Understanding and coming to terms with Spirituality vis-à-vis Religion

Indian Psychology is a field of study which is derived principally from Indian Philosophical traditions. Indian philosophy has a long history, though the beginnings of which are quite hazy, regarding the various schools of thought, their rites, rituals, traditions, and as to how it has evolved through the ages. On delving deep into the philosophical roots of Indian thought, what is striking is the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that is enshrined in the texts and scriptures, all of them having a sound theoretical and scientific basis for each of the nuances of the culture, religion, ethos and philosophy that they are propounding. How did the ancient seers and rishis think of such fundamental and elementary concepts that are so simple and scientific in their outlook that they have withstood millennia and are still held in great respect for their relevance to society even today, which are valid across cultures and across the world, without exception? According to one school of thought, the wisdom of the texts are not propounded by any man—human being, but is the direct voice of God, so to speak, given to man to help him understand this complex life and lead a better and holistic life and to bring him closer to God. Another school of thought is of the opinion that the texts are a result of the deep insight that has been derived by the ancient rishis and seers who developed their understanding of people by single minded and concentrated meditation on the Absolute Truth, the Brahman, wherein they received enlightenment, which they expanded and delineated on for the betterment of humanity, to help those mere mortals who were not in a position to delve into the Absolute by themselves and needed help from these enlightened souls, for the betterment of society as a whole. Whatever the origin of the scriptural thought, what is relevant to us even today is the fact that these philosophical truths are a central idea in the Indian tradition, which has percolated the Indian psychological field too. Western psychology with its Cartesian dichotomy and importance on the difference between the body and the mind, while ignoring and negating the importance of the soul of man has been unable to understand the significance of the “spirit-ual” aspect of man and how it is responsible for a large part of who and what we are. Thankfully, this negation of the spirit in the psyche of man is being acknowledged and people are beginning to realize its central importance and the elementary nature of taking into relevance the body, the mind and the spirit and their interdependence on each other while trying to understand human thought and emotions.

An important part of Indian thought and so called “Philosophy” has been the galaxy of Gods and Goddesses that form an integral part of religious life. How did they originate? How do we know that there are so many Gods and Goddesses with so many attributes and behaviours that are so similar to us but are perfection personified while we are left to grapple with the imperfections of our beings and the mundane issues that we deal with daily? To understand this we also need to understand that initially, our sages and Rishis did not conceive of Gods and Goddesses as we know them today. The Vedic literature does not describe Gods and Goddesses with the physical attributes at all. What they do talk about is the metaphorical identification of our psyche with the Higher Powers who have certain pure and striking attributes that we would idealize and whom we should call upon with the relevant title, name and behavioural attributes that we want in ourselves so that they could come and help us achieve them. This title, name and behavioural attributes expressed by the Gods and Goddesses are in the mother of all languages, the language of the Gods, so we are told, which is Sanskrit. Unfortunately, since we as a cultured civilization have lost the cause and reason to understand Sanskrit, we have come to look on it with awe and a certain trepidation that it is something totally beyond our comprehension. This is one of the reasons that we have misunderstood the religious significance and the spiritual incantation that was once our way of life. To make it simpler for common man to understand, the Gods and Goddesses we given human forms and attributes so that they could be easily comprehended and meditated upon rather than the abstract form of the Supreme Being, which has led to many confusions and creations that conflict the very essence of religion and spirituality. The so called “Names” of all the galaxies of the Gods are not really their names at all, but are a description of their attributes in Sanskrit. For instance, when we say “table”—it does not mean “a” particular table but any device that has four legs, a flat surface where we can keep things, and so on. A table can be of any size or shape or colour. Similarly, any person who can achieve what “Ganesha” or “Vinayaka” has achieved can be called “Ganesha” or “Vinayaka”. In fact, in the Indian tradition, children are named after certain Gods so that they could take on their particular brand of achievement depending on the God that the parents are more inclined to pray or pay obeisance to. So we can see how from an initial conception of trying to bring in spirituality, we have degenerated to religious dogmas and superstitions and call it “spiritual” to ensure blind faith and followership.

