The question you have asked is very empirical in nature, so I would like to take an empirical approach aka like when a new drug (aka medicine) is developed a CLINICAL TRIAL is undertaken to understand its effects and side effects on people.
In the same lines, we will have to see how spirituality has effected people who are following it / have followed it and the you can be more or less sure how its going to effect you.
There’s a general notion that MATERIAL / PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS and/or MONEY will bring happiness. It might bring in HAPPINESS for a while but its not permanent. In fact nothing is permanent including US. Every life that’s born is born with an EXPIRY DATE.
SUCCESS does not guarantee happiness (permanent or otherwise) – here’s an article saying exactly that – Even millionaires get depressed and here are a few examples to illustrate the same.
Buzz Aldrin from Apollo 11 (the only humans who landed on the MOON) – Buzz Aldrin Battled Depression and Alcohol Addiction After the Moon Landing. Opinion | Buzz Aldrin Returned From the Moon. Then His Real Adventure Began.
VG SIDDHARTHA – owner of cafe coffee day – VG Siddhartha’s death puts the spotlight on a serious crisis among Indian entrepreneurs
A Look at Successful Entrepreneurs We Have Tragically Lost to Suicide
Deepika Paduone – very well known to the current generation – BOLLYWOOD ACTRESS Deepika Padukone (actor) at the pinnacle of her career (in 2014) and peak of professional success went into depression – Bollywood star Deepika Padukone shares how she coped with depression during a ‘professional high’.
Robin Williams – another hollywood star famous for movies like PATCH ADAMS, JUMANJI, Mrs DOUBTFIRE, GOOD WILL HUNTING committed suicide in 2014..
Sushant Singh Rajput – Wikipedia – Sushant Singh Rajput suicide: He felt that someone wanted to destroy him, say statements of close friends
Here’s an entire WIKIPEDIA & IMDB PAGE that lists out celebrities who committed suicide can’t believe such a page exists- List of suicides in the 21st century – Wikipedia, Actors and Celebrities Who Committed Suicide – IMDb
We also had a fellow QUORAN & a DOCTOR – Anurag Kumar (the real kind- MBBS) and PG Student at the prestigious AIIMS, NEW DELHI who committed suicide after battling depression for a couple of months. – AIIMS Delhi junior doctor dies by suicide by jumping off 10th floor of hospital. He had cracked one of the toughest medical examination in INDIA just about 6 months ago.
Now that we have established that SUCCESS does not GUARANTEE happiness.
I am giving you some examples of a few EXTREMELY FAMOUS PEOPLE, who are known faces when it comes to SPIRITUALITY.
Adi-Shankara – traveled across the INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, established the CHARDHAMS, revived HINDUISM in India (which was then bearing the brunt of spread of Buddhism & Jainism)
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA – put INDIA & HINDUISM back on the world map. He revived HINDUISM & the confidence of INDIAN SOCIETY to think about FREEDOM and FIGHT THE BRITS. He founded the RAMAKRISHNA MATH RAMAKRISHNA MISSION
This is LAHIRI MAHASHAYA – he’s the GURU to YUKTESHWAR GIRI, who was the GURU of the famous PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA (the author of the best seller Autobioraphy of a YOGI)
PARAMAHAMSA YOGANANDA – Author of the BEST SELLER AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI. Swami Vivekananda introduced HINDUISM & YOGA to the WEST, YOGANANDA was the one who established it through his organization ANANDA /SELF REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP. He taught his YOGA techniques to MAHATMA GANDHI and even to the BEATLES.
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR – a PADMA VIBHUSHAN awardee (Mar 2016), he’s the founder of the ART OF LIVING foundation (1981) which has 10,000+ centers spread across 156 countries and has changed lives of 450million+ people, he runs countless charity programs – Runs 800+ free schools (60,000 students) in India, river / water rejuvenation projects and many more. He was also nominated for the NOBEL PRIZE in 2016.
SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV – a PADMA VIBUSHAN awardee, he’s the founder of ISHA FOUNDATION (1992). He’s the author of multiple books – “Inner Engineering a YOGI’s GUIDE TO JOY” BEST SELLERS in their category. He has been a speaker in the UN, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM and many top institutions of the world HARVARD, MIT, IIT’s & IIM’s etc. Senior executives (MANAGING DIRECTORS, CEO’s) working for BIG CORPORATES form the bulk of his followers
THESE PEOPLE LISTED ABOVE ARE SUPER SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE by any & all standards. They are people who can change and have changed the FATE OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE – ENTIRE COUNTRIES for that matter.
Leave alone a PADMA VIBHUSHAN or a NOBEL PRIZE, we struggle to get even a PRIZE within the ORGANIZATION we work for or even a good name within our extended families.
