CHAPTER 1, THE ONE RELIGION, “THE WORLD RELIGION OF MANKIND”

In today’s world, all that we see or hear, is the mindless killing of innocents in the name of religion. Be it the total destruction of the world trade center, or the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai India, or the senseless massacre of the Christians in some eastern block countries, or vandalism of churches in Orissa in India, it is the innocent people, mothers , fathers, who suffers the most. They are forced to leave their habitats, homes, jobs, schools, and live in dilapidated refugee camps. No sectarian groups who perpetrate such senseless mindless war think about the crying child, the wailing mother, or the hapless father. Their only aim is to spread fear and terror all in the name of Religion. The perpetrators feel that they are doing a tremendous job and that by doing such an act they will be rewarded by the Divinity. God, Bhagwan, Allah, Christ, or any other name that one might give, will bless them with martyrdom. Can anybodies conscious sustain such concept?? Does Bhagwad Geeta tell us to kill people?? Does Quran teach us to inflict pain and agony to our fellow human beings?? If not Then why in the name of religion such acts are perpetrated??

We must have some idea about the evolution of religion to understand that religion helps us to bind together within the group and between the groups.

From the very beginning when man was an advance ape, scientifically termed as Australopithecus, he lived in a group. Living in a group has lot of advantages, one of the prime being safety. Then there was the economic reason for man to be in a group. During the early Paleolithic period when man was a hunter gatherer, he needed a well defined group with a well defined division of labor among the group for the group to be economically viable. The animals that were hunted were as mammoth as the wooly mammoths. When the economy shifted from hunting gathering to agrarian, the groups needed to be much larger. Therefore there needed to be some rules, rites, rituals, and certain norms that gave the group an inherent control from within. Thus becoming a well structured social group. The rites, rituals, and certain norms were basically made for the groups to be more economically viable by creating an atmosphere of harmony and not discord at any times. Therefore we see the development of religion or a spark of it among the Neanderthals. Neanderthals were the first hominids to intentionally bury the dead. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. Some scholars, however argue that these bodies may have been disposed of for secular reasons. Likewise a number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. Emil Bächler in particular suggests (based on

archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal bear cult existed.

The evolution of religion is closely connected with the evolution of the mind and behavioral modernity. Evidence for Paleolithic burials is often taken as the earliest expression of religious or mythological thought involving an afterlife. Such practice is not restricted to Homo sapiens, but also found among Homo Neanderthalensis as least as early as 130,000 years ago. The emergence of religious behavior is consequently dated to before separation of early Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of symbolic ritual activity besides burials may be a site in South Africa dated to 70,000 years ago.

Does evolution of mind and behavioral modernity justify killing of thousands of innocent people?? No religions in this world, in its truest sense preach cruelty and killing. Every religion in this earth preaches unconditional love, brotherhood of man, and love thy neighbour. Quran, Bible, Bhagawad Geeta and all other religious text preach only one thing and that is help mankind in his hour of need irrespective of caste creed sex, propagate love and not hate. Here in modern time we are all doing just the opposite.

The religious ideas also make their impact by crossing the boundaries of their origin (or dominance) to far off places. Religious faith of economically and militarily strong race (or nation) tries to dominate the weak and the underdeveloped. The mode of penetration and percolation of religious ideas may be through missionary activities, or through persecution by the sword and the pen. Tactful, but definite, attempts may also be made to derogate the native religious beliefs and customs, and to eulogize the religion of the strong. Thus, customs and rituals, religious faiths and traditions, art and literature, all find free flow from dominant culture to economically weaker one. The resistance of the native people is chiefly through the strength of their own religious principles and traditions. Militarily the native may not fight back, but the religion of the land might be capable of keeping its head afloat if its level of growth, faith in scriptural tradition, and history are strong.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa lived such a highly spiritual life that he made India strong in this field, and thus, Vedanta could sustain and extradite itself from the influence of narrowness of religious dogma. Moreover, in the process, a wonderful synthesis and harmony of religions was established as the basis for universal religion. In addition to Hindu ways, Sri Ramakrishna undertook the sadhana of both Islam and Christian faiths. Between 1868 and 1874 a devout Muslim and a Christian initiated Sri Ramakrishna in their respective methods of worship. On both the

occasions, he had visions of the great Prophets of those religions, who merged in his body. On both the occasions Sri Ramakrishna was established in Nirvikalpa Samadhi state after the visions. He could then emphatically say: "As many faiths, so many paths!"

