Sunday, September 12, 2010

Is religion a way to spirituality...?


''This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness”
– Dalai Lama
Call him Ram or call him Allah, it makes no difference. Erect a temple on every corner or hang a photo of him on every wall, it makes no difference. Until and unless we keep him in our heart and his teachings in our actions we won’t be able to discover the essence of our being. Being religious can be a way to being spiritual , if we are able to find what religion actually means. Religion is feeding the poor; it’s not fasting once in a week and doing evil the rest of the time. Religion is providing shelter to the homeless; it’s not making temples on every vacant space. We just have enough religion to make us hate but not enough to make us love.


Etymologically the word “Religion” is derived from the Latin word ligare meaning connect or bind. Logically then, Religion is means to connect to god. Sensible enough- except, I have to ask, how are we supposed to form a meaningful connection with the invisible, supernatural power? Rather than trying indistinctly trying to form connections with the uncaring blue sky, we have a better kind of religion down here on the earth. HUMANITY, which meaningfully unites us by teaching the astounding truth that we belong to the same mental tribe.


The religion of humanity does not makes us realize the ways ina which we are different but the similarities we share. It teaches us the truth that our similarities are so deep and so pervasive as to completely overwhelm the comparatively shallow things that divide us from each other. Since there is one world, there should be one true description of it. If the religious beliefs were based on this fact, then we might expect them to converge eventually; but this is not the case. Differences in caste and creed still rule us. We still feel apathy to be with a lower caste human being. Why this discrimination when we all belong to the same cosmos, we all experience the same emotions.


Who are they to differentiate between a Hindu and Muslim when there is Ram in “Ramzan” and Ali in “Diwali”. Humanity lies in the spiritual aspect of a person. The more we involve ourselves in reaching out to the needy, the more spiritual we become. Spirituality involves knowing the inner self. As Dalai Lama said, humanity should be our religion, and love, kindness, compassion our tools to achieve spiritualism… All we need is compassion. Empathy for each other. Peace within ourselves. Introspection is a great way to find the way to the inner self. Speak kindly. Care Deeply. Love generously. Humanity truly stands out to be the only religion of love, peace and kindness. So let’s embrace humanity and start a new way of life, a new vision, a new destiny for the generations to come.

5 comments:

  1. Religion is the way of your life. The way we are mentored, the way we look at world, The way we look at the society. Religion in fact DIVIDES us.
    Sprituality is the way of your soul. The way you wish to be seen, the way you wish to be connected to your inner being, the way you wish society was.
    When we utter the word RELIGION we are drawing lines between us but when we talk about spirituality, we talk of “connecting”.
    Religion can never be the way to spirituality.
    I stand to be corrected..

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  2. humanity is my religion and the heart and mind of the people are my god.

    fantastic article i have read ever..

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