Religion can be both good and bad – it is spirituality that counts

When in the early part of human history, stone age or the metal age, certain forces of nature that couldn’t be explained like, floods, Earthquakes, sudden deaths etc. people tried to explain it by believing that there is some underlying force of nature which controls it and is stronger and more powerful than everything that can be seen.

Such intangible forces later came to be seen as respectable authorities and began to be worshipped and later came to be practiced in the form of religion. So, Religion by its very nature is subject to interpretation. And later when science started questioning some aspects of religion cynicism surfaced and gave way to conflicts.

But, there was some basic ingredient of every religion that exists before and today. This was the underlying belief that every human being and for that matter every living being is connected by same intangible element of life. The understanding of that common ingredient or process that is in every sense pure and neutral to what anyone practices is called spirituality.

Religion: Subject to interpretations

Religion is a very subjective concept of identity and understanding the way in which we can connect to someone. Religion is anything that connects two completely strange souls - it can be love for a sport, like cricket is kind of religion in India, it can be connect via common ancestral or common belief. Overtime Religion has incorporated very specific parts or aspects of our life. The common way in which we conduct ourselves on a daily basis is given a name, a standard and an identity, for example if someone says – I’m a Hindu or I’m a Muslim, much can be drawn about what he or she would be like based on prejudices and history that lies before us. Whether it is right to make such interpretation about someone only based on his religious identity is dependent on the understanding of the person.

Religion has undoubtedly provided people with reasons, however hypothetical, to come to terms with forces of nature and give them a solace. It also provides them with confidence in the form of identity and recognition. Much of the religious practices were documented which gave them a constitutional status for a certain section who believed in it and thus like any constitution affected most part of their lives. This was good in a sense that it took away the element of uncertainty in conduct and gave directions on what must be done and how the life must be lived.

Problems erupted when certain people became authority on what can be called as right and wrong on the religious fabric. This took away the element of extended deliberations and discussions, confining it to very small part of the society who became the interpreters of religious documents. This problem is also seen today in the form of radicalization in the name of religion, orthodoxy, social evils which in time breeds hatred, bigotry and superstitions. When religion becomes stagnant and refuses to evolve with time it creates gap because human minds cannot be stopped from evolving and thus breeds differences. This negative aspect of religion is not at the heart of why religion came into existence in the first place. This negativity is the result of identity and existential crisis, conflict with reason and logic. But what must not be forgotten is that dust can settle on any object if it doesn’t move for a long time and therefore as history suggests religious cleansing is important as well as inevitable in the light of reforms which are need of time and dust must be taken off

Spirituality – The essence of every religion

As mentioned before spirituality deals with the intangible, underlying common pure element that connects every soul in the universe and not just humans. Spirituality has expressed itself in every religious practice and conveys the same message based on humanism and reason. Whether we may call them Saints of Hinduism, Sufis in Islam, Monks in Buddhism or missionaries in Christianity they spread the same message of common brotherhood and love between the living creations. Jainism goes on to say that there is some degree of consciousness in every object and thus must be respected.

Taking spirituality in Hinduism for example, as it doesn’t matter because they all convey the same message, talks of two way connect – one with the self and second with the others as life is the reflection of soul which is common and pure in all the living beings. A profound statement in Hindu religion is – Aham Brahmasmi, meaning I’m everything and in everyone. This spiritualism is reflected very profoundly in Buddhism too which talks about eight fold path where stress is given on conducting oneself in right way.

Vedas in Hinduism starts with a very simple phrase which says – Manurbhav. Which means “Be human”. Stress is given on being humanistic before being anything else i.e. before identifying oneself as Hindu or Muslim or anything for that matter, try to be a Human first. Such message is common to every religion in its spiritual light. Kabir one of the famous saints of Bhakti period equally criticized Hindu and Muslims of their superstitions and social evils. He stressed on common brotherhood of humanity and love which is the most powerful binding force of nature ever existed and will exist in time to come.

