From Religiosity to Spirituality

Some people who visit the temples have questions and enquiry which are not answered by the deities, the temple priests or by others. When such enquires germinate in us, we come to the ashram. Unlike temples where there is a mute deity, there are more than one sentient saints who can clarify and give us answers.

In religion we are always looking at an invisible God of our faith. He is at a distance and all our worship is unilateral. So, there is an incompleteness and a lack of fulfillment. While millions worship the lord, there is no way of knowing if God is pleased with our worship. Worship must become complete and fulfill itself, but it isn’t happening as religiosity depends on a distant God.

Religiosity completely depends upon an invisible and infinitely distant God. Whereas spirituality, every bit and piece of it, right from the start to finish, rests upon oneself. All practices are sensory or bodily, inner, mental and intellectual.

प्रतिमुखस्य यथा मुखश्री: ।।
(Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.11)