He explains that every human soul has an objective and that is to connect to the divine. It is like a mountain top and there are umpteen number of ways to reach the top. If one takes a route to climb the mountain top and half way through he decides that this route is treacherous and he comes down to take another route, he will never reach the top of the mountain. He has to take a route and stick by it. The route is the religion and the top of the mountain is the almighty. The Divine. Which ever way he chooses his ultimate destiny is that one point –The mountain top, The divine.

As intelligent creatures and as gods finest creation we must realize this and stop all this senseless and mindless brutality. In the vast space earth is like a pin head and the only place where Gods most precious creation “MAN” lives. There can be only one religion and that is the religion of Humanity.

CHAPTER 2 DHARMA AND ITS RELEVANCE IN ALL RELIGION

Once George Bernard Shaw said that common sense is not common in common people. Today I feel that how true this dictum is. Time and again I have to remind my readers the extent to which we have denigrated our own selves as humans. we are ashamed to say that we are the most intelligent animals on the face of the earth. We are just animals now, or rather worse than an animal. Mindless killing of innocents in the name of religion, excessive use of our natural resource, Cutting of trees and clearing of the forests only to feed someones elses greed, all these has brought us to a threshold of extinction. But had we looked a little deeper into our selves we would have found the answers of living a harmonious, happy, and a healthier life. The heaven would have been here on earth itself. The main essence of all these is DHARMA AND ITS PRESENCE IN ALL MAJOR RELIGION OF THE WORLD. So what is dharma??? Dharma is derived from the Sanskrit root "dhr" meaning to hold up, to carry, to bear, to sustain. The word dharma refers to that which upholds or sustains the universe. Human society, for example, is sustained and upheld by the dharma performed by its members.(dhar, "uphold"). Rules of order, custom, and ethics, adherence to which is necessary to maintain order in society. In the Upanishads, dharma is primarily knowledge of the way to attain Brahman.Vedic scriptures describes dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables humans to be contented and happy, and to save himself from degradation and suffering. Dharma is the moral law combined with spiritual discipline that guides one's life. The Atharva Veda describes dharma symbolically: Prithivim dharmana dhritam, that is, "this world is upheld by dharma anything that helps human being to reach god is dharma and anything that hinders human being from reaching god is adharma. According to the Bhagavat Purana, righteous living or life on a dharmic path has four aspects: austerity (tap), purity (shauch), compassion (daya) and truthfulness (satya); and adharmic or unrighteous life has three vices:

pride (ahankar), contact (sangh), and intoxication (madya).

Manusmriti written by the ancient sage Manu, prescribes 10 essential rules for the observance of dharma: Patience (dhriti), forgiveness (kshama), piety or self control (dama), honesty (asteya), sanctity (shauch), control of senses (indraiya-nigrah), reason (dhi), knowledge or learning (vidya), truthfulness (satya) and absence of anger (krodha). Manu further writes, "Non-violence, truth, non-coveting, purity of body and mind, control of senses are the essence of dharma". Therefore dharmic laws govern not only the individual but all in society. Does any other religion say anything different than these?

the purpose of dharma is not only to attain a union of the soul with the supreme reality, it also suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and supreme happiness. Rishi Kanda has defined dharma in Vaisesika as "that confers worldly joys and leads to supreme happiness".Dharma is an Eastern term whose Western equivalents might include morality, ethics, virtue, righteousness and purity. Sadly, most of those terms are distinctly unfashionable in our modern culture. Yet it is Dharma by which the seeker of truth can achieve happiness that he is looking for.When Moses brought down the 10 commandments from Mt. Sinai he taught the Israelites that Dharma was the divine law by which they (who loved truth) aspired could free themselves from their Egyptian slave masters (the base desires) and reach the promised land (spiritual liberation).

