sravna
Well-known member
People know what religion is and people know what science is but many do not know what spirituality means. I have been making attempts to explain what spirituality is. It is about the inner world, that we do not see by senses but only by mind. It is also not affected by space and time. So we can say it is about things universal and timeless i.e, about higher values.
Now when we think what the founders of religions taught at least the major ones, they talk about love, compassion and such higher values. So all the religions teach these messages. These messages are the messages of spirituality and so spirituality is something which is the common theme of all religions and hence transcends religions.
When we try to figure out why there are so many religions when all teach basically the same, we can see that there are differences too and those differences are dictated by the circumstances of the prevailing time. For example Adi Sankara fought against rituals of all kinds and tried to instill logical thinking because at his time meaningless practice of rituals were rampant.
However the logical analysis became an end by itself and taken to undesirable extent that Ramanuja had to teach that love and bhakthi matter more. Similarly some aspects of religion became peculiar to it though the deeper message was the same all along from Mahavira to Guru Nanak.
Currently we find ourselves in a different situation. Great success of science and technology and its ability to transform people's lives have made people gradually move away from religion to science and technology. The religious truths are required to pass the rigor of scientific tests. People slowly have lost the ability to understand that spirituality and science are two different approaches and one need not and should not be required to conform to the other.
It is this gradual abandoning of religion that is the greatest threat to humanity because we are throwing away spirituality along with it. We are in effect throwing away finer values and live for instant joy and success. Materialism seems to have taken root firmly strongly and unless something quick is done about it, I think we would be in a really big mess.
The talk of preserving the culture in this forum is by people who want some sanity and some sense to return back and not pave way for our self destruction. Let us heed those voices or at least try to understand the concerns of such people . They are talking for all and not for themselves. Let us begin to think again of others who may need our help . It can be infectious too. Only return to principles can be an antidote to the highly poisonous situation we are in. We need to practice the true spirit of religions, the way the founders would and overcome the anomalous time caused by excessive materialism.
Now when we think what the founders of religions taught at least the major ones, they talk about love, compassion and such higher values. So all the religions teach these messages. These messages are the messages of spirituality and so spirituality is something which is the common theme of all religions and hence transcends religions.
When we try to figure out why there are so many religions when all teach basically the same, we can see that there are differences too and those differences are dictated by the circumstances of the prevailing time. For example Adi Sankara fought against rituals of all kinds and tried to instill logical thinking because at his time meaningless practice of rituals were rampant.
However the logical analysis became an end by itself and taken to undesirable extent that Ramanuja had to teach that love and bhakthi matter more. Similarly some aspects of religion became peculiar to it though the deeper message was the same all along from Mahavira to Guru Nanak.
Currently we find ourselves in a different situation. Great success of science and technology and its ability to transform people's lives have made people gradually move away from religion to science and technology. The religious truths are required to pass the rigor of scientific tests. People slowly have lost the ability to understand that spirituality and science are two different approaches and one need not and should not be required to conform to the other.
It is this gradual abandoning of religion that is the greatest threat to humanity because we are throwing away spirituality along with it. We are in effect throwing away finer values and live for instant joy and success. Materialism seems to have taken root firmly strongly and unless something quick is done about it, I think we would be in a really big mess.
The talk of preserving the culture in this forum is by people who want some sanity and some sense to return back and not pave way for our self destruction. Let us heed those voices or at least try to understand the concerns of such people . They are talking for all and not for themselves. Let us begin to think again of others who may need our help . It can be infectious too. Only return to principles can be an antidote to the highly poisonous situation we are in. We need to practice the true spirit of religions, the way the founders would and overcome the anomalous time caused by excessive materialism.
