Benefits of spiritual practice
Liberation from the cycle of birth and death
According to the science of Spirituality the definition of being liberated means not being compelled to take birth again because one’s destiny has been significantly reduced.
Man is born repeatedly for two reasons. The first, that is, 65%, is to experience happiness and sorrow according to destiny and the second, that is 35%, to make spiritual progress so as to acquire Bliss (Ānand).
On an average if one considers the accumulated account (that is all one’s accumulated merits and demerits caused due to the law of give-and-take) to consist of 100 units, then in one birth, 6 units of these are experienced as destiny. It stands to reason that a man should attain liberation within 16-17 births. But this does not happen, as while undergoing those 6 units of destiny usually an average person does not do any spiritual practice. Besides due to wilful actions the accumulated account increases by 10 units. Thus at the time of death, the accumulated account becomes 104 units and once again one gets entangled in the cycle of birth and death.
Samashti spiritual level refers to the spiritual level attained through spiritual practice for the sake of society (samashti sādhanā), while vyashti spiritual practice refers to the spiritual level attained through individual spiritual practice (vyashti sādhanā). In the current times, spiritual progress for the sake of society has 70% importance while individual spiritual practice has 30% importance.
By and large, every one wants to live their life such that their next few lives will be very happy. But the aim of life is not to have happy future births, but rather to get out of the cycle of births and deaths. The reason that we are born is that we haven’t yet learnt the lessons that we were meant to learn and so just as we have to repeat a class if we fail our exams – likewise we have to be born over and over again. Being liberated from the drudgery of this unending cycle can happen in this very birth if we make an effort to grow spiritually and realise God. This is the supreme spiritual goal any man can have.
Through spiritual practice, once a person reaches a minimum spiritual level of 60% (samashṭi) or 70% (vyashṭi) one does not have to be reborn to make further progress.