Although Mohammed led his followers into a bloody and terrible war to defend the law of Islam (Dharma) from the child-murdering and mysoginistic idolaters, he described that physical war as the 'lesser jihad'. The 'greater Jihad' is the infinitely more difficult war which the seekers fight within themselves for moral purification, death of the ego and victory over desire, attachment and conditioning.Christ taught us that forgiveness frees us from our own petty ego (and its qualities such as pride, vengeance, aggression, grudge bearing) so that we can stay on the path of Dharma. Christ's message is encapsulated in statements such as 'He who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery' ‹ in other words an external morality or ethic is insufficient, for true Dharma is purity of heart and mind.Even before the advent of Lord Krishna when there was no existence of Bhagavad Gita, even before Jesus Christ there was no existence of the bible and Christianity, even before Mohammed there was no existence of Allah and Islam BUT the Humanity survived on the basis of the Dharma, The Natural laws. And this Dharma forms the core of Hinduism. Ever since Human Beings came into existence... existed Sanatana Dharma... the ever-existing Dharma since Times Immemorial. The word Sanatana means something without a beginning... in other words existing since Times Immemorial.

Hinduism in other words is defined as Sanatana Dharma... it is not a Religion... it is not the preaching... Hinduism exists for the existence of Life itself. In the times of Rama who came much before Lord Krishna existed Dharma and only Dharma. There was no Religion in existence at that time. The society survived because of the ingrained Dharma in every living being. Even before the word Hindu got coined by the followers of Islamic Dharma... India existed as Bharatvarsha. The word Bharatvarsha was derived from the King Bharat who reigned over the region where prevailed the Sanatana Dharma.

The region beyond the Indus River which divides the territory between the present India and Pakistan, everything beyond the sindh territory (now in Pakistan) lived the followers of Sanatana Dharma who were pronounced as Hindus (which stood for the people who lived beyond the sindh and as sindh was pronounced as Hind by the followers of Islamic Dharma... the immigrants of the Hind region came to be known as Hindus. The territory came to be known as Hind territory and finally Hindustan and the following Hinduism. My idea is not to hurt anybody in any way but to wake up the consciousness of one and all. what all of us are doing in the name of religion and all of us doing in the name of getting more profits and prosperity, in fact we are pushing this only place that we have to live, in oblivion.No religion in the world teaches us to wage war against our own people. No religion teaches us to disrespect nature in any way, Every religion in the world teaches us to respect and love nature and love our fellow human beings. So why don't we all do some introspection? and Why can we not take the actual preaching of the religion that each one of us are following?

CHAPTER 3 WHO OR WHAT IS A GURU OR A SADGURU

Who or what is a Guru or a Sadguru

In today’s materialistic world the one thing that eludes us all is peace, we are all searching for that elusive word, in various places. Some feel that if he or she has enough money then peace will follow automatically. Some feel that going to temple, gurudwara, church or masjid will give them peace and happiness, but frankly speaking does it always give us that peace of mind that we are looking for??? Foreigners throng in our country looking for spiritual salvation, when asked why, they say that it is here that they get what they are looking for. They come here in search for a guru who will show them the actual path to Salvation, thereby peace in the inner self.

Peace within one’s own self brings about the peace in the society at large and subsequently peace in the geographical boundary, the country that he lives in.

Therefore this priceless commodity can only come through to you, if you have a Guru who will guide you and me to that mountain top which you and I are looking for.

Who or What is a Guru then. Where can I find one such guru who will walk the talk ?

According to Shree Ramkrishna Paramhans, Guru is such a person who is like a thread that leads to God. According to Osho a Guru is not a person of flesh and blood, nor is he an individual, but a Guru is a philosophy, Guru is a flow, Guru is a medium of the almighty. Is it confusing? Because here it says that guru is not a person, then how can we search for such a guru?? Here comes the concept of Sadguru. So now who is a sadguru? This concept, of a guru and a sadguru, can be explained very simply if we compare it with a mountaineering school and the Sherpa.

The Mountaineering school teaches us the techniques of climbing the mountain , gives us theory, training and all the knowledge that is required to climb the treacherous ,and difficult climb – The Guru. The Sherpa on the other hand takes your load on his back and he climbs with you showing you the on the climb techniques, sharing his experiences of the climb, which he is has done umpteen number of times, and he makes sure that you reach the top of the mountain –The Sadguru.

