SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION
Religion and spirituality are not one and
the same. One can follow a religion and may not be spiritual. Religion concerns
mostly with rituals. Religion is an established and community nurtured and
oriented institution. Spirituality is individual specific and nurtured and lived
by individuals. Religions are mass -specific. Spirituality is individual and Divinity-specific.
Religion can be dogmatic but spirituality is enlightening. Blind faith or
superstition may be the part of religion. Faith is the essence of spirituality.
Faith in oneself and one’s SELF is the life-line of spirituality. Religions may
denounce other religions. Spirituality never denounces religions.
Culture,
tradition and manners guide religions. Spirituality defines them. Spirituality
stands for universal love and peace. A religious person transforms into a
spiritual person. A spiritual person is an ever ready source of tranquility and
bliss. Steeped in silence without egoistic thoughts in the form of happiness or
unhappiness, they live in peace and let live others live in peace. Their mere presence will be beneficial to the
world as the mere presence of Sun helps acctivites on earth. Spirituality sets
in when religious dogma sets. Spirituality is liberty, freedom and
independence. Religion is unquestioning adherence and following. Sri Ramana
Maharshi, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Jiddu Krishna Murty
and such eminent personalities are spiritual persons. People experience peace
and calmness in their presence. This is the acid test to know whether the Guru
is spiritual or not. Ecstasy and joy are not symbols of spirituality. They are
symbols of devotion. Devotion is more emotional and becomes calmness gradually.
Present day commercial spiritual masters
are not spiritual, they are worldly. They do not represent any religion or
tradition. They represent themselves. They aggrandize themselves quoting sacred
religious and spiritual texts. They enslave than enlighten. They themselves are
not enlightened. If they are enlightened and are sincere and genuine they do
not do the things they ask us to shun. Especially their love and lust for money
and related aggrandizement, show, pomp and money-oriented empires are deterring
to their attainment of spirituality. They are like the wooden spoon in the
sweet-dish which always remains in touch with the sweetness but never tastes it
or can taste it. Not only they, but also
the political and cultural groups claiming a particular religion or ideology are
also like these wooden spoons in the sweet dish. They neither know about nor
experienced in spiritual or religious traditions of respective religions and do
not deserve to represent the religions they claim to represent. They represent
the trait of fundamentalism and use religion for that purpose and exploit our
regard for religion to their selfish ends. They represent themselves and their vagaries.
Scientists, Philosophers, poets, writers,
musicians, dancers, artists, sculptors, artistes and the like are all spiritual
persons. All these people absorb their identity in the knowledge they acquire
and spread or art form they cultivate and present. Such absorption of
individual’s identity in one’s Inner Self is spirituality. Any person doing his
duty whole-heartedly, sincerely and efficiently is spiritual. He can be a cook,
a barber, or a laborer. That is why in our country we have been having
spiritual persons in every step of our social ladder. Just visiting religious
places or reciting Holy Books and the like does not make a person religious and
spiritual. Compassion for fellow beings and concern for nature are essential. One
can start in religion to evolve into a spiritual being. But it is not
absolutely necessarily essential to follow a religion to become spiritual. A
non-believer or an atheist can also be a spiritual person. Sincerity is
spirituality.
Spirituality is oneness with one’s Nature
and the nature around. The ability to live in the present, sans thoughts
relating to past or future in the form of pains, hurts, happiness, unhappiness,
worries, sorrows, joys, fears, doubts, imaginations, anxieties, anticipations
and the like, is spirituality. We are a flow of present continuous in the
present in bliss, peace and silence and not past or future. Cultivating
spirituality and being a spiritual person helps us to perform our duties and
tasks with equanimity of mind sans ego. Such performance makes us confident and
self-reliant and helps our near and dear by our not bothering them with our
in-built insufficiency, inadequacies and negative traits. Spirituality is for
our and society’s wellness and well-being.
A spiritual person can be religious, follow
a religion and also can transcend religious dogma. Spiritual persons are
path-makers and path-breakers depending on social situation and necessity.
Religion is part of social life. Spirituality is its breath.
Persons, militant religious, ideological,
radical or cultural groups may or may not believe in the Omnipotence,
Omniscience or such natures of God. In their limited understanding of God and
His capacities they try to influence or thwart the Divine plans and turn
problematic. They never are religious and do not represent the religion, and
merely represent their inherent destructive tendencies by hijacking religions
and ideologies. We erroneously blame
religions for such destruction. Also a person can be merely belonging to a
particular religion for statistical purpose only. The profound nature of the
sayings of the Prophets and Holy Books are never understood or followed by
them. They become a nuisance and danger to the society with their
fundamentalism.
And when many religions have to coexist in
a society, these “religious” people develop and nurture discord among various
religious communities for their selfishness and self-aggrandizement. They
hijack the religions and interpret them barbarically. Certain groups or parties
claiming protectors of such and such a religion or culture actually exploit the
affiliation of ordinary people to respective religions, cultures and ideologies.
Their self-serving and foolish deeds are mistaken as representing and belonging
to their respective religion and religion gets bad name.
Adherence
to ethics and morals is not spirituality. But such adherence over a period of
time makes one spiritual. Spiritual persons never harm or hurt fellow beings.
They may also appear not adhering strictly to the norms of the society. They
are never touched by any immorality.
One can attain spirituality through loving
– falling in love, loving fellow beings or Divinity. The ups and downs while
loving makes one matured, composed, wise and equanimity of mind sets in. Falling
and failing in love can also give a genuine spiritual transformation. Dispassion
results in. Dispassion with a positive attitude is spirituality. It improves
clarity of mind and the individual never gets confused and clumsiness never
touches him. He will never be dogmatic.
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