The Painful World

According to the dictionary aspiration is a - hope, dream, wish, longing, yearning, aim or an ambition to achieving something. However spiritual aspiration is by the will of progress the urge towards perfection.

Spiritual aspiration is a permanent inner cry that arises from our heart, our spiritual heart. The spiritual heart's very nature is to inspire the individual to discover higher and higher realizations, until they ultimately develop their unconditional oneness with the Creator, God.

Those who devote their attention to their inner aspiration shall undeniably develop complete union with the highest consciousness, God. The intensity for continued aspiration is developed through regular prayer, meditation and quiet contemplation. These virtues keep the individual focused on their inner life where realization, true fulfillment, wisdom and peace shall ultimately be attained.

So a spiritual persons aspiration sees them constantly seeking to overcome their imperfections, to become a better person. Where doubt, fear, jealousy, selfishness, frustration, ego or negativity are just some of the qualities that they are seeking to have illumined. The ability to clearly identify which negative qualities they seek to overcome is revealed through their daily prayers, meditations and contemplations.

These virtues by their very nature are positive for they keep the individual's awareness within the spiritual heart. The spiritual heart's illumined reality stems from the individual's unique inner connection with God, the soul. The spiritual heart is fed with the soul's qualities of joy, contentment, fulfilment, hope, happiness, kindness, unconditional love and sincerity. The qualities they seek to overcome arise from the limited part of their nature, the physical mind.

The transformation of the negatives of the physical mind into positives of the spiritual heart is one of the greatest shifts within human consciousness. The mind can however resist, it is very powerful and stubborn, but your determination and patience shall overcome these initial difficulties. The soul has infinitely more capacities than the unillumined mind. The mind's activities are only shallow, whereas the soul's perfection lies within a much deeper and vaster reality. We have to give the soul time to illumine the mind. That is why we focus on the heart through our regular meditations. The spiritual heart is the vessel through which the soul offers its illumining, pure and divine qualities to the mind and body. This gradual transformation brings increased aspiration and divine illumination.

Sri Chinmoy the meditation teacher says, (1) "Aspiration is the mounting cry, the climbing cry inside our heart. We can enter into the divine consciousness through our inner cry. This cry is not for name and fame. This cry is for our total, unconditional, unreserved oneness with God, who is the Inner Pilot of our life-boat".

Ref: (1) From Sri Chinmoy's Book - The Wings of Joy