Some of my friends have expressed the view that religion is necessary for disciplining an otherwise unruly human nature that is naturally given to violence. But the point I would like to make here is: we, human beings, desperately need to discriminate between the biggest con game in the history of mankind - religion - from spirituality (that leads to peace of mind and compassionate behaviour). This is absolutely necessary to free ourselves from the most successful enslaving institution ever to hold sway over mankind - that of organized religion. It is in the interest of this con game that we all confuse between religion and spirituality. Religion and spirituality have to be separated - segregated totally. They have nothing common except that one tries to sell the other. Religion is political and commercial. Spirituality is about peace of mind. Religion needs spirituality to sustain its pseudo-credibility. Spirituality, however, is harmed by religion. Religious interests are always vested, commercial and political. What is religion? Religion is a political institution that operates mainly by exploiting the popularity of spiritual, compassionate people for political and commercial gains.
Religions have a more or less similar modus operandi that involves in general:
1) deifying the compassionate spiritual person (nearly always against his will, as it takes place after his death)
2) freezing and consecrating his teachings into inviolable and sacred canons
3) assuming intellectual property rights over the legacy of this person and his teachings
4) establishing mega-political institutions in the person's name - that steadily grows in strength by inheritance and proselytisation (elaborate, esoteric rituals are established to sanctify and stabilize admission and to make it permanent and irreversible)
5) building institutions such as places of worship and pilgrimage centres that directly and indirectly generate commercial revenue
Religions try to make the practice of spirituality complex, arcane and mystical - so that they cannot be easily learnt or self taught - and so could be branded in their name and sold at a premium. However, as information and knowledge about these subjects became freely available, most of us are able to have a fair idea of how spiritual methods work. Nearly all spiritual methods involve 'quietening' thoughts. Patanjali actually made a simple straightforward statement - that was like calling a spade a spade: Yoga is stopping mental activity. Yoga is stopping thought. The closest English equivalent word for 'yoga' in the sense Patanjali used is 'spirituality' (although literally it means 'joining'). They refer to the same thing - 'silencing' or 'quietening' of thought.
Now - 'peace of mind' makes sense to most people in the world - one doesn't have to be 'spiritually inclined' or belonging to a particular culture to know the value of peace of mind. Peace of mind is what spirituality (and the yoga that Patanjali referred to) means. Now, some may think spirituality is much more, deeper, loftier - and not to be simply explained away as something as ordinary as peace of mind or a relaxed mind. Spirituality conjures up images of sages in deep meditation with ability to levitate and teleport themselves through space and time. But this is precisely the result of religions trying to infuse mumbo jumbo into a simple thing. If your mind is a noisy din of thoughts, you are not at all spiritual. If your mind is 10% quieter, you are that much more spiritual. If your mind is 95% quieter, you are very very spiritual. 100% stilling of mental activity may be - like absolute zero - hard to attain. When you have a quiet mind, naturally you are more relaxed - mentally and physically - and you are less prone to anxiety, depression, anger, paranoia and violence. If you have a quiet mind, you are likely to be nicer and kinder to others. This is all there is to spirituality and yoga. There is no need for any hocus-pocus actually. All it takes is to have a silent mind - and everything else will follow - loss of anxiety, inner joy, freedom from anger and a kind disposition that leads to compassionate behaviour.
Buddha, Jesus and Sri Narayana Guru were spiritual people. Because they had relatively silent minds free from the turbulence of thoughts, they communicated clearly and were kind to other human beings. Therefore they were popular among people. The organized religions that were built around them were not created by them...
Peace of mind can be achieved by sitting quietly and observing one's thoughts passively, by listening to some nice soothing music, by sitting on a beach watching the movement of waves - there are many ways to do it. Techniques of meditation - such as breathing slowly, passive observation of bodily sensations - have nothing esoteric about them. If it is made to sound esoteric, know that commercial religious interests are behind it.
Religions have a more or less similar modus operandi that involves in general:
1) deifying the compassionate spiritual person (nearly always against his will, as it takes place after his death)
2) freezing and consecrating his teachings into inviolable and sacred canons
3) assuming intellectual property rights over the legacy of this person and his teachings
4) establishing mega-political institutions in the person's name - that steadily grows in strength by inheritance and proselytisation (elaborate, esoteric rituals are established to sanctify and stabilize admission and to make it permanent and irreversible)
5) building institutions such as places of worship and pilgrimage centres that directly and indirectly generate commercial revenue
Religions try to make the practice of spirituality complex, arcane and mystical - so that they cannot be easily learnt or self taught - and so could be branded in their name and sold at a premium. However, as information and knowledge about these subjects became freely available, most of us are able to have a fair idea of how spiritual methods work. Nearly all spiritual methods involve 'quietening' thoughts. Patanjali actually made a simple straightforward statement - that was like calling a spade a spade: Yoga is stopping mental activity. Yoga is stopping thought. The closest English equivalent word for 'yoga' in the sense Patanjali used is 'spirituality' (although literally it means 'joining'). They refer to the same thing - 'silencing' or 'quietening' of thought.
Now - 'peace of mind' makes sense to most people in the world - one doesn't have to be 'spiritually inclined' or belonging to a particular culture to know the value of peace of mind. Peace of mind is what spirituality (and the yoga that Patanjali referred to) means. Now, some may think spirituality is much more, deeper, loftier - and not to be simply explained away as something as ordinary as peace of mind or a relaxed mind. Spirituality conjures up images of sages in deep meditation with ability to levitate and teleport themselves through space and time. But this is precisely the result of religions trying to infuse mumbo jumbo into a simple thing. If your mind is a noisy din of thoughts, you are not at all spiritual. If your mind is 10% quieter, you are that much more spiritual. If your mind is 95% quieter, you are very very spiritual. 100% stilling of mental activity may be - like absolute zero - hard to attain. When you have a quiet mind, naturally you are more relaxed - mentally and physically - and you are less prone to anxiety, depression, anger, paranoia and violence. If you have a quiet mind, you are likely to be nicer and kinder to others. This is all there is to spirituality and yoga. There is no need for any hocus-pocus actually. All it takes is to have a silent mind - and everything else will follow - loss of anxiety, inner joy, freedom from anger and a kind disposition that leads to compassionate behaviour.
Buddha, Jesus and Sri Narayana Guru were spiritual people. Because they had relatively silent minds free from the turbulence of thoughts, they communicated clearly and were kind to other human beings. Therefore they were popular among people. The organized religions that were built around them were not created by them...
Peace of mind can be achieved by sitting quietly and observing one's thoughts passively, by listening to some nice soothing music, by sitting on a beach watching the movement of waves - there are many ways to do it. Techniques of meditation - such as breathing slowly, passive observation of bodily sensations - have nothing esoteric about them. If it is made to sound esoteric, know that commercial religious interests are behind it.
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