Religion and Spirituality ( A repost )

[Guest guest]

sankarrukku

 

Sometime back a friend of mine asked me a question that set

methinking. He asked me about a person who we all knew to be a

person who bore malice towards one and all and more harm he did to

people around him the happier he felt. His wife deserted him being

unable to stand his cruelty.

 

He was thoroughly disliked by everyone. But this man used to visit

the Temple everyday, perform Poojas, even used to deliver lectures

to the public on Bhagavath Geeta. He was also quite successful in his

career.

 

We see nowadays a lot of people who have become famous and rich by

selling religion and more often Vedanta to top executives in posh

hotels. I had attended a couple of programmes on Stress Management,

which included sessions on Vedanta and Meditation.

 

On the face of it this looks very bad to a serious Devotee and a

Spiritual aspirant. But the question is it so?

 

To find an answer we have to see what is religion and what is

spirituality.

 

Religion is a set of beliefs and practices. To put it better it is a

set of practices based on a set of beliefs.

 

People tend to be religious for a variety of reasons.

 

To get something done with divine help.

To attain Moksha or Heaven.

To attain happiness.

To get spiritual elevation.

 

The meaning of Spiritual is given in the Oxford Dictionary as " of

the spirit or soul, of religion, not of material things." The most

important thing here is the meaning not of material things. This

meaning that spiritual is not of material things is universally

accepted.

 

Now if we say that only people who give up material things are

spiritual, we will be totally wrong. It is not the acquisition of

material things, which is wrong, but attachment to them. I am sure

most of our members can give a much better definition of what is

spiritual. I am waiting to hear from them.

 

But do we stop here? If all spiritual people give up their worldly

attachments and go off into the forest or Ashram how does it benefit

humanity? I believe that having been born a man we have an obligation

to do something for the betterment of humanity. That is why we talk

about doing good deeds. I would consider a person to be spiritual

only when he not only gives up his worldly attachments and but also

does something to spread happiness in the world and also does not do

any harm to his fellow living things. Bagavan Sri Ramakrishna was

born intothis world for two purposes. One to prove by personal

example that the

real Hindu religion is the acceptance of all religions and two to

guide his Disciples who will change the entire face of the world

with their messages.

 

But the question here is between either being spiritual or religious.

As I said people tend to be religious for four reasons. But if we are

religious for getting material benefit, to attain Moksha, to achieve

Happiness for ourselves, Nirvana and realise parabrahman (I do not

know what this means. It is beyond my comprehension) then we are

religious and not spiritual.

 

But if we do something for the good of others, not harm other living

things, spread the knowledge around then we become spiritual.

Fortunately the world has been blessed with a lot of such good

Samaritans. I do not know how many of you have heard of Dr. Dooly an

American Doctor who was born into a rich family and who one fine

morning decided to throw it all away and go to Laos, live in

miserableconditions and serve the poor people. Dr. Dooly was

spiritual not religious. Now a Sannyasin may give up his worldly

attachments and go into the forest and attain Moksha. But he is not

spiritual since he has not

served humanity.

 

The only saying of Swami Vivekananda, which I always remember

is "Service to Humanity is service to God".

 

Am I saying that being religious is wrong? No. All of us cannot be

like Dr. Dooly. Practice of all religions especially Hinduism makes

a person progress towards spirituality. Having been a Hippie (The

flower people of the sixties) and having moved very closely with many

of them (from materially advanced nations), I know what materialism

can do to your soul? But does it mean rejection of material comforts?

Definitely not. As long as we think materialism is not the end of all

of our life, there is always hope for us. The very fact that we come

to a site dealing with Sadhana and discus spirituality means

that there is a yearning in us for doing something.

 

Talking about giving up material things, even Sannyasins find it

difficult to give up two things. One is fame and the other hearing

others praising us. That is why find great Gurus vying with each

other for Fame. Then they get trapped in the praise of their

Disciples and get caught in the Maya and forget the purpose of their

life.

 

I was talking about a religious person earlier. He became successful

because of his Bhakthi. He conducted courses in Bhagavad-Gita because

it brought him fame. But even then he might become spiritual because

of the benefit the others got because of his lectures in Bhagavad-

Gita, if he stops harming others. The Swamiji who gives discourses in

posh hotels to the rich and famous thinks that he is doing a great

service by trying to turn them spiritual. May be he is right.

 

The entire purpose of writing this posting is to make you think. We

may be Bhakthas, Saadhaks, Saadhikas, Tantrics, Mantrics, and

Siddhas. But until and unless we do good to others and stop causing

harm to other living things we cannot consider ourselves to be

spiritual.

 

I would be happy to see the response of all the members. This has

been discussed time and again by many Saints, and scholars. But there

is no uniform opinion. Think deeply and tell us what you feel?

 

sierradelta2

 

My Grandfather used to tell me that religion is what you do, and

spirituality is who you are. This idea seems to fit very well with

what you have said about the two, Jai MAA, even though my dear

Grandfather was a Southern Baptist minister.

 

Religious people seem to be caught up in the forms and practice of

their faith, even to the extent that they can sometimes cause hurt to

others. Here in the Southern US, we have people who preach a god of

love, but live lives of hatred towards those who do not believe the

same as they do. They are religious, but their religion only touches

what is outside them. It does not touch who they are, or make a

positive change in either themselves or others.

 

I have met people of many religions, however, who are deeply

spiritual. They truly live what they say they believe, and their

lives become wonderful examples of the best that the touch of diety

can bring about. They may follow the forms, but the form is not

considered to be as important as their neighbor. This, to me, is the

ideal goal of my own faith.on the question of religious pontiffs

 

wakeinbliss

 

Is it not true that as soon as we begin to identify ourselves with a

religious sect we are also erecting defenses of these personal

beliefs. is it not more profitable to God and to soul of God in all

of us to simply personalize Gods expression through our mind body and

souls in however the spirit moves us?However it impresses our hearts

with its resonations and harmonious and diversities.Is not the very

nature of God more Likened to sound then to dogma,living on the word

spoken not written down and dogmatized and institutionalized and

brutilizing and stifled? gods love is withIn and is only expressed

the more Love grows and reaches out in word and deed from a fountain

and foundation of inner connection to God.The more one loves God the

more one loves another and another and so on,sowed around the

world,like a seed of Love opening up and being nurtured by its self

giving generation of spirit? God to me is simply my father.My will is

to be like my father by loving others as he loves me,unconditionally

and without dogma but with a simple ethic of goodness as guidance and

goal and destination all in one. Loving in the moment the best i can,

now and the now that will be done if now also becomes tomorrow,all in

the moments,accordingly done and divinely made Good by the will of

God made good in us.