All of us have some kind of resources at our disposal. These have been given to us by God. A basic principle in spiritual practice is that we use these same resources to serve Him as part of our spiritual practice and grow spiritually. The resources we have fall broadly into four categories:
1. Our body
2. Our wealth and worldly connections
3. Our mind and intellect
4. Our sixth sense
Let’s look at these four aspects in a little more detail:
1. Our body
Serving by our body’ means using our body to serve God. For example:
|
2. Our wealth and worldly connections
An example of serving God by offering our wealth and worldly connections respectively would be:
|
3. Our mind and intellect
Using our mind and intellect is about using our creative and intellectual processes to serve God. Examples of this would include:
|
4. Our sixth sense
Some of us have been gifted with sixth sense from an early age. This is due to spiritual practice from either a previous birth or from this birth. The onus is on us to use it only to facilitate spiritual growth in us and others. The use of our sixth sense needs to be under the guidance of a Spiritual Master. |
In summary, the following points can be kept in mind:
- By consistently offering what we have to serve God as part of our spiritual practice, we grow spiritually.
- Even if one does not have wealth or a high intellect he can still offer his body in service to God and thereby grow spiritually.
- The four types of offerings mentioned above are not mutually exclusive. If a person has a good intellect and a strong understanding of Spirituality he may be inclined just to offer his intellect. However the principle is about ‘offering all what one has’. As the person has a body and also may have some wealth, he should offer that along with his intellect.
- Out of all offerings, the mind and intellect is the most superior as through that medium one can help others understand and practice Spirituality.