Challenges for the Modern Day Spiritual Seeker

This podcast was hosted by a YouTube channel called ‘Spirituality ka Raita’, a channel where its hosts sit every fortnight and talk about spirituality and how we can use it to influence our decisions in day to day life. They talk about the main issues of life and the hurdles that come during the journey and in this episode they talk about the Challenges for the Modern Spiritual Seeker

The show introduces a guest, Mr Hasnain Waris, in this episode. Mr Waris starts by talking about how spirituality is within us and that we need to be aware of our obstacles and remove them and our spiritual self will present itself. They talk about less spiritually friendly our society. They talk about social conditioning and how society and parents might end up forcing their children to pursue a course they might not be interested in because their interests don’t suit their ideas. Mr Vishal Gupta, one of the hosts, adds to his points by saying that a lot of what we are going through and face in the outside world is a reflection of ourselves and if we look within, a lot of what we are going through would make sense to us and we can tackle them accordingly.

Mr Waris moves to the issues specifically for modern seekers. With an interesting analogy of how a person learns to drive a car, he explains that just like you can’t learn to drive with a book, learning to be spiritual with a book is also not enough you will need someone next to you to guide your way. There are a few characteristics that he talks about that are a hallmark of the current generation: Luxury, Lust, Speed, and Fear. He points out that reading too many books and getting too much knowledge can be a roadblock.

Mr Manoj comes in pointing out that trying to sell spirituality by guaranteeing happiness is not the best way to talk about spirituality. He says that external forces can ruin your journey to spirituality as some people might not be happy with your decision or your partner might be a materialistic person and might not like the move and might even leave you ruining your relationship which can make things worse, concluding that spirituality can’t guarantee happiness. Mr Vishal says that you should focus on yourselves and not on the external factors and if it breaks relations, let it be but at least stay true to your belief because with or without them you can achieve to be spiritual. Mr Manoj points out the lack of a guide map but it’s soon refuted by Mr Vishal when he says that no 2 individual’s path will ever be the same.

Mr. Waris continues his point by talking about how you would have to get out of the conditioning that you were raised with, you would have to ignore the people who might be a burden and are not letting you grow. He talks about an incompetent seeker who wants the change to be fast which is not possible, he talks about how everyone’s journey is not the same which is the reason why there can’t be a guide map because the ways can be similar but no 2 individuals can have the same way to achieve spirituality and that’s why you can read philosophies but can’t find a map to spirituality.

This was a very deep, detailed and a bit heated conversation about spirituality and the hurdles for the modern day seeker, which will lead you to think about your life and how you could overcome the issues that you might meet while on the path of spirituality.