Spirituality & Organized Religion

Very often, when I talk of spirituality, people say that they are not religious. Somehow religiousness and spirituality are equated and assumed to be one and the same. I will try in this article to discuss some spiritual concepts and their equivalent religious implementation. Using that we can try to understand religion and spirituality.

A. Key spiritual concept : The only Truth is Brahman. Rest all is illusion.

In brief, this states that the only thing that exists is Brahman. Rest all, seen in this world is just an illusion, with different names and forms. It is like telling that the only reality is Electricity and the various devices and appliances are just different forms of electricity. 

We also know that the main reason we see this world of illusion is because we see ourselves as separate from Brahman and because of this separation, we experience the dualities - happiness/grief, satisfied/dis-satisfied, esteem/non-esteem etc. I will not go into details. But the idea is that once we give up our attachment to "ego", we are freed from bondage and can attain infinite bliss by becoming Brahman.

Religious practice: Be unselfish; Pray to God

The above spiritual concept is not something that can be easily comprehended even by people with a very high IQ level. So how did the Masters, in all their compassion for humanity, convey the message to regular people like me?

They devised something like moral code of conduct. They told people to be unselfish. What was the reason for this? Being unselfish implies that for some transactions, I will not think of my own benefit, but will think of someone else's benefit. So, what is happening subtly? My ego is getting diluted by the inclusion of someone else in the scheme of things. When one is truly unselfish, there is no more ego and that is exactly the spiritual principle.

In exactly the same way, every religion asks its followers to pray to a higher God and to do anything as an action of God, for God and by God. What is this achieving? When I do an action like worshiping God, I am acknowledging a higher power than myself, which in a subtle way, means that I am reducing my ego, which again leads us to the basic spiritual principle.

B. Key spiritual concept : Remove the bondage of body/mind/intellect to achieve divinity

We know that each of us have a physical existence which has physical desires and needs physical objects for satiation. We have an emotional existence which has emotional desires like love, affection etc. Finally, we have an intellectual existence whose objects of desire related to esteem, prestige etc. So long as these desires exist, we will take repeated births and deaths to ensure all desires are fulfilled. But in satisfying them, we create more desires and the cycle of birth and death with its dualities continues. The only way, we can try to free ourselves from desires is by looking inward and realizing that the source of happiness is within and not in external objects.

Religious practice : Visit a place of worship

It is not an easy task to give up desires. All of us are born with a huge set of desires and we keep adding to it. So they are there with us over several births and will not go easily. Moreover it is not easy for us to realize that for our own good, we have to give up desires, even if it is bit by bit.  Hence in the Hindu scheme of things, visit to a temple, a place of worship was encouraged.

A typical Hindu place of worship has 3 doors before it opens up to the sanctum sanctorum. Each of the doors represent the body, mind and intellect respectively. As one enters the sanctum sanctorum, the symbolism is that a devotee casts off his attachment to the body, mind and intellect and finds peace and bliss  in the innermost region of his own heart.

Typically in a Hindu temple, there are bells ringing which I know is true in many other religions. The idea is that by focusing the mind on the sound, it prevents any other stimulus or desire from entering. Similarly there are a lot of lamps lit which are taken around the deity. I have noticed candles being lit in other religious places. The idea is to focus the eyes on the light and disallow any sensual stimulus coming in through sight.

C. Key spiritual concept : The Karma doctrine - Reap what you sow

We are nothing but the absolute Brahman. But due to wrong identification with the ego, we experience dualities and go through multiple cycles of birth and death. Karma doctrine postulates that any act done by us, any desire of  ours, will come back in an equivalent form in same or future births. Any willful act or binding desire will come back either as a "return of favor" or as a "way to fulfill" the desire.

Religious practice : Heaven & Hell

Again, the doctrine of Karma is not something that can be easily understood. So, what did religion do? Almost all religions have a concept of heaven and hell. If I do good things, I will go to heaven. If I do bad things I will go to hell. This, in effect is symbolically the doctrine of karma.

Conclusion

So it can be seen that organized religion has tried to take the relevant spiritual concepts and converted them into symbolic rules which can be understood by the common man. So long as we follow religious practices, keeping in view the symbolism behind them, we grow spiritually and go towards the goal of attaining the infinite bliss, which is our birthright. On the other hand, if we just blindly follow the religious practices, we are not gaining anything spiritually.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality