1.4.8 practicality of spir. life

Today I will speak upon the relevance of philosophy to daily life. You know, spiritual philosophy can be very abstract if it is not practically applied. If it is abstract, not practical, then there may be some lack of integration between intellectual understanding and actual implementation in daily life. So, spiritual philosophy should not only appeal to the intellect, it should be relevant to the day-to- day activities of the people who are being thaught the philosophy so that they may integrate these teachings in their lives. It should not be abstract and lofty, it must be related to human beings, because spirit is not outside of the human realm. It is the very essence of one's humanity. In the very essence of one's human life is one's spiritual life. You can not separate humanity and spirituality. They are inseparable. If you are truly human, you will also be truly spiritual. You can not be a spiritualist without being a humanist. Your spirituality will be faulty otherwise. For your spirit and your humanity are like this [brought the palms together], completely merged. If you find your humanity, you will find your spirituality, and if you find your spirituality, you will find your humanity.

Two approaches may be taken to spiritual life. One is a neo-humanistic approach, allowing human beings to find their true humanity and to express that humanity in the world in their attitudes and in their actions. This will lead the person towards spirituality. The second is to pursue spirituality per se. In this pursuit slowly, slowly, a person will become a humanist, a neo-humanist. They will see that not only human beings have life and must be cared for, but also the animals and the plants. So you see either approach will be effective. But what will not be effective is merely to put fine ideas into the intellect which are irrelevant to one's day to day life. If a man believes in reincarnation and a God high in the heavens, if he has a great appreciation of the fine points of abstract philosophy; but he comes home and beats his wife, kicks the dog, and ignores the children, what is the benefit? There is none. Spirituality must be relevant to the man's life. Why teach him so many shlokas, so many grand philosophies,when he then comes home to be a boorish fellow.

It is better that you give him a more practical approach. You say, 'My boy, my man, you learn to meditate, you follow Yama and Niyama, you learn to be compassionate to people, to be honest, to be kind-hearted, to not take bribes or steal from others. You learn to live your life with integrity and at the same time you ideate upon the Great." Now this is a practical approach. It will have a practical benefit to the man's life. He will begin to make efforts to improve himself. He will become more and more aware of his humanity and the humanity of the others. He will become a contribution to the society. But the man who is simply taught ideology or philosophy in an abstract fashion and given no practical application for daily life will not become an asset to the society, nor to himself. It is better that you say, "Forget the philosophy and go contribute some time serving poor and impoverished people." He will benefit more from that than from learning high philosophies which are abstract and irrelevant to his day-to-day life.

So, whenever teaching spiritual philosophy and ideology, one must be very practical in one's approach. Do you understand? Practicality can take many forms. But it must always include some basic practice which will transform the day-to-day life of an individual.