What is Spirituality?
As a child, coming from a religious upbringing, I really thought Spirituality equals religion. The Temple bells, soft smell of incense sticks, fresh wet hair plated carefully by my mom, Kanchipuram langa, flowers, turmeric paste on feet, sanyasis with dreadlocks, pujaris trying to not get touched while they blessed you and floor drenched in coconut water. That was what my Spirituality felt.
My father did not believe in God until he went to Shirdi to see Saibaba. I was ten, I guess, when we started visiting Shirdi every year in summer vacation. Now, my image of spirituality changed to a bearded old man clad in white long Kurta with a cloth tied around his head, vibhuti, roses, temple and mosque together in one compound and Vishnu Sahasranama. This continued till I was married. Religion started taking a back seat for me. I visited temples, I did 21 pradakshinas everyday in a Hanuman temple, I still fasted but with being brought up in a Country full of religious lunatics posing as politicians and religious leaders, my belief took a beating once in a while.
After marriage, with moving to western world, my opinion took a new turn, Spirituality did not mean a religion, it meant believing in something and following it to the core. This meant good sometimes, sometimes bad. I have seen both the sides, but I have also seen innocent hearts believing firmly what they said, did and followed was God. As I grew older, I kind of lost faith in God. I felt, God was what we created to make ourselves believe in something that was bigger than us. Mind you, I still had an alter, I fasted, listened to religious mantras and followed all the religious beliefs to the t.
Where do I stand now? I believe in Archangels, Ascended Masters, God and Spirit guides. I don’t believe in Religion anymore. I still pray to SaiBaba, but now I know he is an Ascended Master and is one level away for me to access him through meditation. I have an alter, still, I light diya everyday, I teach my kids mantras, Krishna Leelas, following their intuition and healing themselves with energy. I don’t believe in the rigid procedures anymore and very seldom do I visit Temples. I believe in God and Universe. I believe in my intuition.
Spirituality, to me, now means living the life in line with Universe, stepping into the power that we were born to step into. Spirituality no more means leaving everything and walking away from the materialistic world but a human taking the responsibility of changing the world and surrendering to Universe for the good of the Earth and It’s beings. I respect everyone’s beliefs, I believe everyone is right in their own way.
I am still growing and learning, who knows where I am going to be led in a few more years. All I can say is, Universe has my back no matter what. Trust me when I say it has yours too.