Do you see a connection – its because of SPIRITUALITY that they managed to create such huge organizations and do SO MUCH WORK.
All boils down to – HAPPINESS & INNER PEACE. Only if you are HAPPY, PEACEFUL CONTENT inside can you be innovative, creative and FOCUSED outside.
To prove my point just look at which countries have been the most innovative & creative in the recent past – by any standards USA tops the list of innovations in the 20th & 21st century.
I am taking the no of NOBEL PRIZE’s won by different countries as a yardstick.
Can you count the NOBEL PRIZES from any of the CONFLICT ZONES zones of the world – the are low single digit (<5) or NONE – See PAKISTAN, BOSNIA, COLUMBIA, NIGERIA – List of Nobel laureates by country – Wikipedia
SPIRITUALITY will ground you and give your perspective, it will help you be at PEACE with yourself and your environment and focus on the job at hand rather on what others are doing and talking.
REMEMBER, whatever you do in your life is someway or the other related to bringing in more happiness into your life or to the life’s of people around you. So it can be a job change you are looking for or an increment or a promotion. Maybe you wish to buy a new VEHICLE, a new house, jewelry using that extra money. Most of the times people have set timelines for themselves for such milestones and when things don’t happen as per their plan they get upset. Work quality suffers, bad mouthing happens etc etc. The ultimate TRUTH is that that all these are ephemeral (fleeting) and they will eventually loose its sheen (LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS). It takes many many lifetimes to understand that HAPPINESS IS A STATE OF MIND. It does not have anything to do with any MATERIAL POSSESSION or IDENTITY or RELATIONSHIP.
SPIRITUALITY will put you on a PATH OF SEEKING THE REAL TRUTH, THE REAL PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE.
Here are a few contemporary people who benefited immensely MATERIALLY from SPIRITUALITY
Steve Jobs’ private spirituality now an open book.
The spiritual side of Steve Jobs
Its said that STEVE JOBS personally arranged for everyone to get “THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI” at his funeral.
Another very famous guy who took a glimpse into SPIRITUALITY to get direction during a time of crisis (before his company became the GIANT it is now) is FACEBOOK FOUNDER MARK ZUCKERBERG. STEVE JOBS asked him to VISIT NEEB KARORI BABA’ ASHRAM in KAINCHI, NAINITAL, INDIA. He mentioned this to PM NARENDRA MODI during a public conversation on TV.
Here’s a list of some HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES who took to SPIRITUALITY
Richard Gere – Wikipedia – famous movie star from the 1990’s, acted in movies like CHICAGO, PRETTY WOMAN, THE RUN AWAY BRIDE etc How Richard Gere found the path to Buddhism – Actor recounts his first meeting with Dalai Lama and the virtues of practising Dharma.
Julia Roberts – Wikipedia – Another famous 90’s HOLLYWOOD MOVIE STAR & OSCAR WINNER was (she was the highest paid ACTRESS in hollywood then) converted to HINDUISM when she was in India in SEPTEMBER 2009 when she was in India for shooting her movie EAT PRAY LOVE. I’m a Hindu: Julia Roberts – Times of India.
Here’s the best EXAMPLE of the effect SPIRITUALITY can have on your CAREER
Narendra Modi: Know about the monk who put Narendra Modi on path to become PM – The Economic Times. Here’s the WIKI for list of HONORS – Narendra Modi – Wikipedia, and here’s the list of achievements – https://www.narendramodi.in/what-are-the-big-achievements-of-modi-govt-in-the-last-8-months-read-to-find-out-more–548384
There are many such examples of people like above, but I guess you see where I am going with this.
SPIRITUALITY, may or may not make you successful, but it will
- make you VALUE YOUR LIFE and give you purpose and perspective.
- make you more COMPASSIONATE & EMPATHETIC
- make you more LOVING & LOVABLE
- make you more GENEROUS & GIVING
- make you more ENTHUSIASTIC & HAPPY
- make you more ENERGETIC & ACTIVE
- make you more FOCUSED & SUPER POSITIVE
All these are building blocks of GREAT SUCCESS. SUCCESS will follow suit.
If you wish to know take baby steps on the path – you can start with reading the “AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI” or reach out to me / message me.
JAI GURUDEV
Wow, thank you soo much for such an elaborated journey that helped me to travel through the path from low to high, or normal, thank u, it is positive, realising, and humble explanation to understand what is more important Material success r Spiritual practice, that lead to Success, thank u so much.
This article helped me to realise that I m on a right path, to walk through,….. Thank u all great souls for sharing this article, love u all great souls, thank u very much Gurudev, jgd🌼🕉️🙏
Thank you so much for your kind words. Please share this article as much as possible so that the word spreads especially among youngsters. Somehow even today people feel SPIRITUALITY is for the SENILE.