What Is Spirituality? Is it Different From Religion?
What is Spirituality?
Spirituality is a powerful process we go into a self exploratory mode. Spirituality and its practices encourage us to do a deep dive into our own self. It is the study and understanding of the spirit. Spirituality is the platform that helps us to answer questions like what is this life all about, is there more to life after death? , what can be done about this life? etc. Through the process of spiritual techniques and training we can seek enlightenment. For example in the technique of Siddha walk we are making the figure 8 and walking from one particular direction to the other for a specific amount of time. This is a spiritual practice which certainly has physical benefits but more importantly it enables us to understand energy and spirit.
What is religion?
Religion is a concept where in we are wholly immersed in a particular process or way of doing things towards a faith. No matter which religion one belongs to, the faith or belief of a devotee regarding that sector or God is unchanging towards that specific path of worship. Religion is made up of a number of minor and elaborate rituals, ceremonies, and ideas which are directed towards that particular belief. In the scope of religion or religious matters, a practitioner or devotee of any known religion will only consider his/her religion as being absolute and rewarding. When it comes to practicing religion we all as a collective community accept a particular deity as our God and consent to his/her worship. Religion asks a set of followers to believe in a common deity, image, object or entity. There is requirement of adhering to a set of standard rules and regulations that are laid down by the community that every member needs to follow. However this is largely different from spirituality where practitioners are given a free rein for exploration and self discovery.
Overlapping of the two
There are several leaders in the areas of spirituality and religion that not only followed religion but also established new ways of evolving humanity. These leaders include Gautam Buddha and Guru Nanak Ji. They believed in traditional systems of community based faith but also were powerful spiritual practitioners. Meditation is considered to be a very important aspect of spirituality. Spirituality is where how you live your life is something that one should be very aware and mindful about.
Difference between spirituality and religion
Looking at the two, the only difference between spirituality and religion is that while religion has certain rules and protocols for ritualistic practice, spirituality is an independent decision. Unlike in religious orders there is no single figure head of authority and every individual is responsible for his own choices and is free to believe in god or to be an atheist. In this way spirituality can be considered to be an extremely personal practice that is unique to one’s own journey and it is only how the journey ends that will tell you the story of where the process has taken you.
