Deccan Chronicle

To spirituali­ty

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what happens behind closed doors with a live master. It brings the reader closer to the idea of having a guru in one’s life.

Michael says that “ego” is the biggest challenge on the road to spirituali­ty, or even otherwise in dealing with various issues of life and the role of the guru is to help dissolve the ego.

But spirituali­ty is not just dissolving the ego. It is more about being natural — carefree, present in the moment and unworried about being judged by anybody. Michael says this is the new concept of spirituali­ty. “We have shun the old concept where one needed to wear certain kind of clothes, abstain from certain kind of food, or was not allowed to indulge in certain activities. Now, it’s about freedom and personal developmen­t. Now, spirituali­ty helps you become who you want to be,” he remarks and also says that more youngsters are taking the road to spiritual wisdom because the definition of spirituali­ty has transforme­d.

But mistaking religion with spirituali­ty is wrong. Quoting Sri Sri, Michael says, “Spirituall­ity is the banana and religion is the banana peel. Most people hold on to the banana peel and think spirituali­ty is all about that.” But the fact, Michael says, is that spirituali­ty is all about the fruit. “It’s not about a particular ideology or dogma. Spirituali­ty is an opportunit­y to experience yourself through the process of quieting your mind, getting rid of all the unnecessar­y mental chatter that is going on unnecessar­ily,” he says.

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