Spirituality can be understood as the knowledge of a reality that lies beyond the physical self and forms the very core of the physical beings. A spiritual person goes into the fundamental cause or source of all material reality which can not be seen or felt.
All living realities consist of a body and a soul or the spark of spirit. While bodies are distinct and changing every moment, the spirit is eternal and same in all. Thus the mind of a spiritual person is still and experiences peace and happiness while the mind of a material person is turbulent and experiences pleasure and pain.
All human beings are born spiritual as Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone”. No man can be happy merely by satisfying the body like other animals. He has to satisfy his soul to live. All the happiness and joy in the life of man comes only from the satisfaction of body and soul. While the satisfaction of body is temporary as it lasts only for a while, the satisfaction of soul is lasting which brings permanent happiness and joy in the life of man.
Thus spirituality is the true indication of the happiness of a person.
The Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Scientists have developed many methods to measure the Intelligence of a person, calling it the Intelligence Quotient (IQ). IQ has been widely used by the universities to select the student for the graduate courses. The tests like GRE or SAT measures the intelligence of the student. IQ is also an important criteria adopted by corporate to select their employees as they have learned from their experience that people with high IQ have better ability to solve problems.
It has also been established by many studies that people of high IQ are more successful in their professional and personal lives.
Yet there is no guarantee the people of high IQ must also be happier in their life than the less intelligent people as happiness comes from within and does not depend on the material success of the person in this world.
The happiness of the person does not depend on his IQ but depends only on his spiritual Quotient (SQ).
The Spiritual Quotient
Spirituality of a person is difficult to measure just like happiness. The reason is that while the body and mind of the person can be seen or measured, the spirit can not be measured by any instrument.
However, every person knows his spirit which is the source of his thoughts, believes and emotions. Hence he can knows himself for sure the truth of his soul.
Spirituality is not measurable by the actions of the person. One can go to Church or temple every day without believing God at all. There is no method to measure beliefs, truths and love. One can also fool the world by doing action and speaking words contrary to his thoughts and believes.
Hence one has to be absolutely honest in answering the questions for the SQ Test as it if for the Self and not for others. No material benefits can accrue by getting high SQ score.
Remember, you can fool all people in the world but you can never fool yourself.
So be honest while measuring your own SQ as high SQ is an indication of your lasting happiness. You clues of high SQ is hidden in the test itself, which can always be used to increase SQ and achieve more permanent happiness in life.
Spiritual Quotient Test
Answer the following questions truthfully.
There are five answers of each question. The answers and the marks assigned are as following
1. Absolutely True (10 marks)
2. Very True (8 marks)
3. Partially True (6 marks)
4. Probably True (4 marks)
5. Rarely True (2 marks)
6. Not True ( 0 marks)
Q1: I believe that God is One.Q2: I believe that God is formless and present in all beings.
Q3: I love all people and feel compassion for all living being.
Q4: I earn enough to live a comfortable life and I do not like to accumulate wealth
Q5: I am happy being myself and do not seek power.
Q6: I respect my parents and elders.
Q7: I seek good for all and I do not like violence.
Q8: I always speak Truth.
Q9: I love my spouse and do not intend to commit adultery.
Q10: I always deal with people in a way I would have like to be dealt myself.
Add all your score and your Spiritual Quotient. The higher is your score, the more spiritual you are in your life and more permanent is your happiness and joy in the life.
In order to know how these questions measure spirituality, we have to understand the essence of spirituality.
The Essence of Spirituality
The ten questions to measure SQ are not really different from each other but may be treaded as the braches of the same tree as a spiritual person sees unity in all diversities in this universe.
The detailed analysis of the questions would reveal that they all emanates from the same spirit which is fundamental and eternal as explained in following paras.
(I) God is One
Every religion gives a different name for the God. God is known in different religions as Yahweh, Christ, Allah, Krishna, Ram, Shiva, Buddha, Mother etc. He is also referred as Supreme, Energy, Spirit, Love by nonreligious person. All scriptures provide a different name and description of God. Thus for an ordinary person, all religions are different and all Gods are different.
However a spiritual person knows that they all refer to the same God as there can not be multiple Gods based on the faith of the person.
(II) God is An Omnipresent Spirit
Most people understand God by some form. Some people worship the idols of God in their temple or churches. Others consider the words of God as sacrosanct. However, one who sees God in Idols or forms can never be spiritual as no two idols can be same. A typical temple of Hindu is inhabited by several Gods or Goddess like Krishna, Rama, Kali, Shiva etc. Even Christianity believe in the Trinity of God i.e. God the Father, God the Son (Christ) and Holy Spirit. Judaism and Islam believe in the Oneness of God. Yet there are major differences in the description of God.
