Spirituality

The term religion has often been misconceived, misunderstood and misused both by its exponents and opponents. Exponents have the opinion that religion is a system of code and conduct to be practised by everyone who shares the fraternity with a particular religion in a verbatim manner of the prescription given by the prophet. The prophetic revelations are but mostly pregnant with multi-layer meanings and nuances which are to be contemplated and accumulated by the reader or hearer in his/her context. The contextualisation of the prophetic revelations has often been treated as the realisation of the spiritual content of religious practises. When our concern is with the spiritual content then we have to utter that ‘Sabbath is for man’ and not ‘man is for Sabbath’. That is, all the rituals in religious practises are for the realisation of the spiritual content. Therefore, the primary concern of a religious man is to understand the multi-layer meanings of the religious teachings with utmost precision in their nuances in the context in which that religious man lives. This universality of religious teachings can never be a hurdle to actualise the same in a contextual reality which is changing from place to place and time to time. These spatiotemporal dimensions of the religious teachings can never be ignored and the understanding of the same can be made proper only if we are able to make use of the lingual expressions of the practise. The moment we think that the mechanical repetition of what has been understood in a verbatim manner is enough and more to understand the religion, we are landing up in a world of confusion. In that world of confusion we will meet spirituality. What I am telling is the meaning of spirituality in religious practices, which is a common concern in every religion throughout the world is closely related to the meanings and understandings of the meanings of the religious aphorisms which definitely is a linguistic problem. The linguistic confusion has always been a problem in the understanding of spirituality from the very beginning of religion and religious practises. When Jesus was trying to explain the realm of spirituality through parables, a heap of questions have been asked by his followers to ascertain the nuances of the simile he used. Then He explained that spirituality is something that has to be practiced by everyone on earth. The primary duty of a spiritual person is to ensure justice to one and all. Justice can be ensured only when one assures the minimum to the last in the row. That is why Jesus proclaimed that whatever is done for the benefit of the destitute of the destitute have been done to God. An action becomes a Godly action only when the agent of the action aims at the benefit of the weakest of the weaker sections in a society. The moment we ensure justice to the last in the row, it logically implies that everyone in that row has been ensured with the minimum. Since spirituality is the action that has to be fulfilled on earth, no religious person can be satisfied with the verbatim interpretations and the mechanical application of the prophetic utterances. It shows that every simple human being can be a spiritual person when he ensures justice to one and all in the context in which he/she lives. The moment we ensure justice, we experience heaven on earth through spirituality. Therefore, a spiritual person need not be a religious man at all, in the technical sense of the term that a person who observes customs, rituals etc. Spiritual experience need not be customary which is always creative and it addresses the conscience of every person. A spiritual person has to undergo a trial by his own conscience at every moment of action. He has to confess to himself and to repent for the wrong doing. He should know for himself when to correct oneself and how to lead a life that is free from ‘wrongs’.