I saw on social media recently that someone posted the following passage from the Bhagavad Gita. I wanted to share it before continuing because it kind of ties in with what I wanted to write about.

The soul is neither born nor does it ever die. Having never existed will it ever cease to be? The soul is birthless, eternal, changeless, immortal.

Bhagavad Gita 2:20

I’ve come to realise even more recently just how difficult the spiritual pathway really is. Before I continue, did you notice what happened there? I made a very contradictory statement; “the spiritual pathway.” There is no pathway or journey because ultimately, the only reality is Consciousness, which exists exactly as it is, as seamless eternal bliss, love, infinite awareness; the list of names we could call it is endless. I’ve written about this before, and you can see that we haven’t even gotten into the post properly yet, but things have become complicated. This is just one reason why the “spiritual pathway” can be such an arduous “journey.” As if life wasn’t challenging enough, we are hampered on our way by language; or to be more precise, the limitations of language. The main crux of this post cannot be aptly explained with any words from any dictionary in any language. What we have to do in these situations is use the words that fit best with what we want to say, even if it isn’t going to be 100% accurate.

I have come to the conclusion that pretty much all forms of spiritual practice are a bit of a red herring and ultimately can never be anything more than stepping stones as we blunder and stumble our way through life. I’ve realised lately that no matter how spiritually evolved we believe ourselves to have become, life doesn’t get any easier, in fact, there’s a good argument to suggest that it just gets harder. Now, I am about to get to the point; honest, but just one more thing before I do.

In order to negotiate life’s hurdles, I have found that it really does help to understand that everything along the spiritual pathway (there I go again, making contradictory statements) has context, and my truth may not be your truth and vice versa.

There are many examples of spiritual practice, but the one I want to focus on for the purpose of this article is the practice of “Surrender.” The reason being, that it’s a great example of what I’m trying to put over. For the uninitiated, I shall try to explain using my very limited understanding of the Hindu religion. In Hinduism, there are three recognised pathways to enlightenment; Bhakti (devotion), Karma Yoga (selfless service to humanity) and Surrender (complete surrender to God). I’m happy to stand corrected on this and I’m sure that in India these three pathways are not restricted to Hindus.

I’ve been struggling quite a lot recently with my mind causing absolute havoc, and it was during one such struggle that I came to the conclusion that no matter what we think we are doing with regard to spiritual practice, there is something underlying in the driving seat, going largely unnoticed and quietly going about its business, and that something is Consciousness simply being itself. It was during this moment of struggle that I had the epiphany regarding spiritual practice, and Surrender specifically came to mind. It seemed to me that to practice Surrender, the aspirant must delve into the world of illusion in order to ultimately gain something that he/she already has.

To clarify, we must first objectify a deity that exists as a separate entity from ourselves, in order to then surrender to it. The outcome of which, we hope, would be that we become enlightened. Considering that our true nature is that of the aforementioned Consciousness, which exists simply as itself, we would have to give credence to the illusion of subject/object (seer and that which is seen); also known as duality, we would also be affirming this illusion with our “spiritual” practice, and for what? To gain something we already have. This is where context comes in.

I’m currently experiencing a turbulent time with regard to my mind and the thoughts it’s throwing up. However, I am big enough and ugly enough to know that this turbulence is of my own making, and this gives me the power to be the captain of my own skateboard (I just made that saying up). When I cast my mind back 20 odd years, I was in an awful psychological state, and the “Me” that existed then would not have had a clue what all this Surrender malarky is about. Instead, I eventually started a journey of spiritual practice that got me out of that predicament and set me on the road to becoming who I am today. The practices I undertook back then would be considered very inferior to the practice of Surrender, but in the context of where I was and what was going on with me, those practices were valid and exactly what I needed.

To conclude, within the context of the illusion of duality, which we are all experiencing at this moment, all spiritual practices have some form of relevance in relation to where we are as individuals. I see them as a kind of penance, but not in the harsh, religious sense. They are simply a way to go about opening the doors of evolution for the soul who is floundering and lost. This now brings me back to the beginning and that quote from the Bhagavad Gita. Ultimately, there is no individual soul, there is only Consciousness having the adventure of experience, driven by itself, within itself and of itself.

Consciousness is unable to have this experience without veiling itself in ignorance. Paradoxically, the “gift” of duality is the way back from this ignorance to enlightenment. Enlightenment being the realisation that we are already enlightened, and ultimately, that there is no such thing as enlightenment.