My conception of Indian psychology till now had been to understand the philosophical roots of these schools of thought and try and see if possible how an initial reason for a certain kind of behaviour or rite has come to be associated with dogmatism and superstition. Though I know that nothing moves without the Will of the Supreme, I felt that for the domain of Indian psychology, it would be necessary for me to understand the scriptures and texts first, so that I can relate it to the psychological constructs that I am trying to develop. I did not lay much emphasis on the meditative relevance of understanding the Self, which is elementary to the understanding of human behaviour. Why not study the scriptures and the texts first, as the answers are all there for me to look for and understand, and apply it in the practical applications thereof, rather than do a spiritual and philosophical exercise, for which I am not yet ready?—This was the predominant thought that was running in my mind when Matthijs Sir and Neeltje Mam, spoke to us time and again about the relevance of stilling the mind and understanding its working, as a prerequisite for our understanding of Indian thoughts and philosophies. There was a lot of resistance to the idea of meditating, of looking within, of quieting the mind—though I had read about it and knew that it was the central idea enshrined in all the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and all other scriptures. I knew that I had to learn to still the mind, to be able to concentrate on the Supreme Brahman/ Truth for me to understand fully what I am reading, as just reading is not going give me the insights that are necessary for the understanding of this Supreme Atman, but not now…there is a lot of time for that!!! Was my feeling.

The main aim of this project that I undertook was to understand the concept of Religion and Spirituality. What does our Hindu tradition have to say about these two concepts? What has been the guiding principle for the foundations of the religion as we know it today? How has it changed from what it was originally intended, to what it has become today; what are the true yama and niyamas of Hinduism and what are the dogmas and superstitions that plague us; how do we understand the reasoning behind the philosophical traditions that India has to offer? These and questions like these, if answered would, I thought, give me a clearer picture of what religion is really about and what spirituality is all about. Is spirituality only focused on the higher power or being that we take for granted is somewhere there and is protecting us? By seeing divinity in all things around us, and expressing love and affection to our fellow being, can we consider ourselves to be spiritual? By attending every religious function and conforming to all possible rules, are we expressing spirituality? How do we define spirituality? Obviously, by looking at the Oxford Dictionary’s meaning of spirituality, I would get an idea of what the technical meaning of spirituality is. But is it correct or misleading as most religious beliefs and dogmas are? How can we quantify spirituality and understand it to make a universal sense of understanding without any mis-representations? What is spirituality to different people from different socio-demographic backgrounds? Is it the same, or is it different? What exactly does Spirituality mean, in simple, common sense terms?

Is religion an offshoot of spirituality or is it vice-versa? Which is the primary idea behind man’s quest for peace and contentment? Our necessity for trusting that there is a Higher Power that is looking out for us and our well being is paramount in our make-up of our intellectual and emotional being that cannot be divorced from our daily life of pursuing a livelihood and living our respective lives.

Every Religion has become a cult for its followers, where they follow the rules and traditions that have been laid down by the original founding fathers, with little or no thought about the reasons behind the rules and absolutely no thought for the relevance in today’s globalization of people and cultures. Religion, at a general glance, co-notates the rules of living, rites, rituals, and other behavioral conditions that were applicable to the persons belonging to the group, having a commonality of thought and practices and being bound and following the rules and tenets laid down by the religious elders or leaders. These rules are assumed to be sacrosanct, and non-followers were ostracized from the community, with dire warnings for others who rebelled, with often a lonely and non-sociable existence, which formed a sort of punishment to deter others. This apparent strict adherence to rules and principles is perhaps responsible for religions to have continued into the twenty-first century, (especially in India) with little or no change in the rites and rituals of even temples and other common places of worship, as is evidenced daily across the world. Each religious sect has been able to uphold it basic principles and rites with fervor and almost a tyrannical view of continuing the religious practices and the culture of the region. The Agama Shastras are the last word in clarifications of confusions and also in delineating the way any of the religious worships should be conducted. The religious leaders commanded a lot of respect, fear and immense power over the general masses, as they were thought of to be a direct representation of God, come for the deliverance of the people from this life into the next. Displeasing these leaders was considered to be a direct slight or slur on the reigning Deity, and equally punishable and abhorrent in the social life. The leaders had a very large role to play and only those who were impeachable in their thought and conduct were inducted and elected so as to be a living example for the others, to lead and inspire in every way of life.

What is the meaning of Religion? The English Dictionary defines Religion as “the belief in and worship of a God or Gods” and “a particular system of faith and worship.” When we say religion, some of the thoughts that come to mind are: spirituality, divinity, code of behaviour, code of conduct, similarity of thoughts and beliefs amongst the followers of a religion, principle scriptures that are followed by the disciples, and so on, where in the idea of a God or Gods along with a personification of the presiding Deity is a central ideology.

Similarly, Spiritual is defined as “having to do with the human spirit as opposed to physical things” and “having to do with religion or religious belief”. “Spiritual” brings to mind a higher power, God, or someone or something that is a Higher Being than us, which is looking over us and our lives for our betterment, to give us the ultimate peace and the acceptance that we so often crave, to accept us as we are and in the process make us and the world we live in a better place. Spirituality also brings to mind a deep peace and contentment that is intrinsic in its nature and not dependant on any outside force or being. This looking out towards peace and contentment is diametrically opposed to the peace and contentment that is inherent in all of us and which we ignore in our quest for a higher being, forgetting that we need to look into ourselves to find our answers.

