Want to be be liberated from all suffering and misery? Here are 4 powerful ways spirituality can not only ease anxiety and depression but also completely eliminate the mental health issue

Spirituality is the science of the spirit, the atman or the soul which helps us overcome our ignorance and realise the truth about life, God, who we are and about this world. It sets us free from the shackles of myths, superstitions and lies and experts believe that if we continue to walk on the path of spirituality, we will attain enlightenment and be liberated from all suffering and misery.

Spirituality helps us realize our goal — to realize we are the divine soul and not what we appear to be — the body, mind and ego. Experts insist that spirituality is the way to everlasting bliss, peace and joy, to the state of Satchitananda — where we live with consciousness of the truth and experience seamless, divine bliss.

They assert that spirituality cannot only ease depression and anxiety but completely eliminate it if we stay committed, evolve and grow on our path. How? In an interview with HT Lifestyle, AiR Atman in Ravi, Spiritual leader and Founder of AiR Institute of Realization and AiR Center of Enlightenment, listed 4 powerful ways spirituality can ease anxiety and depression:

1. Spirituality helps us realise the truth about our true self. We realise who we are. We are not the the body, mind and ego that we seem to be. We are the divine soul, we are a part of the supreme immortal power we call God. We are the very power that we seek. We realise that God is not God but a power, the supreme immortal power that is everywhere and in everything, in you and me, in the flowers and the trees, the mountains and the seas. We feel a sense of oneness, universal love and brotherhood. This realisation paves the way for peace and bliss. How can we be anxious if we realize that we are a part of God? That we are a part of the divine that we seek?

2. It helps us realise that the world is a cosmic drama. Contemplate— we get too involved in life. We cry, we become anxious, stressed, upset, angry over the smallest of things. We suffer the pain of the body, the misery of the mind and the agony of the go. Spirituality helps us realize that this world is just a drama. The earth is a stage for this Leela of God. We are just actors who come and go. We only have a role to play. What is happening is not real. It’s an illusion. Just like we enjoy a show, we must learn to enjoy life! Why take things so seriously? We realize that nothing belongs to us. So therefore why are we running behind wealth, success, name and fame? We do not let our need become our greed.

3. It helps us discipline the mind. Unlike what most people think and believe, our mind is not king, it is our biggest enemy. It makes us stressed and fills us with misery and anxiety. Meditation is an integral part of spirituality, it helps us control the mind, make it silent and still. We tame the monkey mind so that it becomes a monk. We learn to control our thoughts. The mind produces 50 thoughts a minute, which comes to about 50,000 thoughts a day. The mind takes us into the regrets of the past and the worries of the future. The result — depression and anxiety. Meditation helps us brings down the number of thoughts. We learn to observe the mind. We become the witness. We watch it, catch it and latch it. In this state of thoughtlessness, we experience peace and bliss.

4. It helps us live with acceptance and surrender. Spirituality helps us to realize that whatever is happening in our life or around us is because of Karma. Our own actions, our deeds. It’s not because God is cruel. Not only do we accept and surrender to the Divine law of Karma, but we rejoice! Why? Because we know our negative Karma is being settled. We surrender. If we attain Enlightenment, we transcend the law of Karma. We drop all our karma like a pebble in the ocean – we are free from Karma!

Spirituality helps us in more than these ways but we have to be a true spiritual seeker to experience the power and magic of spirituality.