This is a comprehensive discussion on the topic of 'what is spiritual and what is not' as part of an ongoing series on the Wisdom of Bhagavad Gita. There are common misconceptions about spirituality. The term 'spirit' is used in various contexts and while many things are labeled as spiritual, not everything considered sacred or supernatural is truly spiritual from a Vedic perspective.
For example, there is the common misconception that nature is inherently spiritual, but while nature can influence our state of consciousness positively, it none-the-less remains material energy.
The ancient Vedic understanding is that in this world there are two fundamental energies: material energy (comprised of atoms and particles) and spiritual energy. The spiritual energy is the spiritual being (ātmā – the self or the spirit soul) which is eternal, unchanging, and personal, and temporarily residing within a material body.
The spiritual journey is not to find a better way to enjoy the world with my material covering (body and mind). It is to discover my real spiritual identity, reestablish my lost connection with my source, the Supreme Soul or God, and become immersed in a relationship of love and loving service to the Supremely Lovable God.
Some verses that were quoted:
Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is. - Bhagavad-gītā 8.20
Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe. - Bhagavad-gītā 7.5
O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness. Bhagavad-gītā 13.34
Here is a link to another talk on the subject, The Nature of the Soul:
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9fAaCDZltU&ab_channel=AcharyaDas
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Bx7hRtWgc/
Acharyadas.com - https://acharyadas.com/the-nature-of-the-soul/
Additional quotes around what is a spiritual person that people may benefit from:
Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk? - Bhagavad-gītā 2.54
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Pārtha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness. - Bhagavad-gītā. 2.55
One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind. - Bhagavad-gītā. 2.56
In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge. - Bhagavad-gītā. 2.57
One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness. - Bhagavad-gītā. 2.58
The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness. - Bhagavad-gītā. 2.59
He is a perfect yogī who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, both in their happiness and distress, O Arjuna! - Bhagavad-gītā 6.32
A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all—the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial-with an equal mind. - Bhagavad-gītā 6.9
