Womb to Womb

As soon as you come to the world, you are claimed by the nature of the place you are born into. No matter the culture or religion your family belongs to, your existence becomes an amalgamation of the air, the sound, the light, and everything else that belong to the nature of that very place. In Bangla language, we have a somewhat poetic way of describing it - "naarir taan (নাড়ির টান)". Literally meaning the "pull of the umbilical cord", it is used metaphorically to describe the feeling of yearning one feels for the motherland.

Just as a mother's womb nourishes and shapes the fetus, the surrounding nature that you are born into molds and defines your spiritual character. It's as if you are handed off from one womb to another. It doesn't matter if you grow into a totally different person; the essence of your being has already been long established even before you learned how to think. Perhaps, when one is seeking spirituality, they should first seek to realize and acknowledge that essence and base their spiritual journey off of that. Otherwise, it is akin to pretending to feel at home in a stranger's house.

I think that the type of spirituality people should seek should be relevant to the place they were born in. Let's take an imaginary person - Dinesh. Say, Dinesh was born in India but has been living in the US since he was one year old and grew up in a very Westernized household. Even though he never practised either Indian or, for example, Native American spirituality, Dinesh might still find it easier to grasp the Indian spiritual teachings more. He may somewhat "grasp" the Native American spirituality but the root of the cause might rather be coming from fascination and a surface level understanding instead. Physiologically, it's just too different.
That's why I sometimes side-eye when I see an American or European who got "awakened" by Hindu/Buddhist spiritual teachings but never considered their homeland counterparts. In fact, their definition of awakening is very much tied to the Asian teachings while the idea of awakening is self-introspection. Spititual teachings of Asia are tools that worked for people in that region and even then, we have Hinduism branching off to form Buddhism to satisfy the spiritual craving of people in a subregion. Nature dictates our spirituality. I am not saying it is wrong to practise an Asian teaching while being a Westerner; I am saying it is better to adapt the Asian teaching to the nature of your home. You don't expect to put diesel in a car that needs petrol and drive it without a hiccup.

I remember watching an interview of the Dalai Lama where he said something along the line "...but ultimately, the migrants should return to their own land" and oh boy, that single line gave birth to thousand controversies. But was he wrong though? I mean it feels like common sense but it makes sense that people realize their full potential when they are in their motherland, their natural womb. Spirituality is not about gaining a new state of mind; it is returning to your original state. Your original state that got awashed and fogged up by countless experiences of life and waiting to be found by you again. It is returning to innocence.