ON THE PATH OF SPIRITUALITY BY TRILOKI NATH DHAR ‘KUNDAN’ Copyright © 2010 by Kashmir News Network (KNN) (http://iKashmir.net) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of Kashmir News Network. For permission regarding publication, send an e-mail to [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?..................................................................................................... 6 2.0 NOUNS & PRONOUNS OF SPIRITUALITY ...................................................................... 10 3.0 I IN CONVERSATION WITH I............................................................................................. 14 4.0 IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD........................................................................................ 18 5.0 IN SEARCH OF THE SELF ................................................................................................... 21 6.0 IN SEARCH OF GOD ............................................................................................................. 25 7.0 FROM I-EGO TO I-CONSCIOUSNESS............................................................................... 29 8.0 TOOLS OF AWARENESS...................................................................................................... 33 8.1 LANGUAGE AND NUMERALS............................................................................................. 33 8.2 DIVISION IN GROUPS OF TWOS ......................................................................................... 33 8.3 DIVISION IN GROUPS OF THREES ...................................................................................... 35 8.4 DIVISION IN THE GROUPS OF FOURS ................................................................................. 36 8.5 DIVISION IN THE GROUPS OF FIVES .................................................................................. 37 8.6 DIVISION IN THE GROUPS OF EIGHTS ................................................................................ 37 9.0 ABSTRACT PERCEPTION ................................................................................................... 39 10.0 KNOWING THE UNKNOWN ............................................................................................... 42 11.0 THE GREAT TRANSITION .................................................................................................. 46 12.0 A MATTER OF PERFECTION ............................................................................................. 49 13.0 HOW DOES GOD ACT........................................................................................................... 53 14.0 GOD, AS AN ARTIST ............................................................................................................. 57 15.0 UNION & SEPARATION ....................................................................................................... 61 16.0 DEEDS, DESTINY AND SPIRITUALITY............................................................................ 65 17.0 ACTION, INACTION AND CONTENTMENT.................................................................... 69 18.0 PAIN AND PLEASURE .......................................................................................................... 71 19.0 PRAYER AND ITS UTILITY................................................................................................. 75 20.0 FACTS STRANGER THAN FICTION ................................................................................. 80 21.0 TRANSFORMATION THROUGH SPIRITUALITY.......................................................... 83 22.0 TOWARDS THE SUPREME BLISS ..................................................................................... 87 23.0 LONELINESS & COMPANY................................................................................................. 91 Kashmir News Network i http://ikashmir.net/kundan TABLE OF CONTENTS 24.0 OUR DAILY ROUTINE.......................................................................................................... 94 25.0 BODY AND ITS IMPORTANCE........................................................................................... 97 26.0 LOVE THYSELF ................................................................................................................... 100 26.1 PREAMBLE ...................................................................................................................... 100 26.2 THE SELF DEFINED ......................................................................................................... 100 26.3 LOVE AT DIFFERENT LEVELS .......................................................................................... 101 26.4 THE HORIZON OF LOVE................................................................................................... 102 26.5 WHAT IS LOVE? .............................................................................................................. 103 26.6 RATIONALE OF LOVING OURSELVES .............................................................................. 104 26.7 CONCLUDING REMARKS ................................................................................................. 105 27.0 INFLUENCE OF ADVAITA ON MUSLIM RISHIS OF KASHMIR .............................. 106 27.1 PREAMBLE ..................................................................................................................... 106 27.2 LAL DED AND NUNDA RISHI........................................................................................... 108 27.3 THE IMPACT AND THE INFLUENCE .................................................................................. 109 27.4 SHAMS FAQIR.................................................................................................................. 111 27.5 AHMAD BATAWARI......................................................................................................... 111 27.6 SWACHHI KRAL............................................................................................................... 112 27.7 NYAMA SAAB.................................................................................................................. 112 27.8 SHAH GHAFUR ................................................................................................................ 113 27.9 ASAD PARAY................................................................................................................... 114 27.10 AHAD ZARGAR................................................................................................................ 114 27.11 OTHER LUMINARIES........................................................................................................ 116 27.12 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................... 118 28.0 SPIRITUALITY IN GHALIB’S POETRY.......................................................................... 119 28.1 SPIRITUALITY AND THE POETS........................................................................................ 119 28.2 POET OF ROMANCE ......................................................................................................... 120 28.3 THE FIRE OF IGNORANCE ................................................................................................ 120 28.4 DEVOTION OF SURRENDER ............................................................................................. 121 28.5 LOVE AND MYSTICISM.................................................................................................... 122 28.6 THE PATH OF LOVE......................................................................................................... 123 Kashmir News Network ii http://ikashmir.net/kundan TABLE OF CONTENTS 29.0 EPILOGUE ............................................................................................................................. 125 30.0 PROFILE ................................................................................................................................ 127 Kashmir News Network iii http://ikashmir.net/kundan On The Path Of Spirituality By Triloki Nath Dhar ‘Kundan’ Introduction Dear reader, From the very young age truth, purity and piety attracted me. I never liked falsehood. I never liked shabby, untidy and unclean surroundings. I liked flowers, dawn, the spring season and the small children. I would never lie nor liked people speaking a lie. The spotless white colour enthralled me. So did the religious songs and hymns sung in solo or chorus please me. I liked to go to temples shrines and sacred places. I liked to read songs and passages written in praise of God. The stories of Shri Krishna’s childhood as narrated in Shrimad Bhagawatam fascinated me. In later years I was attracted to the poetry of Surdas, Meera, Rasakhan and others who wrote about the childhood frolics of Krishna. I liked to sit in the company of elders when the subject of their conversation was spiritual. I liked to go near holy men and would get fascinated by the radiance of their forehead and dazzle of their gaze. I did not know then that the seeds of spirituality were sown in my mind and these were slowly getting sprouted. As I grew I took Sanskrit as a subject for studies and this introduced me to the Hindu