Today is American Independence Day. July 4 also happens to be the day when the great Indian monk Swami Vivekananda attained Mahasamadhi at Belur Mutt in the year 1902 at the young age of 39.

Swami Vivekananda propagated the essence of Hinduism to the world. He spoke brilliantly at the Parliament of the World’s Religions that opened in Chicago during September 1893. Inspired by the words ‘उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत (Uttisthata Jagrata Prapya Varannibodhata)’ from Kathopanishad, Swami Vivekananda conveyed the famous message “Arise, Awake, and Stop not till the goal is reached” at a speech in Kumbakonam in 1897 during his journey from Colombo to Madras. Swami strongly believed that each soul is potentially divine and the goal is to manifest this Divinity within by awakening the self by one’s own efforts. On this day, I am happy to reproduce a relevant article titled ‘Grow from the inside out’ from the blog ‘Guru Wonder’of my good friend Gurvinder Singh.

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“You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”
~ Swami Vivekananda

We run here and there, flit about everywhere, seeking spirituality. Called by many names on many paths spirituality is often confused with religion.

Religion has come to be known as the belief in, a human like male supreme being who pre-plans, monitors, protects, and rewards individuals and groups who please Him and denies and punishes those who displease Him.

How do we know this? Its drilled into us right from birth and reinforced by parents, schooling, priests, rulers and even politicians. God according to these folks works through an elaborate powerful organised structure, generally called ‘organised religion’.

In seeking spiritual growth, by turning to religion, we humans are very similar to the Musk Deer. The deer restlessly runs through the forest and the valleys, seeking the origin of the fragrance of the musk, not realising that its within the deer itself.

Yes many of us believe we need Guides, Masters and Gurus to help us in our seeking. Seek by all means but we have to remember not to become so desperate that the choice is unwise and our trust betrayed.

One thing is for sure anyone who makes a living, takes a salary or demands money for their spiritual guidance can never truly help us evolve spiritually.

Each one of us is Divine and an integral part of all other things and beings in Creation and that answer is within us. All journey outside of ourselves will come to a naught. Spiritual journey is an individual journey and its direction is towards the within.

4th July, is the death anniversary of a great spiritual master Swami Vivekananda . He facilitated and brought spiritual experiences collated over thousands of years by countless masters into the present day. His efforts made great spiritual wisdom easy to understand, learn from and awaken to achieve the peak of our spiritual potential.

He always insisted that, There is no light outside. Our spiritual light is within us.