Religion v/s Spirituality

I don’t like Sunday Mornings in Gurgaon. Not because I am a workaholic and don’t want to take even a day to replenish myself. The only reason for my distaste of beautiful Sunday mornings is the loudspeaker noise coming from the temple near my PG. Neither it’s lyrical nor enchanting. Since I have tried to understand religion, I have always wondered about the need of certain things which our religious leaders (pundits, maulwis, religious gurus etc.) ask us to do. For remembering God, why is it necessary to add to the already existing decibel levels in the environment? And after all, which religion tells that it’s wise to wake others from sleep because you have to remember your God?

Some people are very much keen towards going to temples regularly. And some even donate a lot to the temples to please their respective deities. Ask them, how many times have they donated to oraganisations working for Human Rights, or Women’s Rights? The answer would perhaps be zero. Perhaps we have been taught to keep religion at the topmost level in our lives. Or perhaps, we have been taught to keep religious practices at the topmost level without even understanding their true meaning. And these practices, when carried out without understanding their true meaning take the form of superstitions.

So, what should we do? Stop going to the temples? Stop playing religious songs? Stop donating to temples? No, I am not saying one should stop these. I am just asking to take care that these things don’t become more important than our communion with ‘Soul’. One must never go to a temple if returning from there doesn’t make him a bit more humble. Religious songs should be played, but care must be taken that others are not forced to listen to those songs. Donations must be done to temples, but is not donating for a noble cause more important?

I strongly believe that the world should move towards spirituality instead of moving towards religious ‘kattarpanth’ (rigidity). Some people consider religion and spirituality synonymous. But there is a fine line between the two. Spirituality teaches us to be pure from within and bring joy in the lives of those living around us. Having a spiritual existence never means following some religious practices with strictness. Spirituality rather teaches to imbibe the true meaning of those practices in our lives. It teaches us to get enriched from our soul energy and understand our potential to bring positive changes in our lives and simultaneously in the lives of other people.

Spirituality teaches us to choose the ‘Right Path’. And is it not what we need, to choose the ‘Right Path’ on the journey towards our destiny?