Dear friends,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Spirituality and Religion. I had posted the same question on ibibo and got equally interesting five responses. Your feedback gave an insight in to what people generally think about Spirituality and Religion.
The gist of replies is as below:
Except one, all were of the opinion that a person can be Spiritual but not religious.
For most of them Spirituality was like, quest to understand oneself, identify self with universe, selfless service to the society, humanity, believe in super powers of human mind and body etc
As far as religion is concerned, all of them thought that religion is limited to believing in the concept of God and worshiping God by various means like performing rituals, Idol worship, chanting mantras etc.
Some expressed their dislike towards religion while one said that religion is a journey to achieve Spirituality and once achieved, one need not follow religious practice of rituals etc.
All these answers were a great help in my quest of learning. Now I share my thoughts on the subject.
As far as I understand, Hinduism as a religion is based on following Three Yoga.
1)Gyan Yoga (Study and practice to achieve supreme consciousness OR Sampurna Vairagya)
2)Karma Yoga. (To perform individual’s duty without bothering about the results)
3)Bhakti Yoga. (To worship God Almighty)
All above mentioned Yoga are the basic pillars of Hinduism. All three are independent and also complimentary to each other. The ultimate aim to achieve Supreme consciousness can be achieved either by following any one or all of the three in any combinations by humans.
Feedback from my friends regarding Spirituality is actually a combination of Gyan Yoga and Karma Yoga, which is an essential part of Religion. However not following Bhakti Yoga doesn’t mean that a person can claim to be “NOT Religious”. This is like saying “I am a Neuro Surgeon, but not a Doctor” OR I am a Marathi (or from any other state) but not an Indian!
My limited understanding says that “If a person follows any of the following Yoga, then he is Religious”. What do you say?
Lastly, I would like to share a few thoughts on Bhakti Yoga.
As per Bhagwat Geeta, in this Kaliyug, to achieve Supreme consciousness, the easiest and most appropriate Yoga to practice is Bhakti Yoga followed by Karma yoga and last Gyan Yoga, the reasons...
1) For practicing Gyan Yoga one must have a Guru who has already achieved Supreme Consciousness and finding such a Guru in Kaliyug is almost impossible.
2) For practicing Karma Yoga, one must be selfless while doing each and every activity (KARMA) with total attention on the task and not on the results (Karmphal). In any case his mind should never get diverted in the thought process of results/rewards. In this world of moha maya and expectations is it really possible to do anything without thinking about the results/rewards?
3) Bhakti Yoga is relatively easy to practice. Contrary to general belief, one need not really follow rituals etc if he/she does not believe in it. There are NINE different methods to practice Bhakti Yoga including Manas puja, which requires nothing to be physically done nor requires any material or external support. One can decide upon which method is most suited for him and can practice it to achieve the ultimate goal of Supreme consciousness.
Thank you for going through this long post patiently. Comments as usual are most welcome.
Best regards
Zero
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Spirituality and Religion. I had posted the same question on ibibo and got equally interesting five responses. Your feedback gave an insight in to what people generally think about Spirituality and Religion.
The gist of replies is as below:
Except one, all were of the opinion that a person can be Spiritual but not religious.
For most of them Spirituality was like, quest to understand oneself, identify self with universe, selfless service to the society, humanity, believe in super powers of human mind and body etc
As far as religion is concerned, all of them thought that religion is limited to believing in the concept of God and worshiping God by various means like performing rituals, Idol worship, chanting mantras etc.
Some expressed their dislike towards religion while one said that religion is a journey to achieve Spirituality and once achieved, one need not follow religious practice of rituals etc.
All these answers were a great help in my quest of learning. Now I share my thoughts on the subject.
As far as I understand, Hinduism as a religion is based on following Three Yoga.
1)Gyan Yoga (Study and practice to achieve supreme consciousness OR Sampurna Vairagya)
2)Karma Yoga. (To perform individual’s duty without bothering about the results)
3)Bhakti Yoga. (To worship God Almighty)
All above mentioned Yoga are the basic pillars of Hinduism. All three are independent and also complimentary to each other. The ultimate aim to achieve Supreme consciousness can be achieved either by following any one or all of the three in any combinations by humans.
Feedback from my friends regarding Spirituality is actually a combination of Gyan Yoga and Karma Yoga, which is an essential part of Religion. However not following Bhakti Yoga doesn’t mean that a person can claim to be “NOT Religious”. This is like saying “I am a Neuro Surgeon, but not a Doctor” OR I am a Marathi (or from any other state) but not an Indian!
My limited understanding says that “If a person follows any of the following Yoga, then he is Religious”. What do you say?
Lastly, I would like to share a few thoughts on Bhakti Yoga.
As per Bhagwat Geeta, in this Kaliyug, to achieve Supreme consciousness, the easiest and most appropriate Yoga to practice is Bhakti Yoga followed by Karma yoga and last Gyan Yoga, the reasons...