It is quite difficult to find a Sherpa; we can off course find a mountaineering institute.

How do we recognize such a person, or Guru, or a spiritual leader? Whenever we are in a company of someone and his presence exudes happiness, positivity, and we feel good to be in his company, when we crave to be with him or her, means he has a strong aura which is attracting you. He could be the person one is looking for.

A man decides as how his life will shape up as to what way will he carry it forward and the 100% responsibility of taking his life to a peaceful stress free conclusion rest on the positive attitude, and the spiritual leader or a guru or a sadguru who helps us to inculcate that positive attitude should be loved, revered and worshipped. This should be the religion in true sense as this will not only bring peace in ones own self but will bring happiness prosperity in the geographical boundary. Ramkrishna paramhans said that one should strive to achieve peace, happiness from within. The almighty, Allah, Ishwar, Christ is all within us, a Sadguru helps and makes you realize this very concept.

CHAPTER 4 RELIGION AND FANATICISM

26/11 Mumbai was under siege, some 20 odd young men brandishing AK 47 rifles went on a killing spree at a busy railway station, and five stars hotels killing hundreds. This incident brings back memories of the now infamous 9/11 where a handful of highly motivated, misguided souls took controls of aircrafts and banged into the World Trade Center destroying it completely and killing thousands. These incidents again make us realize how susceptible we are in the face of such terror activities, where a group of highly trained and motivated people inflict so much pain and agony to the innocents. The very fact that the actors who perpetrate these acts are ready to die makes them more dangerous, because the very fear of death, the ultimate fear, itself is absent from their psyche and hence they can go to any extent to inflict terror in the minds of people, or they can go to any extent to get the authorities to bend on their knees. The very pertinent example would be the Hijack of Indian Airlines Flight IC 864 to Afghanistan. Their ( Of the hijackers, who were mainly terrorist from Pakistan owing allegiance to Taliban ) demand from the then Indian Government was to get their 20 operatives released from various jails that they were put in and Indian Government had to give in to their pressures as lives of 265 innocent Indians were at stake. The Pilots of the United Airlines aircrafts very well knew that their lives will be snuffed in seconds when they saw the world trade center getting larger and larger in front of their wind screens. Their psychology was so strong that with the knowledge of their death in seconds they kept flying straight into World Trade Center.

Unfortunately majority of such terrorist activities are perpetrated by the religious fanatics of Islam. Such tendencies are not limited to Islam alone but it is seen mostly in the abhramic religion ie Islam Christianity and Judaism. I urge my readers not to misunderstand me as I revere all religion as no religion in the world tells its followers to go and kill in the name of religion. In its essence and origin, Islam is a religion of mercy and peace, of kindness and tolerance, and of knowledge and enlightenment; it is not a religion of violence, fanaticism and ignorance.

What happens is that because of a miniscule group of misguided souls the entire religion and the followers of it suffers. The pain that a innocent Muslim goes through when their religion becomes the center stage of any terrorist activity is very evident in the following article written by a Muslim devout in Khalij Times. I reproduce that letter verbatim for my readers.

“Khaleej Times: No Time to Hide for Muslims by Aijaz Zaka Syed (View from Dubai )

Every time innocents are targeted in the name of Islam around the world, one can't face one's non-Muslim friends and colleagues. I feel like burying myself in the ground. Growing up in a religious family, one never thought one would see the day when being a Muslim could be a source of shame.

A distraught friend who has devoted her life to speaking and fighting on behalf of Arabs and Muslims wrote in yesterday saying "I've had it with the Arabs and Muslims and Islamic militancy. Forgive me but I am throwing in the towel."

I couldn't write back to her but understood her pain... She grew up in Mumbai and is understandably upset.

My friend went on to say: "The Muslims and Islam have a problem and only they can solve it. If they do not, the whole world will turn against them."

Can you blame the world if it's turning against Muslims? What do you expect when not a single day passes without the name of our faith being dragged through the mud by fellow believers around the world?

Is this what Islam and the noble Prophet teach and stand for?

