This concept of spirituality is explained by the concept of an “indwelling God” given by Pandu Rang Shashtri, founder of the Swadhyaye Movement. According to this, reality is within us and we can receive spiritual nourishment by establishing contact with our own inner personality. This concept has been explained by Acharya Rajneesh in his book, “Kundalini Andar Base.” In this system, man’s inner existence is akin to a mysterious ocean, which remains, under normal circumstances, undiscovered for man. Like the iceberg in the oceans, a tiny part of his existence comes under the grip of his consciousness, while the greater part remains hidden under the subconscious. Now the goal of spiritualism is for man to be able to relate his conscious part to the unconscious. By accomplishing this, man achieves the stage of mental or spiritual development and perfects his mental existence at the conscious level.
According to me, there is partial truth in this concept. It is true that the potential of man’s own existence is far more than that which comes under the perception of his conscious in normal circumstances. However this is not the answer to man’s actual quest for reality. Taking both the conscious and the unconscious, man is no doubt in a state of limited existence, and discovering something limited in nature can never be the answer man seeks to find in his search for reality.
Man from every respect is a limited being. Man by his very nature cannot remain content with limitations. Now he wants to find the limitless in order to compensate for his limitations.
According to the above concept the only possibility is that the limited succeeds in finding the limited. This can never be the answer to man’s actual quest for reality and that is why such an answer leaves him as dissatisfied as before.
The issue of the search of reality is, in principle, a matter concerning the perception of the unlimited and perfect reality, rather than simply a matter of discovering one’s own self. If man were a perfect being he would never have the psychology of quest embedded within him. The psychology of quest is part of man’s subconscious; so, if the subconscious is a perfect existence why should it always suffer from the psychology of quest. Such a psychology is indicative of imperfectness on the part of the seeker.
It is a fact that had man had a perfect existence he would never have been born with the natural urge of quest for reality. All human beings being born with this nature provide an internal proof that man in his nature does not have a perfect existence. This fact is enough to prove that the target of the spiritual quest of man can never be his own being.
This proves that the concept of man-oriented spirituality is not corroborated by man’s nature. According to man’s nature he has no such spiritual treasure house existing independently within him. For man is a taker-creature. He receives everything from his Creator. Therefore, we have to find reality through some other source.
