This is expected. I have basically told you whatever you are doing, and the ones you know are doing is not spiritual. I have told my own friends the same, and they react the same. They see themselves as “spiritual” but I am telling them they are not.
I am not a spiritual person. I am an intellectual person. When I start on the spiritual path I will call myself spiritual.
A spiritual lifestyle can easily be maintained while still living a meterial lifestyle.
You will find whether at some point in this lifetime or another lifetime this is as impossible as trying to maintain the balance of light and darkness. If you increase the quotient of one, you simultaneously decrease the quotient of the other.
You either live a spiritual life or a material life. You cannot live both. At some point you will need to make a decision what you want.
I myself work full time at a very demanding job with alot of responsibilities. But I work hard to fulfill my duties, not for material gain or enjoyment, but because it is my duty to discharge the responsibilities the Lord gives me.
Yep, and how is this any different to 99% of the worlds population that are doing working demanding jobs and doing their responsibilities in material life?
Holding a job is nothing to boast of, it is common. However, living a spiritual life is not common. Very few souls on this planet make that choice.
I don’t drink, smoke, spend money or indulge in sensual or sexual pleasures. I cook all of the food for myself and my family, practice Yoga at night and do mantra when I can,
Not indulging in sensual or sexual pleasure is not necessarily spirituality. There are spiritual paths where one does engage in sensual and sexual pleasure.
Again, a few token efforts of doing Yoga at night does not make you spiritual.
but I cannot do only spiritual things all day because 1. I would not have the purity and focus to stay constantly engaged the entire day, and 2. I have responsibilities which were given to me not by my choice.
Exactly, and this is why you are not spiritual. You are wordly. Most of your day is spent in your full time job, contributing to this capitalist system which is built on the value of exploitation. This is not to say you are a bad person. You sound like a good person with good moral values, and you helping others as well. This also makes you a charitable person.
When you do have the purity and focus to concentrate on your spirituality you will become a spiritual person. Then you will find a guru who will initiate you into a practice and tradition and you will practice until you have reached enlightenment. Then you will return to the world as a teacher for others.
My father spends two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening in Yoga Sadhaha, and in between he works with me in the day day. He leads an extremely pure and spiritual lifestyle and someday will be a Sanyasi.
And when he becomes a Sanyasi he will become a spiritual person.
Others I know work and enjoy family life but are also doing spiritual things and dedicating their actions to God.
Doing spiritual things does not make you spiritual. Living a spiritual life, dedicated only to achieiving enlightenment and nothing else is spiritual.
Sure, behaving in the way you mentioned while only practicing a little bit of spirituality is not leading a truly spiritual life, but people must start somewhere. If the only choice was to be completely material or completely spiritual then the people who adopt the spiritual life would still be partially material because they would not have had the chance to slowly develop the purity and faith required for spiritual life.
When you do have the purity and faith for spiritual life you will become spiritual. Prior to that you are material. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, but once the step is taken the journey begins.
In my opinion any spiritual efforts made will be beneficial, even if other parts of your life would seem to be counteractive to them. What is the alternative? Not put any effort in at all? By consistently making small gains through small efforts people with gradually develop their inner spiritual tendencies and weaken their bonds to material existence. This is the reason we have multiple lifetimes to achieve liberation, we are not all expected to reach perfection on our first try.
The gains you will make by trying to do live a spiritual life whilst living a material life is like taking a cup full from an ocean. In a 24 hour day if all you do is 2 hours of yoga a day, then the rest of day you spend working, socialising and entertaining yourself you will get nowhere. You will move up the spiritual ladder at a painfully slow snail peace, which will be counted in number of lifetimes.
Buddha, who was already a highly developed soul still took 10 years of absolute dedication to spiritual practice before he achieived enlightenment. The Risis went onto Samadhi and meditated for several decades(some stories say thousands) in one spot before they achieived enlightenment.
This really puts it into perspective just how much dedication you need if you are serious about achieving enlightenment. Only souls who have this level of commitment deserve to be called spiritual.
Some souls are born with the pangs of spirituality within them already. They start from childhood itself, but it still takes them until their adult years of spiritual practice before they reach enlightenment.
The knowledge of reincarnation can actually be quite dangerous, because people start to become complacent. They say, “What’s the hurry, I got forever, I will use this lifetime for material things this time” What they do not realise that by setting up this habit pattern, they make it harder for themselves the next time around. Next time around the new personality they adopt will also say, “What’s the hurry, I will forever, I will use this lifetime for material things this time” Next time, you maybe born in a society where do not get exposed to spirituality.
This is why if you are exposed to spirituality in this lifetime and you do not capitalise on that golden opportunity and start a spiritual life, once realising the ultimate aim of the soul is to achieive the Self and thereby enlightenment, you are being foolish. I have realised that there is goal higher than self-realization and I’ve got to work on it at the age of 30. If I maintain intensity of practice I may be able to reach enligtenment in this lifetime, or practice hard enough to get an incarnation in a spiritual family in the next.
), at the same time it is challenging because of the subconscious patterns and habits I have developed over the years and seem to have a life of its own.