(Starting with this article, to keep it simple, on purpose I will introduce here only as few आध्यात्मिक terms as necessary. Slowly in this manner, we will build our base together with more similar short articles)

                    STUDY  OF  SPIRITUALITY

Before proceeding with this discussion, I want to define the word TRUTH, as used in आध्यातमिक circles. Defining TRUTH  is a subject in itself, but at this stage of our study, a simple definition of it is ... TRUTH  is whatever is PERMANENT.

Now the question arises, what is the definition of  PERMANENT ?

PERMANENT is anything that does not change. Later in our discussions, we will talk more about the word  PERMANENT  as a topic in itself as well.

In आध्यात्मिक terms, there is  ONLY  ONE  entity that is permanent. That entity is GOD. ( technically, it is not correct to use the word entity for GOD, but to keep it simple at this stage of our study, we will use this word. Later, as we build our base, we will describe GOD differently).

There is a joy as well as an irony in discussing spirituality. This irony is that as our understanding of any aspect of it unfolds, it only keeps raising more questions. We look for answers to these new questions, and these new answers themselves lead to additional questions. All research work on any subject has this element, except that the study of spirituality has more of it.

This is the process of DISCOVERY. This is what is contemplation, or what we call ध्यान. This process of finding answers to questions via  ध्यान  is what the search for TRUTH is all about.

This  DISCOVERY  PROCESS  is said to be akin to peeling an onion. Unlike an orange or any vegetable, we peel a layer of onion, and find another layer underneath it. Peel the second layer, and we find another layer. We keep peeling the layers of onion till we reach the core. Discovering TRUTH is like this process of peeling an onion. We keep removing the layers of questions by finding answers till we reach the core of spirituality, the TRUTH.

In आध्यात्मिक study, this search for TRUTH is our GOAL.