Religion is not a bundle of superstitions to be fumigated at regular intervals with incense and candle-sticks. On careful analysis, it is a science of life, giving a complete technique of practical living. By adhering to its precepts and translating them into action, man can live a happier life in this world, provided he is also true to his innermost thoughts, feelings and his reason for doing something in a particular way.

A modern scientist considers the world to be a fantastic evolution/ creation, which is of great beauty, power and potentialities; but a man who has not been exposed science, but is just a commoner going about his work without any thought about the beauty of this life, would view life as a series of challenges to be conquered for a better life and not as something of beauty which is to be in awe of or appreciated. Similarly, a poet or an artist would view life in a different manner from that of a person who is suffering from physical or mental ailments or who is a pessimist who sees the world as being a continuation of problems which are insurmountable. This would give us a good idea of the outlook of each individual depending on his internal ideologies and predispositions to life. Therefore, the outer world that we perceive is just a reflection and a projection of our inner thoughts and apperception on the outer life. Hence it is important to look after this inner equipment—the mind-intellect—spirit—properly so as to be able to have the proper outlook and attitude towards ourselves and other outer selves, and the environment. Mastery over the mind and its functions is the key for us to unlock the world and master its workings which is still a mystery as, in spite of the much technological advancements that have been made in the last century or so, we are yet to unlock the mysteries and vagaries of the mind. This is the essence of Vedantic teaching and most eastern philosophical thought, as evidenced by the multitude of techniques that are propagated by each school of thought like Buddhism, Jainism, Yoga, Hinduism, etc.

The history of the evolution of human intellect can be classified into distinct stages, ending in the perfection which our religious masters attained and from which we have since degenerated. The ancient sages and rishis were capable of reciting the entire Chatur-Vedas from memory and had a system of remembering in place if they forgot something so that not even a letter would be missed—leading to a misinterpretation of the whole stanza. They were supposed to have considered writing down and remembering something as being beneath their level of attainment, considered to be a degradation of their mental capabilities.

Philosophy and religion are the fourth and final stage of intellectual development which is ahead of all the objective and scientific knowledge known to mankind. Without realizing this, man ignores and rejects religion as being old and un-scientific, little knowing that religion and philosophy is what has caused man to attain this glorious level of intellectual, social, economic, and technological developmental explosion today.

To briefly describe this thought of the evolution of human intellectual development: we know that initially, probably in the pre-historic times, man was led by instincts and impulses rather than by scientific reason or knowledge. He merely saw what was happening around him and reacted to what affected him the most—like taking shelter in rain and snow, going to safer places when confronted with a problem situation like thunder or earthquakes or volcanoes and so on. He did not understand the significance of trying to look into the future to stave off calamities and have a working plan in place to tackle a situation. He heeded to his senses by reacting to the stimulus with an instantaneous response. There was no forethought or any thought about the repercussions to his actions that he apprehended and pre-empted.

From this barbaric living he moved forward to trying to understand cause-effect relationships between phenomena. This was the turning point in the civilization of humans, when he tried to make sense of what was happening around him. Initially this evolution into understanding cause-effect relationships between two unrelated phenomena has led to many misconceived notions and wrong conclusions as his intellect was not yet developed sufficiently in the realm of reasoning and scientific enquiry. As he realized his mistakes in predicting many events and happenings and was still unable to explain many things in an effective manner, he evolved further to train his thinking to be more scientific and precise where he could answer questions related to an event in a reasonable and precise manner rather than just arbitrarily. He began to formulate rules and regulations with respect to his surroundings so that he could understand his environment better, to be able to better cope with and achieve a measure of supremacy over it. This scientific evolution continued to discover many new things and to invent much more technological advancement in the hope of being able to give man a better life and to be able to give him more comfort and happiness and peace.

Though we are presently living in an age of scientific excellence where we are able to explain many of the laws of nature, we are still unable to understand the inner workings of our own mind and collectively as a people be happy and satisfied in our lives. This apparatus that man uses to apprehend and categorize the gross outer world is what we call the “gross” intellect, which needs to be fine-tuned to be able to discover hidden truths from the inside—the “Self”.

Religion is an equal distribution of science and philosophy, and devotion and ritualistic methods. Blind ritualism without an understanding of its underlying devotion and scientific reasoning is nothing but dogmatic superstition, which is so much in abundance today and which we could very well do without. Devotion without its parameters of scientific philosophy and practical application leading to a cleansing of the physical and mental faculties is of no use as it does not inculcate any discipline and system in the person. Science without its philosophical reasoning is devoid of meaning just as philosophy without scientific reasoning can never be convincing enough for anyone to believe in it. Hence all the four are an integral part of religion. Religion without any of these four constitutes, is one that is incomplete in its ideologies and misses the whole idea and thought that it was meant to be.

