The whole article is available at this link http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mgmt_gyaan_from_CEO_Lord_Krishna/articleshow/2510295.cms
The seed of thought to write this post came to me after I read this article.
"Spirituality and Religion "
Spirituality is not the same as religion and vice versa. You could be either of these or both of them. Confusing na...
Spirituality is Natural. It is inside all of us. We all want to be good in some or the other way. No one really strives to be bad. So as long as the intention to be good exists, I think everyone is spiritual.
Religion is a man made, culture based doctrine that guides it's people in the practice of spirituality. Because religion is man made and culture based, it naturally has some of the rules and taboos of that particular culture built into it. Unfortunately for some, many cultures have chosen to use the fear of God to enforce the man made rules of that culture. And some wonder, how can there be a loving God when so many terrible things happen to some people. Creator gave us free will. No one, no thing, can totally control that which has free will. Although Creator has a great plan for us to be happy, healthy, and good people, He has no control over it. If we chose to follow this great plan, our lives can be wonderful. But there can be sadness or pain or misfortune even if we follow a good spiritual plan. Because that is the flow of life.
I know how difficult it is to accept this. I think if we train our minds that "LIFE" is not always a bag full of goodies, we could lead a very happy life. We would have pain, suffering, failures, disppointments...etc.
But when a mishap occurs to me , the first question that I ask GOD is "Why me?". I hope and pray that the Almighty gives me the strength and maturity to accept that this is also a part of his plan for me.
It is also equally important that we accept the fact that " It is ok to fail". Even when I write this I realise that I am extremely competitive. Anything I do I want it to be the best. I keep pushing myself until I am the best.
Oops, I started this blog on a different note and ended it in a tangent. Anyways pour in your thoughts ...........
3 comments:
The title reminded me our personality development programme.
Ya man. Good old days na.
Ok you asked for it, so here's my 2 cents on this (rather) perplexing topic :-)
I don't see religion and spirituality as two different things, they are related. One (religion) leads to the other (spirituality).
It's like this - you need a set of rules that governs the majority of the population of this world. Imagine the state of roads in the absence of traffic rules. It's chaotic even with that! You wouldn't need the rules (religion) if everyone is a good driver (spiritual). Alas, it's not only idealistic but also a model that's difficult to sustain given the various forces of nature that makes human what they are.
So, religion comes in with the aim of catering to the mass population, with the goal of making every individual better. When I say better, it's not only about staying good, but also equipping the individual to cope up with good and bad things in life. Like you said, how much ever good you are, bad things do happen.
A good religion helps people to realize the above goal, and also paves way for reaching it through various practices. It should help an individual to become better on a day-to-day basis. A not sure if Swami Vivekananda had referred to this when he said Hinduism is a way of life?
Now, don't ask if religion is the only way to this path. To reiterate, these are rules that a majority could stick to without being equipped with IQ levels of Einstein.
The point where religion and spirituality meets, one starts looking at both good and bad as one and the same! To quote Kipling from his famous poem, 'If' :
/*------------------------------
* If you can meet with triumph
* and disaster
* And treat those two imposters
* just the same;
*-----------------------------*/
Well, I've just scratched the surface with regards to the relation between religion and spirituality. There's a lot more, but since most of them are half-baked, I leave it with just this :-)
Happy blogging!
-- Mac
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