is to seek out the source of all of creation at some point in life, and to do this as a priority.
The science of Yoga, is a tried and tested tradition in this very search. This does not deter from our personal relationship with God / Self / the totality of existence, rather it puts us in a stronger position to start or continue with this relationship. Existence is so benevolent as to provide all souls that have reached the human platform of life with a multitude of various pathways and techniques to arrive at the "Gateway of God". At this point the practitioner must take the next step. All practices lead to this point, the aspirant must take the next step. The practices are the recipe, the process of eating is up to the eater.
The reason why we are told to "seek ye first..." is to encourage us to find our relationship with existence as soon as we can, because without this spiritual experience and knowing, we may try to look for happiness "where there is no happiness". This instruction to seek, has its roots in the compassion of all realized beings. They are telling us that true and lasting happiness comes from Self Realization and once achieved we can then enjoy fully this earthly life, because we will have gained spiritual knowledge which is the alchemical "gold" created from our previous understanding of life which is like "lead" in comparison.
The Science of Yoga makes us an all round better person. We become improved in all aspects of our life. The definition of "dharma" is "that which protects, guides, and enriches the lives of ourselves and others." Dharma is the instruction manual for successful, healthy, happy living for One and for All. That should be our goal and purpose for any spiritual practice. The word spiritual refers to knowledge that is not purely secular or material. For example, "Do unto others what we would have done unto ourselves" is a classic piece of spiritual knowledge, because it gives us a rule of thumb with which to live our lives by.