Spirituality

Thanks for this thought-provoking snippet. I have heard people saying I am spiritual but not religious, which I think, they believe in some supernatural power but do not believe in puja and other rituals. This raises, another question, will such people will be less spiritual if they or someone can reveal the secret of something they did not know? Scientists at work reveal the creation of the universe. As of now, we do not know how big the universe is. Some believe, the sky and earth meet at some point, yet to be found. As and when and if it is found, and that may never happen, will the search continue, like some success to reach other planets?
Will humans come to a conclusion that there is God, the Creator of the Universe?
The more we talk vaguely on the subject, the more people are turning into nonbelievers.

 

Dear Viswa,
You have presented a vivid picture of

'spirituality'.Yet it has not been understood to the desired extent.

When we hear the term 'spirituality',automatically we think

of 'soul'.

Many wonder whether there is a difference between the heart and soul.

It is normally referred to as 'heart and soul'. No one refers as

hearty soul or soully heart. So there appears to be two entities.

Heart is the more complex of the two because it has an existence

both at a physical and metaphysical level. Physical heart is a

strong organ of muscles and nerves and is built to last at

least a hundred years functioning ceaselessly pumping the

blood even to the remotest corners of the body without asking

for relaxation or LFC at Ooty or Mount Abu .

The other invisible metaphysical heart is even more intriguing.

Its absence is readily noticed. but not the presence. The most

frequently heard comment about a missing heart is

‘Have a heart’ that we utter when we perceive a person as

very unreasonable. This gives us a glimpse into the function of

the metaphysical heart.

This invisible heart is more important for a human than the

rhythmically beating physical heart.

If the invisible or the metaphysical heart is what we judge a man by,

then what does the soul do? Whenever we see an ebullient

person adding a lot of lustre to a party, we call him the heart

and soul of the party. If we want to highlight the importance of

something in the scheme of things, we call it ‘the heart and soul’

of the matter. Thus it would appear as though the soul always

works in tandem with the metaphysical heart in livening up the

proceedings. But is that all that the soul does? I mean keeping

company with a good heart?

Does it mean that we have to concentrate more on

metaphysical heart than on the silent 'soul'?

Soul is usually perceived as something that a person has

but leaves him once he ceases to exist physically. It is also

known for moving from person to person to keep itself alive.

Sounds a bit opportunistic but what is it doing in a live person?


I wonder whether we can compare 'SOUL' to MOOLAVAR

heart to 'UTSAVAR" of the temple. Moolavar is static and

all-pervading. People have to seek and reach out to the Moolavar

but the Utsavar goes round reaching out to everyone.

Even if you don't want to go looking for the Moolavar (soul),

the Utsavar reaches out to all reminding everyone that

He represents only the Moolavar, the two sides of the same coin.

On further analysis it is proper to assume that

Mind, Metaphysical heart and soul are like a triangle. Mind has

no existence of its own without the thoughts and associated desires.

By peace to the mind we mean we are talking about contraction

i.e. removing desires, reducing bad thoughts and retaining only noble thoughts.

As far as Metaphysical heart is concerned, it is a faculty that

enables noble thoughts transform into Universal Love for all

fellow beings. It takes noble thoughts from the mind and

converts into love and compassion to be implemented into actions later

as explained by Shri Viswa.


Soul is a witness to the activities of both the mind and the

Metaphysical Heart. It does not interfere with either one of them.

But it has a friend in the form of intellect or Free Will and allow

Mind and Metaphysical Heart to consult the intellect as and when needed.

Soul's only role in human life is to be a witness to the actions of

the Mind and Metaphysical Heart until a person exists.

When he or she dies,

it moves with its encryption to another body hoping that the

new Body Mind Heart complex would make effort to remove its encryption.

A Simple definition of spirituality says,

“Spirituality is more of an individual practice and has to

do with having a sense of peace and purpose. It also relates

to the process of developing beliefs around the meaning of

life and connection with others”.


Spirituality is not the prerogative of neither the sages

residing in jungles nor that of Ramanas and Arbindos.

It is well within our day to day life and very much the same

as character development.

Though they say that we are gifted with a freewill
to perform our own actions with body, mind and intellect,
some totally deny the concept and argue that our free
will also is predetermined and comes under destiny.


