Spirituality Vs Religion

It was a lovely beautiful morning.I was out for a walk in the woods.The birds were chirping and soothing breeze touched me gently on my cheek. We have hired a cottage in the woods to call it our home for the next few days.
On the recommendation of a dear friend I got the hang of a wonderful book on spirituality.Sorry,sorry
,sorry the book on ancient Hindu religion.

                         Spirituality or Religion     


 This is an age old question and clearly misunderstood by all.Even the so called intelligensia are at times confused between the two.With the help of the same book I tried to understand the two.

Religion as we all know is the sum total of a person's belief about his world.Religion is the set of belief,dogmas,perceptions,rituals and doctrines.It is something to do with the outer world which a man has inherited from his ancestors.Religion is the faith system prevalent on a mass scale with a
set of do's and don't.It is an outward journey to reach the almighty.

                                                                       whereas

Spirituality is more personal.It is an inward journey to reach God.Spirituality is more of a process of self exploration.The very essence of spirituality is that God resides within us and that there are no external means to reach God.Spirituality also means purification of soul.

Indeed at times religion and spirituality are closely linked and why not?

As I was walking in the deep woods a question arose in my mind.What if I abandon all my age old beliefs?Will it make me less spiritual?
The question was haunting and the heart pounding as I walked with fast pace.

Than came the reply No.Even if I abandon my age old belief system I can never get rid of my Individuality,my very essence of being, my Core.
Yes Spirituality is very very internal and it's awakening leads to God.

They say every religion teaches love but in my belief If you are spiritually aroused only then you can learn to love.Love can bring a full stop to all
 the miseries of mankind
This is possible on a mass scale spiritual awakening!!!
 


Comments

  1. Divyeshwari24 June 2015 at 06:39

    Beautifully written Vaishali.Yes indeed religion and spirituality are completely different from one another.One is subjective n the other is objective.Religion is what the intellectuals concurred n understood n propounded in form of dogmas n written literature.It differed from ppl to ppl n in turn corrupted the basic idea behind it.Versions of religions hv been added upon from times passed n the result is us who are just not clear about anything n just follow beliefs in the name of religion without even knowing why n how it came into existence.Reading Sadhgurus blogs n listening to him hv made my concepts very clear.We don't hv to believe anything till we experience it.God,soul,traditions,religion,afterlife,death,heaven,he'll oh man look at the number of concepts which hv been put in our heads and what do they arise in us- fear or spirituality? Sadhguru says being spiritual means that u hv become allinclusive.there is no him or her,tree,animal,mountain.U feel each one of them.I guess the moment we say we love something or someone - at that moment we hv just stepped out of ourselves n our confines n extended our heart.Gosh only if we could go back thousands of years back when we were not being colonised n invaded n saw the pure pristine times we lived in!! We were doing everything right,lived right,ate right.We had everything.We had wealth lying around but we did not bother as we all were focused on inward journey.How can we go back to being that??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vaishali Mantri26 June 2015 at 12:10

    Thank you Divya di for your valuable insight...I wish to delve deep into the topic next time...

    ReplyDelete

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