It's all very well for us to say Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. We can go on deluding ourselves these psychopaths do not represent us.

However, the world finds it hard to accept this line of argument because it sees the extremists increasingly assert themselves and take the centre-stage while the mainstream Islam remains silent.”

Religion seems to offer a particularly fertile matrix, in which fanaticism can grow, is religious belief itself the cause of fanaticism? Or is religion simply one of many catalysts that can transform desperation into extremism? We might find the answers in the teachings of the Founders of the world's major religious systems. What do they say about fanaticism and religious zeal? Did they espouse it or promote it? And if not, where does it come from?

Some particularly sharp insights may be found in the Bahá'í Writings. Bahá'u'lláh clearly condemned fanaticism of all kinds. In a statement that seems to foreshadow our times, He wrote:

Religious fanaticism and hatred are a world-devouring fire, whose violence none can quench. The Hand of Divine power can, alone, deliver mankind from this desolating affliction.

(Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 13

Religion itself breeds fanatics. If the teachings of the Manifestations of God had been followed, fanaticism would never have taken root within the religions they established. We can say this because fanaticism and hatred are so clearly contrary to their explicit teachings. It uses religion as a tool to further aims that have nothing to do with true religion. If we use a hammer to open a jar, we're going to destroy the jar. Hammers are not meant for opening jars, and they are powerful enough tools to do considerable damage when misused. Religion is one of the most potent forces known to humanity. Misused, it is capable of doing correspondingly great damage.

Why do the fanatics succeed? The answer lies in a short story. A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, Owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he

said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were

too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a

bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen.

Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and

the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up

in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories. The essence of this story is simple. The terrorists are very small in number but they are very cohesive. Their negative attitude is cohesive as well. Therefore they can inflict so much pain. The good and peace loving people are much much larger in number but are not cohesive at all and hence their positivity and goodness does not percolate down the society. The fanatics are so cohesive that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are

gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and

homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to

become suicide bombers. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians , Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, Indians including Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

Each religion brings out its own doctrines and insists upon them as being the only true ones. And not only does it do that, but also it thinks that he who does not believe in them must go to some horrible place. Some will even draw the sword to compel others to believe as they do. This is not through

wickedness, but through a particular disease of human brain called fanaticism. They are very sincere, these fanatics, the most sincere of human beings; but they are quite as irresponsible as other lunatics in the world. This disease of fanaticism is one of the most dangerous of all diseases. All the wickedness of human nature is roused by it. Anger is stirred up, nerves are high strung, and human being becomes like tigers."

Thus faith turns into fanaticism. The communal frenzy erupts and religious wars are fought with ensuing mass destruction and chaos. There is no doubt that more blood is shed on religious wars and persecution than on any other cause. But this is no fault of an individual. It is the evolutionary weakness. It is not a crafty design of one individual, or one particular religion. Our inability to convert faith into the knowledge of direct perception (of the truths as preached by the religious seers) is responsible for this. The mammal in us is still strong; we have as yet failed to evolve as complete human beings.

When a person embodies values like spiritual wisdom, purity of heart, qualities of universal love and altruism, we call him a saint or a sage. Sometimes such a person contributes to the welfare of humanity in such a great measure that he is referred to as God -the founder of a religion. Such examples are Sri Krishna, Jesus Christ, Lord Buddha, Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, and many more. The list is unending; we encounter such great souls in every religion of every continent and in every era. These great souls have intuitive knowledge of oneness of human race. Their intuition is based on their experience or realization and conforms to rationality and reason. They speak from the experience of realization of Divinity acquired after transcending the limitations of body-mind complex. They have the direct knowledge of Reality. Millions of followers of these saints intellectually and emotionally grasp their message of love and compassion; but cannot claim to have experienced these values as direct knowledge. They believe in what the saints say.

None of the saints or their religion preaches hatred and killing. Every religion preach that humankind is a single family and the earth its common homeland. There is no place for fanaticism or the fanatics.

CHAPTER 5 ACT WITHOUT EXPECTATION

A man’s creativity, his enthusiasm, zest, and zeal can only spring and evolve when he is well rested. By saying “well rested”, I do not mean physically rested but the rest of the mind. Can one’s faculties rest when he is constantly anxious about the outcome of his action?

