MY JOURNEY IN LIFE

MY JOURNEY IN LIFE

Today we will talk a little bit about what is a true seeker and what is a spiritual journey. A spiritual journey is journey from self to self. It is about self-discovery. You discover about yourself, discover about what makes you tick. What makes you function? Now you may ask what is a seeker. The seeker is a person who sometime in his life time suddenly gets very restless. He wants to know more. He wants to understand the truth and he suddenly begins to find that what he has known from the past, his believe system has suddenly changed. He begins to understand the unity of faith, begins understand that there is only one God and he wants to find the truth and then the restlessness starts. This restlessness begins because he finds there is emptiness within him or her. This restlessness happens to everyone at certain point in time for his or her life. Can be a young boy, can be a girl or can be an old man.

This has got to do with your previous life. In your previous life, where you stop at, you continue in this life, we have what is called the aligning stage. Can be 10 years, 20 years, some even 50 or 60 years then suddenly they have this yearning. So it does not matter when this restlessness comes but when the restlessness starts, it is time where he begins to search. What is he searching for? He is searching for himself. He is searching for God. He is searching for Truth. He begins to understand there cannot be so many Gods. There must be only one God who controls the entire universe. You can name Him in whatever name you want but there is only one God. The entire universe was created by this one God. Then the seeker begins to search.

Then he begins to read a lot of books, he goes to the library and find a lot of things. He reads on all the major religions and all the spiritual things and then he can’t find the answer because no book can give him an answer. No one tells you truth. Whatever is printed in the media, they do not tell you the secret of the spiritual journey. Then he meets up with the Guru, if he is lucky. If he has not met up with his Guru, maybe he meets up with the Guru’s teachings. If you ask me is it necessary to meet up with a Guru, I say no. One billion people have not met up with Christ and yet they follow his teachings. One billion people have not met up with Krishna, yet they follow his teachings. There are millions following Lord Buddha but they have not met Him. A billion people have not met Prophet Mohammed (pbh) and yet they follow Islam. So the teachings are more important than the Founder. If you are blessed enough to meet up with the Guru, yes but if you are not blessed for whatever reason, then follow the teachings.

Now we are very blessed because the secrets of the spiritual journey have been given to us by our Guru in this prayer book. Now this book is only the map. If you go into the jungle, you need a map and a compass. The prayer book is your map. If you get lost, you open it and read. The compass is the talks that have been given for the past twenty over years. The talks give you explanations to the map. So just reading the map alone is not good enough. You must have the compass, if you get lost, you have the compass. So go back to all the discourses that have been given, go back to all the talks that have been given, because that is your compass. Without the compass, reading the prayer book alone will not get the understanding that you want. Now the journey of self-discovery is something which you cannot do own your own, you need a support group. You need a group whereby you can share your experience and learn from the other person’s experience. On your own in this journey, you will not be able to find the answer because it is very difficult on your own, you can become confuse and when there is confusion, you need to talk to someone. That is why within your family members, form your own grouping to discuss whatever that has been given, in this prayer book or Sunday talks. Discuss it and if you don’t understand, bring it up on Sundays or the monthly talks or if you really want to, you can e-mail me. In this age of information technology, we are just one click away.

You are given these two things and this is not a religion. The Human Relations Approach (HRA) to God is not religion. It is like Buddhism, it is not religion. It is a way of life, a code of conduct. It is a way where you practice and you measure yourself against the teachings that has been given. It is your own yardstick. So the prayers are like a map. The compass is the discourses and the talks that have been given which explains the teachings and explains the Human Relations Approach to God.

So if you find that you have been coming every Sunday and have not learnt anything, it is because you have not applied. If you look at all the teachers and teachings that have been given, all the masters will tell you, it is no point to listen if you don’t apply. Knowledge is knowledge but you need to apply to get experience. Knowledge remains knowledge, application is very important. Just try, it helps you to go through this journey of life with as little obstacles as possible. So that you learn how to overcome the obstacles and move on. That is the purpose. That is the only purpose of spiritual teachings. So that we can understand what life is, understand the issues that face us in this life time. To face it, to overcome it, to move on and make yourself happy. What we want is this happiness and peace of mind. What we have been given are tools which we can use.

The Buddha said life is suffering but understanding the suffering will allow you to overcome the suffering.

Nowhere can be found tools that have been given that are so precise and so useful. I have been a seeker since I was 18, I have been to all the libraries and find the books but I could not find anything until I met up with our Guru. In the simplest words, He said Human Relations Approach to God. Sounds simple but the latitude of it is tremendous for you to discover. That is something we are tasked to unfold and learn but if you have mastered it, if you have mastered the teachings that has been given, I tell you, you have mastered life. You have no more problems. Why? Because you don’t see problems as problems anymore. You see problems as a challenge and you overcome it. You see problem as just part of life and you overcome it and you move on. With every problem you have you become stronger. Think of it this way, with every problem you have it is like piling, you are piling one more and at the end of your journey your foundation is so strong, nobody can shake you. If you run away from problems, it is like building without piling, one wind blows and the whole thing will collapse.

Life is like this. Your foundation has to be very strong. Your foundation is your believe in a system of teachings that you can relate to, embrace it and make it part of your life. Then you can say, Yes, I have mastered the Human Relations Approach to God. Then you can say I have mastered life and I am at peace with myself – My Creator.