FROM THE SPIRITUAL TREE — Spirituality—A Universal Religion

is that no spiritual master has been able to produce a truly creative work, unlike the mind-based disciplines which produced creative personalities. Besides, almost all the spiritual masters used the language of poetry or metaphor. In such a language it is not possible to produce any great spiritual literary work. The secret of this failure of spirituality was revealed only after the emergence of science. Scientific research revealed for the first time that the heart was only an organ of blood circulation. It was not the centre of intellectual activity. It is the human mind which is the centre of intellectual activity. All the spiritual masters continued to seek spirituality in the heart. Whereas the truth was that the centre of spirituality existed in the mind. According to my experience the truth is that spirituality—like other functions—is also a function of the mind. It is a phenomenon of intellectual development. Spirituality is the highest intellectual achievement for a human being. But this achievement can only be made by developing the conscious mind. By applying the mind one discovers that here, non-material reality exists beyond material existence. It is this discovery which is the beginning of spirituality. The more one realises this higher reality, the more one’s spiritual level gets developed. In reality, like many other discoveries, spirituality is also a conscious discovery, far from comprising of vague type of feelings. The spirituality centered on the heart is based on meditation, the culmination of which is ecstasy. Ecstasy suppresses the intellectual function of the mind. Feelings take hold of him, he is no longer guided by his conscious mind. Without doubt, ecstasy can act as a temporary tranquilliser. Compared to this, spirituality based on the mind results in a conscious discovery which leads man to intellectual realization. There is nothing greater in this world than a thrilling experience at a conscious level. Even at its culmination, ecstasy cannot bring man beyond the confines of a limited world, whereas an intellectual realization takes man to the limitless world.