1) For practicing Gyan Yoga one must have a Guru who has already achieved Supreme Consciousness and finding such a Guru in Kaliyug is almost impossible.
2) For practicing Karma Yoga, one must be selfless while doing each and every activity (KARMA) with total attention on the task and not on the results (Karmphal). In any case his mind should never get diverted in the thought process of results/rewards. In this world of moha maya and expectations is it really possible to do anything without thinking about the results/rewards?
3) Bhakti Yoga is relatively easy to practice. Contrary to general belief, one need not really follow rituals etc if he/she does not believe in it. There are NINE different methods to practice Bhakti Yoga including Manas puja, which requires nothing to be physically done nor requires any material or external support. One can decide upon which method is most suited for him and can practice it to achieve the ultimate goal of Supreme consciousness.
Thank you for going through this long post patiently. Comments as usual are most welcome.
Best regards
Zero
Perhaps a better way to look at this is that Hinduism is based on the VEDAS, our primary scriptures, and these have three sections - karma kand, gyan, kand and bhakti kand. These are also related to God's nature of sat-chit-ananda. This also relates to the nature of the jeev or atma, as it is an ansha or fraction of God (its anshi). Hence the three paths. This is our fundamental nature and the fundamental nature of things, so you could call this 'innate spirituality'.
ReplyDeleteThe word 'yoga' in gyan yoga, karma yoga and bhakti yoga actually menas 'bhakti' - its meaning from the root 'yuj' is to join. In this case to join the heart with God through feelings of submission, surrender, love, dedication, etc. with a desire to receive his grace (kripa shakti). Grace is the joining factor between the soul and God. As Shri Krishna said in the gita, "Mameva ye prapadyantey." He is the Lord of Maya, and every jeev is in the grip of Maya since eternity. It is only through grace that the soul is able to go beyond Maya - but we have to ask for and desire that grace.
Gyan yoga practice is impossible in kali yuga - no one meets the entry requirements of complete renunciation. "Kali yuga yoga na yagya na gyana, ek aadhar Ram gun gana." Shri Krishna said in the Gita this path is 'klesh', too difficult. Let's say someone wants to give it a try anyway, in the end, he must become a gyan yogi and pray to the personal form of God for his grace to end his Maya - it cannot be eliminated on the base of his personal efforts in sadhana.
A karmi has to become a karma yogi as Arjuna did. The yoga he performed was joining his mind and intellect with Shri Krishna (in other words he surrendered) and followed Shri Krishna's instructions: "Yudhya cha" - Fight the war. He kept Shri Krishna in his mind at all times with a feeling of love, affection, apanapan, etc. and used his instructions as the motivation for his actions.
A bhakta may perform vaidhi bhakti - the rituals prescribed by the Vedas, plus navdha bhakti (the 9 kinds of bhakt, although there are more than 9), but the physical performance of rituals has to be combined with 'yoga' - loving remembrance - to become bhakti yoga. Otherwise bhakti is just a physical drill, as is seen so often everywhere.
All three paths lead to the divine and in all three paths we need a sadguru who, in the words of the Upanishads, is 'brahmanishtha', established in the divine.
oooooooooo....
ReplyDeletekarma yoga, to sabki life me hota hai.. kabhi na kabhi kisi moment ke liye koi selfless ho ke ku6 na ku6 karma to jarur karta hai, kisi na kisi ki khaatir, (as sab moh MAYA hai), so if we think in dat way of KARMA YOGA,
sab ke sab religious ho jaayenge...
here i would like to change my opinion.. :P
i follow karma yoga but do not follow bhakti yoga..
aur gyan yoga .... i m dumb...
So finally you have done very good research found the difference, your narration is very cool and I have loved the description very well.. thanks for enlightening us..
ReplyDeleteInteresting...
ReplyDeletehey.. thanks for comments... I absolutely agree with you... Keep in touch...
ReplyDeleteblog rolling you... TK
quite a post to comprehend... i think i need to read it again to write a proper comment... well i would do it later... within a day or two...
ReplyDeleteanyway thanks for visiting my post...
gyan, karma, bhakti and yog together makes a man. gyan provides wisdom and guides the way into future. karma is the effort put in to move ahead, bhakti gives the strength to have faith abd belief. it makes a person disciplined. yog provides a healthy living. these are the four pillers of human life. this is my perception...
ReplyDeleteyes what you told about the three yoga (Gyan yoga, Karma yoga and bhakti yoga )really perfect and one who has deep thoughts and whose mind is cool and calm he/she can only conclude otherwise we are just lost in our lives....as your mind is stable you can think this much and to get the stability of mind is not just an achievement it's just something which just make us closure to the supreme power...great work ...nice to read your contents after a long gap
ReplyDelete