Therefore, what must be understood is that religion and for that matter everything that comes out of human mind under some circumstances on one point of time will be definitely challenged in the time that follows because circumstances never stay the same and human mind evolves. On the other hand the message of love and common brotherhood which arrives irrespective of circumstances are universal in their nature and thus always stay as moral and guiding forces of nature. Earth is living example of such symbiosis between species and nature. With time all the species have developed a relation with nature and with each other to live in harmony and peace. Therefore, humanity must strive to become better with time and understand what is fundamental and what is not. Gather knowledge and apply reason to understand nature which is from where it all began and complete the circle.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of values

More often than not a man’s character is measured with the amount of success he has. This idea is flawed in itself because success is something that is a result of many factors and is often accidental. None of the successful people, and anyone for that matter, are sure of being a success.

Rather it must be opposite - A man’s success must be measured from the values he possess. Because it’s the values that define how we perceive the world around us and how we chose to react or not to react to situations that comes before us.

Understanding basic difference between Success and Values:

Success and value is related to each other in the same way as event and causality. Success may seem very tangible quantity but it’s the end and not the path, if we go according to the present definition of success. Success is the goal or achievement that is associated with an individual or a group but the values define the path that is taken to reach there. As there can be many ways to achieve the same goal, values define the quality of a person vis-à-vis others.

For example – Everyone in the freedom struggle movements of India had one goal and see their success in freedom from the tyranny of British Raj. But it’s the value of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash C Bose, Bhagat Singh and others that distinguished them from each other. Gandhij’s values of Truth and Non-violence sets him apart from everyone and gave him the status of Father of Nation.

This example brings up a very important point that world and people take inspiration from values and not Success. Success might be remembered, celebrated or highlighted but it’s the values that are cherished, followed, adopted and passed on. Swami Vivekananda left his body at very young age but it’s the path that he followed which has made him great and his messages are followed. His ideals of service to others, his values of untiring work and commitment towards the goal gives him the status that he has today.

Success is temporary, values are permanent:

Success fades away with time and gets replaced by other success or achievement. And the process continues but the values that are inculcated within the individual stays for life. Success and Failure are two probable mutually exhaustive event and in simple arithmetic terms each has the 0.5 probability of occurring. But values always has the probability of 1 i.e. value is not a game of probability as to what will be the value is independent of external factors. It is 100% dependent on the individual and the way he has been brought up to face this world.

Sachin Tendulkar, Bharat Ratna winning sportsman, is the most celebrated figure of the cricket world, so much so that he is referred to as the God of cricket. But he is at that position not because he has 100 hundreds, or maximum runs, he is there because of the values that he has shown on and off the field. He maintained a certain level of ethics and held playing and winning world cup for the country as his biggest achievements over and above his personal milestones. This can even be seen now as most of player retirement take a backseat but Sachin is active in politics and taken up the task of Swchcha Bharat mission and uplifting the level of sports in the country. Values therefore define the type of person you are.

Values shapes success and the fate of success:

Success can come to any person but values gives meaning to success. Values of an individual defines how he will handle success. Values gives us shape like a potter shapes his vessel. Success will slip away if we are a leaky vessel and are unable to handle it and get consumed by it. Values is something that driven Oliver and Wilber Right to make a flying device; they had no resource, no tech. support, and no capital. But they had values like courage, they were driven by a cause, with an idea that can change the way humans commuted. In fact, the world got to know about their success two days after they took flight. What is to be understood from this example is that it was very much possible that Wright brothers could have been lost in the history if they never had success but this is not what they were looking for; they were happy with the path they were following and their values shaped their success. Success is an event but values are the process that help one arrive at success.

The idea of success:

Therefore it is required that world should not measure someone’s character or abilities from his success but his values. Or we can change the way we perceive success altogether. The idea of success must be seen in the values of person and how he reacts or treats the people around him. The way a person lives his life and performs his daily chores must be the central idea in judging whether he is successful or not. If not others every individual should at least develop values and measure his/her success against those ideals.

The world has become increasingly materialistic and success has just become synonym to magnitude of wealth, number of cars, size of the house and position in an organization. Until this changes as the definition of success, values will serve as the best way to live life and serve the nation, its people and make world a better place to live.