The essence of spiritualism is understanding who we are beyond the body, mind, and individualised soul. It is not about following religious dogmas or rituals but about who I am and what life is all about. Spiritualism emphasises an absolute, non-dual, aware energy that enables the mind to perceive and conceive beyond the dualities of all it mechanically gains through its sensory organs. On the other hand, spirituality involves engaging in methods and practices such as Japa, Mantras, and Yoga. These activities focus on physical upkeep, present-moment meditation, mindfulness, self-reflection, and other practices. They promote a flow like divinity, humility, and individuality. Essentially, the subject is to live primarily in awareness rather than in habitual, unconscious, and inattentive cognition, thereby cultivating unity, love, and quietness in their daily life.

Seeking to discover who one is beyond the illusions of the material world, the physical body, and the cognitive mind, spiritualism is the subject of an authentic inward journey of self-inquiry. Spiritualism is about questioning, considering, and comprehending the inner, profound truth of life, while religion often follows external teachings and rituals.

Advaita Vedanta, the non-dualistic philosophy that posits everything is one—that the ego and the universe are not separate—has a fundamental alignment with spiritualism. It recognises that the universal, aware, and conscious energy (spirit) is everlasting, and it temporarily participates in the false game of existence through many forms, eventually dissolving the illusion of duality generated by the intellect and ego.

Since you claim that body and mind are yours, the significant elements of spiritualism firmly emphasise “Who am I?” outside the body and mind. Second, it helps us transcend these mental constructs by constantly examining our minds, allowing us to overcome the dualities in relative opposites that the mind continuously operates. Third, how do we catch the qualitative element of who we are, as the universal spirit of awareness, generating the quantitative factor of the soul operating in different sections of the mind through consciousness to activate, monitor, and direct the body and mind? Fourth, the subject declares that the ultimate truth is the universal self; all other existences are fleeting and false for the non-dual energy to take part in the drama of life.

Finally, only if we transcend and evolve beyond the identifications and attachments that the mind generates in its fleeting feelings of ‘me and mine’ can we be free from the emotionally driven mind. Spiritualism, therefore, does not have any part in enlightenment or realisation as its goal, for it considers you already as the enlightened spirit by signifying the same as “That art Thou.” The question is for you to consider: What exactly do you choose while living between the divine and the devil while engaged in dualities in physical existence?

The fundamental truth of our existence is that what we see, feel, and touch is illusory. The reason is that reality is limited to what we observe, which is constantly changing from one aspect to another, including yourself. Therefore, that temporary change cannot be real. Even if you experience time with the perception of the past, present, and future, it is accurate only to the extent of your experience. What exists outside our mind is only now, as it is, the present, which you may experience but cannot analyse since both matter and time keep changing, and only the present remains intact.

The spiritual dimension is changeless, spaceless, eternal, and timeless, referring to that reality that is absolute and permanent. However, it allows for all sorts of changes within itself, expressing different attributes that we perceive physically and relatively through our five senses while we are aware, conscious, and alive.

Therefore, our physical self may change from infancy to old age, but our eternal, changeless spirit within remains timeless. This aware energy is the spirit of who we are, exhibiting the state of one’s mind. The degree of its quality depends upon the level or state of your consciousness. You are the source of this absolute awareness, the interconnected web of energy that responds when your mind watches and witnesses. This core energy is enveloped in sheaths of subtle psychic energy, known as the mind, and further extends into gross energy in the form of the body.

The pursuit of fulfilment is the purpose of life.

To understand the essence of gratification, one needs to experience both, not through someone else’s experience, but by realising on one’s own what the physical and the metaphysical are all about. If, in material life, knowledge is supreme, experiential awakening is imperative for spiritual realisation. If one survives on ego, the spiritual end calls for the surrender of that ego, not its abolition. In this progressive order, we move from our physical self to our mental state and then onwards to our spiritual consciousness, ultimately to comprehend the meaning of unity and continuity in cosmic awareness. It is, in totality, the essence of spiritualism, spirituality, being spiritual from the spirit.

Therefore, we are merely a composition of different forms of relative energy within the ultimate absolute energy. This scientific-spiritual realm will be very different from the model of reality expressed by those who wish to remain imprisoned in ancient ideologies of beliefs and superstitions. Despite all that I express, the old and the new subtly communicate a single message: ‘We exist within the realm of that aware Para Brahman,’ the only Absolute spirit/ energy that binds all the different vibrations and frequencies of energy with one single thread of absoluteness called ‘Love.’

All that exists is absolute energy in unity and continuity, and within that wholeness lies that fullness, the presence of GOD prevailing in all of us. So long as we are free and prepared to experience and realise godliness within us through transcending, evolving, and transforming from the dual-operating mind. We tend to forget that our mind is an instrument at our disposal. Still, since the soul remains asleep, the mind uses us like a puppet, directing us in various ways to fulfil its emotional desires, causing us to ride a rollercoaster of likes and dislikes.

NAMASTE