There is a very clear difference between morality and spirituality. Certainly the moral and the spiritual are not the same. The spiritual is not an extension of the moral aspect of life. An extension of the moral does not bring one closer to the spiritual. There is a qualitative difference between the two. Morality is concerned with the modes of behavior, with the continuity of daily life and the modifications of life styles, while spirituality is concerned with a breaking off of the pattern of continuity.

It is in spirituality that one comes face to face with the mysterious aspect of complete change. Morality always seeks right adjustment with the environment, but in spirituality one is not concerned with adjustment because conformity is not its thrust in life. The spiritual person is neither a conformist nor a non-conformist. When one is spiritual, one does not function from a fixed center. One lives from moment to moment, where each moment is complete and does not need the second moment for its fulfillment.

For one to act from a fixed center is to translate the requirement of the center into one's daily life. This is the basis of moral behavior. Here one makes an effort to translate the ideal into what is the actual. However, in the spiritual, living is effortless in that there is no gap between the ideal and the actual, because action occurs without the intervention of thought. That is to say, the spiritual person has a higher and deeper nature of morality because it is natural and spontaneous. It is not the morality where one has to weigh the pending action in a decision of right or wrong. It is a morality which is in the nature of the spontaneous action of spiritual rightness.

Most activity in life is based on a moral or immoral consideration of motives, while in spiritual activity all motives have been eliminated. The person who is most confused is the one who tries to compartmentalize good and bad in the mental arena, because violence and non-violence cannot remain in two compartments of the mind. Also, love and hate cannot remain side by side in one's consciousness. In the one where love is the dominating factor hate vanishes, both outwardly and inwardly. Also, hate vanishes in a person’s consciousness while in the presence of someone who is established in bliss or spirituality who has no hate in their consciousness. One must gain a state of spirituality, or infusion of the Being, where the Being overshadows all else, and not spend his time cultivating a moral virtue that has an underlying motive behind it, because in time of testing the morality stands to be lost.

In the case of religion, while one is under pressure and no longer in the presence of a guiding influence, one usually falls back to his old ways. When the evangelist leaves town his uplifting force goes with him. This is due to the fact that the desire for a higher moral life was based on fear and a promise of a heavenly life in the future. So, the motive was there but the spiritual infusion was missing. So there was nothing to sustain the newly won convert.

In morality it is the motive that makes the virtue a means to achieve a given end. In spirituality, in acquiring virtue, no thought of reward exists. One is a cultivated effort and the other is a natural state. The cultivated effort is fraught with failure, whereas the natural state knows no failure, because nothing material, or of matter, can ever overshadow that which is absolute. Where spirituality exists, no hostility, no resentment and no anger can ever exist. These all belong in the field of morality and no longer exist in the field of spirituality.

In the state of spirituality one perceives what is and in the field of morality one sees what one has projected. Also, most projections are on the platform of falsehood because they rise out of an incomplete past. And any action that arises out of a false projection can give no relevance with that which is actual. Piling up incomplete experiences causes more and more ongoing distractions. However, one who is established in the spiritual way of life has no distractions and therefore acts completely from moment to moment. He does not seek reward outside of the action; his action is its own reward. One is then free from the bondage of time.

Any person who acts in order to reap a reward for his actions is certain to be violent, for he will demand the fruit which another has gained. It is said of stealing, that it is the result of one feeling incomplete within oneself. Everyone in this world would like to have what the other person has probably spent years earning, or even lifetimes earning. So some people, feeling very incomplete, take to stealing. The feeling of incompleteness usually arises out of a process of comparison and out of this comparison comes a desire to have what the other has. So, not having earned what the other has, they take to stealing.

In contrast, the one who has a spiritual integration feels he owns the whole world and lacks nothing. In him there is no feeling of incompleteness because the Being is totally complete, therefore nothing can be lacking. So you might say one is satisfied in self by the Self.

It is also true that ‘satisfied’ is not a condition of being self-satisfied. Self-satisfied is an external feeling one has who clings to his possessions, possessing something worth clinging to in the external world in his evolution. However, along with this, there is always present the worry that one might lose his possessions. While one who is spiritual feels that he possesses the whole world’s wealth and thereby knows no fear of loss, because this is a feeling of acquisition without possession. It is the feeling of bliss that comes with spiritual attainment.

Also, in the final analysis of spiritual attainment, one comes into awareness of a condition called brahmacharya, which is usually understood as celibacy. However, this understanding is not wholly correct. Brahmacharya is really to no longer wantonly waste one's vital energies, and one's energies are usually frittered away through resistance and indulgence. One who is caught up in materiality or worldly desires wants the experience of continuous indulgence, or you might say, he lives and is motivated by the pleasure principle. Then, when he exhibits resistance, it is to avoid pain. So, such a life is structured solely around the factor of pleasure. This also applies in the early period of structuring a spiritual life. However, in due time, one comes to appreciate what brahmacharya really means and then he moves into a state of inner bliss, and when inner bliss comes pleasure seeking ends.

In the world or state of morality one is forever wrestling with pain and pleasure. In pleasure seeking, one is in constant conflict with pain, for pleasure and pain cannot be separated and as a result indulgence causes resistance. That is to say, one resists the arrival of pain and indulges in the experience of pleasure. It is really the individual who has turned joy into pleasure and thereby has brought pain and sorrow into his life. This is the way of the preponderance of humanity. When pleasure seeking ends, the pain also ends.

This does not imply the beginning of a dull, drab life. It is not the running away from the experience of love and beauty; rather it is the beginning of the real and true expression of love and beauty. Also, it is not the end to the delights and real joy of life. It is only when the enjoyer is removed from the experience of pleasure that he experiences the ecstasy of pure joy, or pure bliss, which has no opposite, and this is spirituality.