When we perform any and every action with an eye on the end result ,we get lost in the end and don’t enjoy the means of getting to the end. But when we perform some action as an expression of joy and do not bother about the result, the action itself brings fulfillment.

Anxiety about the outcome of your action is what pulls you down, you loose your creative self, you loose the zest and zeal and loose your confidence and then as a human you are no longer creative

At the beginning of the project if one starts worrying then the whole enthusiasm for the project gets dampened. When we are aware of our potential we must jump into action without bothering about the result. That is why Mahatma Gandhi always said ,”Full effort is full victory. He was a karma yogi in the truest sense, he followed the path of karma yogi, or self less service which requires the capacity to be completely and perfectly detached from results and undaunted by reverses.

Bhagawat Gita says “you have the right to work, but never to the fruit of the work. You should never engage in action for the sake of the reward, nor should you long for inaction” The lord says “If you throw yourself heart and soul into selfless undertaking, using the right means, the purest means that are available to you, I will be responsible for the outcome.” Wrong means can never bring about a right end and right means can never fail to bring about the right end

CHAPTER 6. SPIRITUALITY AND SPIRITUALITY

Before I say anything about Spirituality and spiritualism one must first realize that there is a marked difference between religion and spirituality. The immediate difference between religion and spirituality is that while religion is exclusive- in that one has to subscribe to that one religion at the exclusion of all other religions, faiths, and beliefs, spirituality is inclusive in that any one adherent of any religion can embrace spirituality and retain his or her religious status or place in that religion. Spirituality cuts across religious, cultural, traditional, social-political and academic barriers. In other words, one does not need to abandon one’s religion in order to be a devotee, student or practitioner of spirituality. In this way, religions are limiting but spirituality is not. For this reason one can rightly say that compared to religion, spirituality can be said to be the higher state or consciousness of religion. If it were a coin, the religious side bears limitations of beliefs, faith and dogma and the spirituality side is the mark of infinite consciousness and freedom.

“Religion is the manifestation of the divinity which is already present in the human being” said swami Vivekananda. Each soul is potentially divine. To manifest that very divinity within, Man should control his nature externally and internally. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy by one or more or all of these and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines or Dogmas or rituals or books, or temples, or forms, all are but secondary details. The more our bliss is within, the more spiritual we are and let us not depend upon the world of today for pleasure. This is spirituality. Spirituality is one’s character or quality that makes one transcend the barriers of worldliness, caste, creed and sensuality; and realize one's connection with the Truth. Spiritualism means to merge with consciousness. Different religions are like different route or means to reach there. It is like you want to go to Delhi you can go by train, flight, or by bus again you can to Delhi via Ahmedabad, or Via Kolkata, or via Nagpur. You will ultimately reach Delhi. Spirituality is a concept and most of the times it is wrongly understood by us mortals. Some think that spirituality is something to be achieved, which means it is external and is not within. Some think that it is to do with prayers and offerings to god.

Spiritual consciousness is a “depth experience, ”which makes us conscious of the deeper dimensions of life. It is an abiding inner awareness of the inter connectedness of one’s own spirit with the supreme spirit. It is also a cosmic awareness of “one in all and all in one”. Through spiritual consciousness we learn to look beyond and behind the surface reality. The way to attain this very spiritual consciousness is the way to the liberation of the soul through Self-Knowledge is called yoga. Vedanta speaks of four yogas, or paths to the goal: (i) Jnana-Yoga, or the direct way of Knowledge; (ii) Bhakti-Yoga, or the natural way of divine love; (iii) Karma-Yoga, or the practical way of unselfish work; and (iv) Raja-Yoga, or the scientific way of concentration and meditation. The primary road block to Self-Knowledge is the restless mind. The four Yogas are four ways to overcome the restlessness. Love is the root and the selfless service is the fruit of this very spiritual consciousness or the liberation of the soul.

