Finding Home

In most external ways, I am no different from the billions of people who share the earth today. Although I was born in India, a country that has long been associated with ancient spiritual traditions and mystical practices, I was never involved in any spiritual tradition or practice while I was growing up or any time during my adult life.

I was 14 when I left India and made the United States my permanent residence. It was a total cultural shock and I had difficulty adjusting to the new environment, especially the educational system. Having lived my formative years in India, my Eastern cultural roots and ideals had been well developed before I came to the West. My way of thinking and my likes and dislikes were firmly in place by then. I have always believed that it is important to maintain strong moral and ethical virtues, as they lead us toward higher consciousness and spiritual growth.

As the time passed I had completed all my studies, worked for many years with various pharmaceutical companies and other medical industries, got married, and raised a family, all while leading a normal life.

My journey started with my husband sustaining a heart attack at a young age that prompted me to learn Reiki healing. This led me into meditation, which then became the driving passion of my life. Soon that took me to a deeper sense of wonder about the existence of an inner world.

After some time, I began to feel that something was missing and a yearning for something more than what I was doing. I wanted to find out what was waiting for me and find out what this unidentifiable longing was. I went on feeling this void despite the fact that I had everything.

Shortly after, there was a radical shift that took place in my mind regarding the way I viewed life. I felt an inexplicable call, orchestrated by a deep yearning within, pushing me along on a journey of some kind. I named it “Divine Calling.”

An intense spiritual transformation transpired and thereafter a dramatic change took place in my interests, my habits, daily duties, and in anything that the world had to offer. My energy was withdrawn from everything and I preferred to be by myself, spending more time focused on my meditations.

I attended spiritual discourses and visited sanctuaries and places of worship. I read a wide variety of spiritual books in search of answers and had a yearning to associate with holy and enlightened beings.

This rapid decline in zest for everyday life was enough to make me quit my job. I knew deep down in which direction I was being driven. My unexpected departure came as a surprise to many of my coworkers and managers. The decision was so strong. There was no wavering or doubt in my mind. I felt a deep drive toward something more than my routine life.

My journey entailed the discovery of our true nature that dwells within each one of us and how that enlightened consciousness navigates our given life thereafter.

I had fulfilled all my routine duties, such as having a family, career, and social life, whilst I moved through ascending states of consciousness and experienced the highest levels of spiritual fulfillment. In essence, I developed a deep understanding of life and its purpose.

My experience of Self-realization was not something I had preplanned, researched, or worked on for years before it occurred. Instead, I felt as though it was preordained and, in a sense, imposed on me—a journey meant to be completed.

Sarada Chiruvoluis is the author of Home at Last published by White Cloud Press. Visit www.homeatlastbysarada.com