Is the experience of the world useful in spiritual knowledge?

[Reply to a question by Shri Balaji] Swami replied: The answer to this question is a full yes. For every concept in spiritual knowledge, there is an excellent example in the world. This means that from worldly experience itself, the entire spiritual knowledge can be built up. We have seen that issue-devotion (love for one’s children) is the strongest and that one’s devotion to God stands in competition against it. The final success lies in conquering the love for one’s children with the devotion that one has for God. We realize that we should love God, even if God gives us negative results, just like our unshakable love for our issues does not diminish, even if they turn against us!

Our worldly experience tells us that the love or service of the highest value is that in which the desire for selfish benefit is absent. When a father comes to know that his son is serving him without aspiring for anything in return, he is highly pleased. Similarly, when our devotion is free of the aspiration for any fruit in return from God, God is highly pleased with us. Such aspiration-free devotion is of the highest value.

A fan of a political leader who commits suicide on the death of the leader, stands as the best example for the climax of devotion to God. God has created this world in which various examples exist. On proper analysis, they can be used as correct similes or analogies to understand spiritual knowledge. They make the understanding of the spiritual concepts most effective. Worldly knowledge thus helps the soul understand spiritual knowledge. When worldly examples are given as comparisons, they bring full clarity to our understanding of subtle spiritual concepts.

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