The description of the scope of Law of Karma
is reflected in Bhagavatgita.The actions that are
performed without attachment with the requisite
equanimity do not get carried into so called encryptions.
A similar view is expressed in Buddhism too.

Intentions are essentially important in determining
the moral quality of the action and the doer.Sometimes
an action which is done with bad intention may
result in bringing about good.Irrespective of the
result the imprint of 'immoral' is passed on.

Similarly actions done with right intentions
sometimes result in some harm to some one.


What essentially matters is the attitude and dispositions
of the individual and not the actual act.This view
cannot escape criticism.
It indirectly means that one could do the most
undesirable act provided his intentions and
dispositions are good.This creates a wedge
between the Law of Karma and rules of Justice in the nation.
There are people who have firm views that it is not the absolute requirement of the soul to repay the debts of previous janmas.They believe that the ideas of reward , punishment etc are human concepts unnecessarily imposed on cosmos .When some crisis arises and it is stated to be an impact of what one had done in previous birth,a feeling of guilt descends on man, and in the same way at the time of good events, a feeling of subtle expectation of 'reward' arises.This in turn takes us away from the present.


In reality our life revolves around three factors.
1.Deeds done by our own selves.
2.Influence of deeds done by third parties human
or otherwise
3.Influence of destiny or luck.
We do not live entirely by Free Will nor we totally
are influenced by Fate or Destiny.
Fate plays its own dice on the checker board
of our existence, mostly as a balancing force.
However with sustained effort we can wade
through vagories of nature.By surrendering
ourselves to God we build up strength to endure
what cannot be cured and on total surrender ,
there is no Free will and God's will is your desired option.

Better not to worry too much about types of Karma
and their influence ,love yourself and all others
without harming anyone. Let us relax.
Have I missed anything?

Jayasala 42
Vathsala Jayaraman-M 170

 

Fundamental questions among theists & atheists as well would lead to profound study of philosophies left by spiritual (!) giants of yore.

Upon reading this thread, certain thoughts have crossed my mind
Which I have posted below:

When body is in formation stage, soul enters that body in the making. Then that body soul combined is the baby in process. I wonder at which month of pregnancy period the soul enters the womb. Who engineers the movement of the soul into a body of particular gender or genderless, who decides which soul to enter which womb? Does spiritual things takes its root here to act upon the baby in process?

Religions created rituals and Gods.
For each religion, god-name created by them and that is the only God.
For some Jesus better than others ( Jesus saves while all other Gods spend!).
For some Allah is superior & shapeless formless,
For few, Shiva is more powerful and dynamic and head heavy (of course with Ganga)

Some believe, call by any name but the creator is one & the same.
Some even believe every being on Earth is part of the unknown.
And in some way, part or parts of body connected to elements of Unknown.

In that (belief) - Kriya Yoga fame - Paramahansa announced in Boston, before his leaving the body that his body
Would remain free from emaciation/deterioration for over 33 days and beyond (to coroners astonishment) !

Same way, Pattinathar vanished from a basket near the shore of Bay of Bengal
Leaving a SHIVALING in the basket.

Ramalingaswamigal entered an empty room, closed doors and after long hours when door opened by his disciples, found he had Vanished leaving a spot of bright flame in the room.

When Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi left his mortal coils
A bright light moved across steadily in space atop Thiruvannamalai hills.

Are their “heart and soul” made of different from other humans
Are their “mind and gut” different from ordinary mortals?

Is it true that their is an astral world to which each of us are connected?
Great monks that have attained Mahasamadi believed to be entrusted with responsibilities in the astral world

 

Lot of people confuse religion and spirituality toi such an extent that those who make a living peddling religion are described as "spiritual leaders. In reality spirituality is the opposite pole of religion. While religion is a prison made of dogmas, rites and rituals, spirituality is all about freedom from belief. It is about looking at every human the way ytou look at yourself. it is walking on the middle path in life shorn of extremisms . It is about unity while religion is about division by faith, caste and creed.

 

CViswa, religion by its very nature is divisive because each religion is a different belief system and the followers of every faith are not open to the possibility they could be wrong. Each faith displays the arrogance of having the ultimate truth up its sleeve and this is bound t5o lead to division and conflict.