The flavor of personal experience aka “practice.”

I have full appreciation for the BK movement. For me, it was like my “elementary school” in “Spirituality.”
Many of the elements I was taught by the BK movement are still with me, those are part of my personality now. Those have helped me to understand “spirituality” beyond a simple concept to follow.

“Spirituality” is to learn to live Life harmoniously. We will need to learn to feel our balance. That is known as harmony.
Balance cannot be defined or described. It is not a concept. The world exists through balance. Some put things in, we label that as “good”. Others, will take away. We label that as “bad.” Nevertheless, when these movements are harmonious, there is balance.

The same is within.

Society will give a perspective of Life. We learn to compete, to “advance”, to “make our own future”, etc. It is like trying to obtain a comfortable position then, we think we have “arrived.” That view is typically taken to extremes and we see people out of balance. To harmonize this view of Life a counterpart is needed. We have been exposed to religious or “spiritual” views to gain that balance.
Nevertheless in those religious, “spiritual” teachings; we learned that we can “advance” as well, we can become “somebody.” India has been great in giving hierarchies to many “saints” in this respect. You have the swamis, the Paramahansas, the mahatmas etc. All those labels mean “achievement” to laymen. However, those achievements are not something to “have” like money, power or position in society. Those things are related with “being”, inner work rather than outer achievement.

Spirituality is not an achievement.” It is to outgrow limitations. Those limits are very personal.

A BK follower will need to be attentive to this; otherwise, what he will “practice” is only a sophisticated, subtle version of society’s teachings: Another way to achieve name and fame which may have meaning inside the BK institution, but otherwise meaningless in Life.

Society pulls one way. Religions pull another. Those “pulls” are typically seen as contradictory by intelligent individuals. How is it possible to talk about brotherhood, when there is continuous “back-stabbing” behaviors in society? We see continuous fights, wars at different levels. That contradiction will bring a dissonance in the minds of people. Dishonesty is the outcome. Guilt and shame will be the emotions to experience.
Talk one way, act in a different way. Neurosis.

The same principle holds true while embracing the BK movement. It is like a little society inside society. Any extreme will not bring harmony, balance.

Observe that any practice should have a particular “flavor” to be enjoyed. Without that “flavor”, things will turn bitter.
“As it is your food, so your mind,” it is said in the BK movement. Therefore, as long as there is “flavor” in a “practice”, we will be in balance. Once the flavor is gone, perhaps is time to change. Look for another “flavor”.

Have you read about the Life of Ramana Maharshi? Observe that he was honest with his own experience. He left society because he experienced a greater “flavor.” He wanted that. Observe some of his “followers.” They did not experience any type of flavor. They merely wanted to experience what Ramana had and thought that by following his “austerities”, they will experience the same. Truth is, Ramana did not follow any “austerities”. He only wanted to experience the flavor that he knew, without the worries of society. Thereby; he left society. Some label that “renunciate” although there wasn’t any type of renunciation on his part.
There is much to learn about that.

Be honest with your own experience. It may not be the one that is “supposed to be”, but it is yours at a particular time. That is the starting point. It may change later on.
Life is change, anyway. We only have to be “real” for change to be “real.”