Spiritual Realism

Sunlight filters through trees on the ornate white domes of a historic temple, with detailed carvings and gold endings, creating a serene and majestic atmosphere. Opulent green foliage frames the scene.

In front of you are always the things that need to be taken care of, that are uncertain, that need to be undertaken.

Behind you are always the things you have come into contact with in one way or another.

Only where you are now is there the possibility to meet and to experience love from openness.

Wrapped carved stone pillars in an old architectural style, with graceful patterns and detailed engravings. The warm, earthy tones emphasize the craftsmanship and the historical significance of the structure.

Lately, I have had a strong feeling that it is time for spiritually oriented and interested people to reconnect with reality. After all, spirituality is not outside of reality, but rather a sensitive layer of reality.

From society's frequent tendency toward superficiality, more attention to behavior than to authenticity has crept into the world of spirituality. The form, the means, the specialness of it, and especially what you can do with it has become more important than the stripped down authenticity that spiritual awareness is actually about.

Many people who experience a Satsang with me look either critically or acceptingly at a man who knows, can or has something special, unusual or extraordinary and therefore has a certain position in the spiritual world. But I, I just feel like a sensitive person, who is not sitting there trying to deliver something or stand up for a cause or wanting to showcase what he knows. I came to that meeting to be with people, to feel with them what life is all about, and to join with them in giving renewed attention to the respect for the ordinary and the real. I am not at all someone who assumes that he can do something, has something, or represents something, but someone who has been informed by others that he can be of value to many because of his way of being and speaking. After all, you become a spiritual teacher because people say that you apparently have something to teach, tell, or offer them in that area.

Close-up of two ornate, vertically aligned brass prayer wheels with detailed writing, possibly Sanskrit, against a blurry background of flames or small fires, indicating a ceremonial or spiritual setting.

I myself do not experience this image of the teacher at all, but am just someone who sits there to meet and talk about the special and sometimes confusing contact with being alive, which I as a human being share with all my fellow human beings. Yes, I like white clothes and a white environment because that color gives me openness and I still like to send a signal of peace with my white clothes, just as I used to save human lives with it in Afghanistan. Yes, I love the ancient Indian culture and feel at home in their way of expressing themselves and experiencing their emotions. Yes, I love beauty, order and refinement around me, which makes me feel at ease. Yes, but that's not about wanting to show or display something, not about making a statement or measuring myself against something, but simply because it suits me.

Because people themselves are preoccupied with their behavior, positions, and what others think of them, they also look at spiritually oriented people or teachers in this way and then do not see the authenticity in them, but think that they are also preoccupied with their image or appearance. Behavior and external signals are thus elevated to values that they do not carry, do not have in themselves. Even among themselves, students or trainees often pay attention to each other's behavior. Who seems to be the most positive, grateful, happy, agile, or free because they seem to be doing well.

But is that really the case, or is it all just behavior and is the basic humanity of the person no longer being met at all? What does that person feel when he or she goes to bed at night and completely lets go of the world and his or her behavior for a while? How does he or she get in touch with the authenticity or the normality of himself or herself? Isn't spirituality precisely about feeling the realness of that normalcy more deeply, embracing it more fully, and accepting it more respectfully? If spirituality is about doing, achieving, or creating something special, isn't that the same kind of goal-orientation and outward manifestation that the ego uses to try to compensate for its inner lack?

The image shows a sunset viewed by ornate stone arches. The sun stands between the columns and casts warm, golden light and long shadows. The landscape in the background is somewhat visible under the soft, glowing air.

Do we want to discover the realistic authenticity of life as a basis for harmonious and deep relationships with ourselves and others, or do we want to discover through spiritual development new powers and perhaps with them new weapons to reach our goal and overcome the sensitivity we have as human beings? Do we want to discover the depth and authenticity of reality or do we want to escape reality and thereby deny it?

What kind of spirituality are we seeking if these are our unconscious motives? Is the image that a spiritual teacher no longer suffers from anything, can endure anything, consists only of love and peace, always puts others first, knows no fear, pain or need et cetera? Or are these fables, created by an ego that wants to overcome these difficulties and thinks it has found a way to do so in spirituality, instead of discovering the depth beneath these unwanted feelings?

If spirituality is used to solve the inner lack of authenticity by falling into a fable, it will end up very frustrating. Similarly, if you continue to look at spiritual teachers, masters or messengers in this way, you will not meet him or her and will remain in an affective void, overlooking the sensitive authenticity of existence.

A large bell decorated with torn orange fabric hangs outside, drawn against a clear sky. Distant mountains and a river are visible in the background, partially obscured by foliage.

Authenticity frees you from nothing that belongs to life. Authenticity rather makes you more sensitive, instead of not being disturbed by anything anymore, but in the process it also makes you more sensitive to your inner light, which gives you an embeddedness to take part in life. Authenticity brings you into a feeling of familiarity where you no longer suppress anything and behavior is clearly visible as a result of your authenticity, karma and heredity. Authenticity does not represent anything, but it does have value, and that value depends on your openness, because value can only be felt, and what you feel is determined by the openness of your experience.

Authenticity lets you feel that you are simply a sensitive and endearing person, normal and not greater than what you are. Normal and real is what you can feel every night when you go to bed, undressed, as if every night you die to the world of appearances and go to rest in your authenticity. Then you will feel what authenticity is. The more open you are to it, the more you come into contact with the spiritual values of this reality, of the reality that you are, of the life that you are.

And in this naked authenticity I also stand in front of groups, many of whom sometimes look at me very differently. Then I feel that they do not know my and their own authenticity, do not seek it, do not want to meet it, but are looking for the extraordinary, the unique and the redeeming. Then I feel how painful this disappointment must be for them over and over again, because this salvation does not exist, not even through spiritual behavior, knowledge or abilities.

A decorative metal bell with different symbols and patterns hangs against a blurry green background. The bell has floral motifs and a central relief symbol, which creates a graceful appearance.

Ultimately, you cannot leave your normality, your humanity behind, because everyone dies at some point, and at that moment you "must" return to it. Everyone has to shed everything that is unreal before they die, before they leave. Why should you abandon that authenticity during your life, try to find it in the details through spirituality, and then return to it when you leave this world to feel that it was with you all along? You cannot escape the reality of what you simply are. Spirituality is not outside of reality, but is in fact the sensitive layer of this often not deeply understood reality in which you are human. That is why I want to draw your attention to the value of spiritual realism. Perhaps you will recognize it and it can mean something for you and for your relationship with me, with life and in the relationship between people.

May you open yourself again and again to the true substance behind the form of matter, where both the soul and eternal love await you.

* Translated from Dutch using DeepL (AI)

Anandajay dressed in white, sitting on a reed braided chair with white pillow

Anandajay (which means “blessing from the heart”) has been dedicated to integrating the spiritual essence into daily life for over 50 years. He has developed twelve teachings (spiritual practices), 50 music albums (mantras, pujas and ragas) and twenty books (written in Dutch) to bring you closer to the natural basis of your existence, your spiritual authenticity, and its wholesome, joyful essence, so that it can also be your shining, spiritual guide in your life. He expresses the core value of his work as: The Light of Being.