The essence of every religion, fundamentally, is aimed for the attainment of spiritual enlightenment, spiritual consciousness proximity to God, love, compassion, and eternal peace in the life here after. Under such a common definition and understanding, it becomes obvious that religion is bound to be deeply a personal matter in every sense of the word. On the contrary, if religion assumes the characteristics of a doctrine that is primarily concerned with issuing laws on how to offer prayers and how many times, people’s wealth and its distribution, dress code, sex life, punishment for crimes etc, then the whole concept of spirituality loses its Godly element. A religion of such nature, then simply becomes part of human civilization, a political ideology for a group of people who choose to follow a certain social orders and customs. Then we as humans go far away from spirituality and spiritualism. Spirituality is one's character or quality that makes one transcend the barriers of worldliness, caste, creed and sensuality; and realize one's connection with the Truth. At this point I would like to say a few words about Islam which is the second largest religion in the world. Does Islam allow an individual’s quest for the knowledge of the existence of God on a personal level, using his own intellect, senses, and wisdom? The answer is a big NO! A Muslim is bound to restrict his freedom of conscience within the frame of Quranic prescriptions. The moment he has questions on metaphysical issues, he is considered an outcast or an apostate. People of other religions, including Christianity and Hinduism has already started shedding their inhibitions or political correctness and are not reluctant to cast their doubts about the origins and contemporary relevance of religious scriptures and belief systems. No authority is interested in issuing “fatwas” against them. But Islam is different. As time passes, Imams and Islamic clergies are becoming more and more powerful enough to tighten their noose around the freedom of thought. In my capacity as a crew flying for an international airline I have been to Jeddah and medina to ferry passengers for annual hajj pilgrimage umpteen number of times. The one thing that I have noticed is that, Medina is a very holy place and the presence of the power that be can be felt and it really makes one self spiritual because there is a flow of positivity of the place to oneself. This flow creates wonder when assimilated. It makes one self humble, It calms the inner aggression of one self, It helps to be in a meditative state where one’s mind becomes thoughtless and one attains spirituality momentarily. Such is the power, or one may say, the quality of that place. The pilgrims returning from this place after the end of the arduous 40days hajj starts squabbling as soon as they board the aircraft over trivialities. I wonder why they can not bring with them the positive energy and all that they have learnt and practiced for the 40 long days. Somehow and somewhere the concept of spiritual and spirituality is lost.

In predominant Western religions the Divine is worshiped as Father but not as Mother. This heavenly Father is often portrayed as a stern, angry or jealous God, a strict judge and giver of punishment to those of his children who violate his seemingly arbitrary laws. Protestant Christianity and Islam have banished the Divine Mother from their religions. Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christianity have accepted the feminine as the mother of Jesus, not as God in her own right, though it appears that devotion to the Madonna has been the strongest living mystical force within Christianity. Sanatana Dharma as a universal tradition recognizes the importance of the Divine Mother. According to Hinduism the deepest relationship that we can have with God is that of the Mother. No human relationship is closer than that of the mother and child. It best mirrors our relationship with God. India itself is looked upon as the Mother. The Hindu religion itself is regarded as a mother and its teachings are her milk.

Sanatan dharma, The backbone of Hinduism is basically a way of life based on nature and universe where every particle that constitute the universe and nature has a soul and is connected to the divine and hence everything has to be respected and revered. Sanatan dharma developed over time and there is no one person or a startup date for this religion. It is based on observations of heavenly bodies and their characters and the effect that it has on the population, environment, and behavioral patterns of each and every particle that constitutes nature and universe. This Sanatan Dharma is what the western scholars call as paganism.

The concept of Spirituality and spiritualism should therefore be that every person is a wondrous, sacred, creation. Every plant, rock, tree, everything seen and unseen, is unique and beautiful. The purpose of life as seen should therefore be to live in harmony with nature, to develop our personal and spiritual potential, and to be aware of and to manifest the inherent divinity within us all. This holds true for every one and for every religion. Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Bahai, Christianity, every other religion the concept of spirituality is no different.

Spirituality is a matter of contemplative meditation designed to bring the practitioner to the point of vacating his physical body at will, merge his mind into Universal Mind realm and remain in his or her pure spiritual form as a Spirit (of God) in its pristine nature and then traverse higher spiritual planes until one re-merges into divine union with the Supreme Being and become one with that Being even as one still dwells in this world doing his work and taking care of family and social responsibilities.