Piousness and spiritual self analysis

A renowned priest of a famous north Indian temple went to meet a Self realized Saint in his ashram located on the foot of the Himalayas. After observing the blissful state of the Saint for a couple of days in the ashram, the priest gathered courage to open up his heart in front of the Saint. With tears in his eyes he entered into the Saint's room, and said, “Dear Master, I need your help.”

The Saint looked at the priest in a disarray and replied, “Son, you are such a renowned priest with thousands of followers. You have memorized all the Shlokas of the Vedas and Upanishads. You give discourses on Vedanta and Srimad Bhagawad Gita to others. How can a ordinary being like me help you?”

“Dear Sir, you are right in stating that I have thousands of followers and am fortunate to gain knowledge of Vedanta by studying the holy ancient scriptures of the Vedas and the Upanishads. By God's grace, I have gained a lot of fame and wealth. However, still something is missing.”

The Saint continued to look at the priest with his deep eyes filled with compassion.

The priest continued, “Dear Sir, I have been offering prayers daily to the God in the temple for more than past 20 years. I rise up early in the morning before sun-rise, take shower, perform all the holy rituals, chant mantras, offer prasadam and engage myself in the holy services of God for the whole day. Even then, I am not able to attain the highly coveted goal of life – the goal of attaining Self realization, the goal of attaining the supreme state of peace and blissfulness. I still have a lot of doubts in my mind.”

The Saint replied, “Son, you are very fortunate that even after gaining the worldly success in the form of wealth and fame, still you are realizing the importance of inner peace and supreme happiness. Most of the worldly beings spend their life while running after the worldly pleasures and in the end, leave this world in an unfulfilled state of mind. This is the result of your merits, and selfless service to God and other fellow beings.”

After a brief pause, the Saint continued, “Performing holy rituals and leading a pious life is one aspect of spiritual seeking. However, there is another important aspect of devoting time in solitude, performing spiritual Self analysis and meditation . The one who has spiritual Self analysis in life, his life is filled with the virtues and true piousness on its own. So far you have only given importance to leading a pious life and performing holy rituals. Now, you should begin to listen to the talks of Self realized ones, spend time in solitude and analyze the deep purport behind all that you have listened and learned. You should slowly begin to resolve your doubts and settle your mind under the spirits of pious and purified intellect. You should meditate and slowly progress to the state of Samadhi –a deeper state of blissful Self consciousness. Slowly you will begin to relish the nectar of inner peace and true happiness.”

The words of wisdom from the Saint pierced the heart of the priest like an arrow and he understood that learning the holy scriptures alone won't help on the journey of exploring the inner world of supreme peace and true happiness. He started living with the Saint and continued his seeking under the guidance of the truly realized one. It didn't took him long to taste the nectar of inner joy as his heart was already purified after years of selfless and meritorious living.