Spiritual development belongs to the realm of awareness and experience. A spiritual experience is a quality of your mind. It does not matter what is happening in society, because that is an external situation. In our modern times people have become over sensitive about certain social matters which do not really relate to them. Industrial or political upheaval will make no change in one’s spiritually harmonious state.
We have to create a very strong spiritual tradition. This is important because many countries in the world which do not have a spiritual culture are undergoing a lot of pain and suffering. Political accidents, wars, problems of industrialization and epidemics will continue to occur because they are in the nature of life. We have to create a culture in which, consciously or unconsciously, individuals are led to spiritual unfoldment. If we completely ignore the elements of modern culture, the economic situation of our society will fall and there will be more unemployment and a disproportionate economic order.
Therefore, the people who practise yoga and spiritual life should not speak out too much against the modern culture and modern systems. They should not denounce the realities upon which they are subsisting, upon which they are standing. They should just concentrate on their practices and their science, that’s all. Try to take the message of yoga to the factories and industries because the people working there need it.
Published in Teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati Volume I