What brings suffering and what brings happiness? Some reflections on spiritual research

“We human beings often learn from challenges and suffering. So we have hard times ahead of us, but also the opportunity to awaken to the perception of a greater reality, to the power of awareness”. Asha Nayaswami, spiritual director of the community, told us Ananda of Palo Alto, California, during the conversation we had with her on the great themes of change.

Asha spoke about young people, education, the relationship between human beings and nature, the challenges of the present and the future. In short, the world of today and tomorrow. But now let’s go deeper into his path of spiritual research and an approach to conscious life. «Spirituality is knowing myself – observes Asha – and understanding that I am part of a vaster reality. My individuality exists, I have my karma to dispose of, but I am integrated with other people, with other consciences and I am never separated from them. The more my spontaneous response to life is for the well-being of all, the more I live in the spiritual dimension”.

I understand that, in your experience, spontaneity and spirituality go hand in hand…

There’s a difference between doing the right things because I know I have to do them and instead doing them spontaneously because I see the world a certain way. A mother naturally loves her child, she doesn’t need to discipline herself. Therefore it is not so important the philosophy one follows or the books one reads, as to achieve this spontaneity of authentic relationship, beyond any word, idea, dogma.

Why would you advise a person to start a path of spiritual research?

The big question that everyone asks is what causes suffering and what brings happiness and true growth lies in acquiring this awareness. From my experience, the more I integrate and relate to a larger reality, the more I experience happiness and less suffering.

Ananda, the name of the community you live in, is a Sanskrit word meaning “joy”. What is joy?

Sharing with others: when we discover a good restaurant, we immediately want to let others know about it so that they can enjoy it; when we find something that increases our happiness, we immediately want to share it. When we experience joy and share it with others, people sense our sincerity and we don’t need to persuade anyone.

What does it mean to evolve one’s consciousness?

Consciousness does not evolve, it simply is. Better to use the word “realize” instead of “evolve”. When something is done it is because it is there and was already there: you simply become aware of it. To answer your question: for me, spiritual fulfillment means understanding what is happening moment by moment inside me and outside me and experiencing life moment by moment. Someone said: “Life is the only game where the game is to understand the rules of the game.”

Why is it important to realize the Self?

Everyone wants to be loved and suffers deeply if they are alone and misunderstood. If we were created to be unhappy, we’d be happy to be. Instead we know deep down that when we are unhappy there is something wrong. Sometimes we try to solve the problem by continuing to do the things we’ve always done, and that don’t work but we say to ourselves: “Let’s hope this time it works”. Yet, albeit slowly, we learn from our experiences and become more aware, see the pattern and its consequences, and eventually find the strategy to get out of it. We are driven from within to try to understand and to try and, like the river that flows into the ocean, even if it makes bends, sooner or later it reaches the sea.

What or who is God for you?

Someone said the definition of god is hope [speranza è anche il significato del nome Asha, ndr]. Sometimes we lose hope for a while, but then it comes back and we try again. This is how we are made. If it’s not a happy ending, it’s not the end.

What are the first steps a person should take to embark on a path of Self-realization?

The path of Self-realization is not a straight line, it is not like a race where everyone lines up and follows the same path to get to the finish line. Self-realization means becoming whole, growing from within to become a perfect circle. If the goal is a perfect circle, one can enter it from any point and expand from there to become the entire circle.

So where to start?

Everyone starts where it’s most natural for them: changing their diet, learning to meditate, being kinder to their partner, immersing themselves in nature. In short, whatever makes him feel more in harmony, more connected to a greater reality, more open to love, instead of anger, fear. The important thing is to look at your feet and take the first step forward. Then check if it is exactly the right one and, if it is, take another step in that direction. Most of the time it’s not a sudden change from evening to morning, but a small seed that grows from within.

You are American and you come from the land of the myth of the “self made man”. From your experience is it possible to “do it yourself”?

Even the person who appears to be most self-made does not act without role models and references. He builds his success on things that have been created by others. And even if it innovates or invents, the new always comes from something that already existed. If you receive inspirations, ideas, where do those ideas and inspirations come from? Truly great people in their field know they get the ideas, they don’t create them.

Spiritual life is very subtle. The sense of self is very subtle: it is not an object we have to discuss, but a reality to be perceived in order to adhere to it intimately. Many great souls have walked the path before us, and walking in their footsteps is the best way forward. As we begin to understand this, we also understand that it makes sense to cooperate with it. But if one doesn’t put in the effort to attune to that flow of energy, it certainly won’t be forced upon him.

For example, some people resist the idea of ​​having a guru. They say: “I want to do it myself. I don’t want anyone to run my life.” I say, “You won’t have such luck, no one will do it for you. But you will be helped if you put your personal effort into it”. It is like someone about to climb a high mountain, which is a highly technical undertaking and assumes that one knows what to do. If someone says: “Look, I can help you”. Doesn’t it make sense to let yourself be helped? The refusal to acknowledge wisdom and to let others help us is often the limit we must overcome in order to grow spiritually.

You have lived for forty years in close contact with a very advanced person in Self-realisation, Swami Kriyananda. What is the main lesson you feel you have acquired?

How much God loves us. I’ve also learned to feel that Masters are there to help us and want to help us and not to worry about whether I’m good enough or not because they don’t care – they just want to bring us into the light. I have learned not to forget this truth. I’ve come to recognize that my life is their story, not my story. They are the ones who run the show.

I just have to keep up the excitement and energy, but they write the plot. It’s like those TV shows where they give you the script in the morning so you can play it in the afternoon. They tell us what the story is today and we try to play it as well as possible. It takes a lot of energy and concentration to do this. But if there’s no happy ending, it means it’s not the end.

You have been on the path of Kriya Yoga for fifty years. How was Asha before embarking on the journey and how is she today?

Everything has changed in my life, I couldn’t say more. I had no idea that I would lead such a meaningful life. I was looking for something real, honorable, that would help me be happy and help others be happy too, but I had no idea how that could happen. At 22, I met Swami Kriyananda and never wanted to go back.

I have never regretted it, not even for an instant, because everything immediately went better. After fifty years, it’s still better than yesterday: every day I learn something new, something important. Every day is a surprise and I say to myself: “Wow it works today too!”. I often don’t understand why, but I’m grateful and think it’s a miracle.