Thus it is not easy to comprehend God as One unless one uses intuition and imagination. If God is One, then He can never be described by words and Forms for the simple reason that they all represents a specific concept of divinity which is limited which God is eternal and omnipresent. He has to be a Spirit or Energy which is present in all creations. A spiritual person therefore sees the same God in every person irrespective of his religion, race or nationality due to His presence in all.
(III) Love All Beings
A spiritual person sees God in all including himself. Hence everyone automatically becomes an extension of the self. Thus he loves every person as the self. However, a material person sees himself different from others, his religion different from others, his nation different from others or his race different from others. Therefore, he can never love others as the self. All distinction leads to hatred as no two people can think alike or do identical things. Thus one can easily know the level of his spiritual growth by just observing how many people he loves.
If one can love every one including his enemies, he is truly a spiritual person.
(IV) Wealth is A Means Only
While most people are longing to earn as much wealth as they can and live a life or comfort and luxury, a spiritual person sees wealth only as a means to attain God. He lives not to eat but eat only to live. Once his basic necessities are satisfied, he does not want to accumulate wealth. One can never be materialistic and spiritual at the same time.
A seeker of God does not go after wealth.
(V) Hate Power
The concept of individual power runs quite contrary to the spiritual world. It is well said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupt absolutely. Individual power always challenges the power of God. The universe is perfect in itself as anything that is created by God has to be perfect. However, due to the limitation of our knowledge, we often find the world as imperfect and try to make it perfect by the use of force. Most of us have limited power; hence we use it only in our family or dependents. Yet one who has more power uses it against a large number of people. However, it is seen from experience that all such attempts of changing the world by force has finally failed as unlimitedly only the Truth or God wins.
(VI) Respect Parents
Man is brought into this world from the flesh and blood of his parents. Parents also play the most important role in bring up the child and make him stand on his own feet. However, when parents become weak and needs the support of their children, often children ditch them. For a material person, it does not make any sense to return the favour to their parents as the parents can never pay back the favour again. However, a spiritual person always respects their parents as his very existence came from them. He feels obliged to feed the source that created them at the first place.
Respecting parents is a sign of gratitude and humility. One who is not grateful to his parents, can not be grateful to God or his Creator.
(VII) Nonviolence
Violence is the easiest method to get results. The policy of “an eye for an eye” is as old as the civilization itself. However, violence always leads to more violence. The root cause of violence is due to the separateness one feels with the others. If a person feels that everyone is created from the same spirit and have the same God, he can never resort to violence not only in deeds but even in thoughts. You can never use violence against yourself however wrong you have done. You are always able to find some reason and some justification for all your acts
(VIII) Truth is God
Truth is the most important character of a spiritual person as Truth is one of the manifestations of God. God like Truth is eternal and omnipresent. While materialistic people are always driven by their desire to accumulate wealth and changes the course of life based on the tide of the flow, the spiritual person can never discard truth for the sake of anything in this world. Truth is always consistent with God and it is Truth that creates faith and trust.
(IX) Adultery is Sensuous
Coveting the spouse or wealth of other is the sure manifestation of the enslavement of the person to his senses and the body. Adultery is unacceptable to a spiritual person it amount to cheating to the spouse for the sake of sensual pleasure. For the spiritual person, nothing is as important as having the faith and trust of the partner. He can not have faith in the God if he fails to have faith of his spouse.
(X) The Golden Rule
Treating others as one would like others to treat him is the most natural action of all spiritual people as they do not distinguish between self and others. Even if they wish, they can not treat others as any different from their own selves.
Spirituality Brings Happiness
Spirituality is often associated with other worldliness. Nothing can be farther from truth. A Spiritual person goes beyond the body and discovers the true force of the body. Thus he understands the cause and effect of the world more accurately than any scientist. As a scientist can prevent mishaps by predicting weather and cyclones, the spiritual person avoids pain and misery by his better understands of the world. He earns the trust and faith of the people by his selfless service to them and by trusting them. Thus the Spiritual Quotient of a person measures the spirituality or the non-material nature of the person which truly reflects the quotient of his happiness and joy.
Proudly WWW.PONIREVO.COM
Source by Dr Awdhesh Singh
