The contemporary spirituality scene–be it New Age or Neo-Advaita–is lacking in many respects. Two such are pointed out by Swami Satyananda Saraswati in Rikhia: The Vision of a Sage, an account of the rural development project undertaken in Rikhia, India, starting in 1989.

Satyananda, presumably speaking to younger disciples, asserts, “Personal shanti may be an aim, but it cannot be your ultimate aim in life (p. 97).” Shortly afterward, he makes the point sharper still: “You have to find a place in your heart for people who are not known to you (p. 101).”

What’s problematic about contemporary spirituality is that it’s largely about “the triumph of the therapeutic”: I feel better and more peaceful and, well, that’s that. I’ve come to spirituality in order to attain well-being. This Satyananda calls “personal shanti.” One’s aim is just too narrow if that’s only what one wants in this life. In fact, one doesn’t really understand the nondual teaching unless there’s an intuitive and deep grasp of wholeness: of the reality that all beings and things are essentially one.

This is why Satyananda tells us to keep opening and extending our hearts until we can see whoever is not “known” to us as, indeed, the face of God. He is adamant about the fact that to know God is to see God “in suffering humanity.” Where do I know God? In human beings who are in agony.

In my jargon, Satyananda is powerfully enjoining us to be friends to all, to befriend all. Is that possible? It’s a subject that I took up (“How To Be A Friend”) in my Substack earlier today.