Philosophical value and virtues should be applied to practical life gradually as it is very difficult to pursue instantaneously. The natural tendency of our mind is to look outwards for its happiness and pleasure which is seeks from the sense organs. Abrupt denial and suppression of sense gratification leads to suppression. If there is prolonged suppression of the sense organs and its cravings it leads to frustration and bitterness. In this case there can never be a higher evolution of the person. Alternatively, indiscriminate indulgence of sense gratification draws a person into animalism and carnality to such an extent that it would later become impossible to lead and evolve into spirituality. The constant shift of the intellect from the vital to the mental to the psychic, in any direction, is what really we are all trying to govern and control. The way we respond to any situation would depend upon which of our three personalities we are residing in at that point of time and which one predominates in us.

The answer to this problem of extremities lies in formulating a way of life where man could sublimate his baser instincts into a spiritual orientation, as advised by the ancient sages and seers. Regulation of sensual gratification rather than a forced suppression of the desires seems to be the way, rather than complete starvation leading to uninhibited indulgence. An initial control over the self and its cravings, with a proportionate intellectual and scientific reasoning behind the philosophy of spiritual asceticism which gives birth to higher order thinking and noble thoughts and principles of life regulating and disciplining his life is the way to overcome this extremes of thought and behavioural tendencies. This mutual interdependence of regulation, discipline and evoking of spiritual ideologies is imperative and is the only way to achieve spiritual excellence which would help us evolve into higher order beings rather than stay at animalistic level of instant carnal gratification.

My concerns are many. Is it right to condemn religion and religious practices because of a few people who were unable to handle the absolute power that it gave them? Is it possible to bring back spirituality to the religion we follow, without which the possibility of losing our sense of identity is an ever-present threat? Is religion necessary for an individual to be spiritual? If it is necessary, can the two meet again as it was originally intended? Or is spirituality the only concern of man, without the boundaries of religion and its practices? In this modern day and age when time is a major factor in all our undertakings, does anybody have the time for the cultural and religious practices of our forefathers? Are we rebelling against some religious malpractices and generalizing it to a whole society because we are lazy to follow the hardships that seem to be a part of some of the religious practices that have been propounded? What is religion without Spirituality? What is Spirituality without the rigors of religion? Can we combine them to solve the seemingly insurmountable bifurcation that seems to have been effected over the recent past so that this rich and long history of the religions of the world could be brought back into focus for the future generations, which would lead a very clinical and aseptic existence otherwise?

Does this mean that by seeing the divine in everything we do, and doing it to the best of our ability, we are achieving Spirituality? Is it really enough? Is this not a very simplistic view of religion and more importantly of Spirituality? If this was all that was needed to make spiritual beings of mortal entities like man, then why was this not the main textual proposition in the ancient religions of the world? Why is it that they all have very elaborate, symbolic and long histories of rites, rituals and practices which seemed to have given them unimaginable knowledge and power—to do good and for the betterment of humanity, along with the deliverance that all spirituality promises? Are we collectively as a human race unable to come to terms with the ancient practices, which have been the foundation of many of its achievements, be it in any field of inquiry and thought? If not for our ancestors, would we have even evolved as much as we have today—without their spirituality that has been the guiding force in all of our endeavors? The knowledge base in each and every field that has been handed down to us by the ancient man—so called primitive—still needs to be unraveled, as we do not have the necessary mental acuity and infrastructure to understand it. Can we denigrate a social order that has given us so much, along with the sense of pride and identity that goes hand in hand with it?

The need of the hour seems to me, to be able to draw the better of the two together, as it was originally intended so as to enhance our knowledge, life, learning and more importantly our spiritual aspirations. We need to make people aware of the importance of religion and spirituality, the tolerance and understanding that is necessary for the variety of His creations to co-exist in harmony and peace, to make us and our “life perfect with a divine perfection”. (The Mother).

Indian tradition accepts the pursuance of materialism and desire (Artha and Kama) as being natural and necessary, but within the boundary of ethics and morality (Dharma). In fact, the Dharmashastras, are one of the most ancient of texts which lay down the law regarding the pursuance of both materialism and desires which is neither bad nor immoral, but an accepted part of life while also following his religious duty and spiritual inclinations. They do not believe in the exclusion of one from the other—that is materialism/ desire and religion/ spirituality. Both are to be pursued, within the prescribed boundaries, to lead a better quality of life and to achieve a higher standard of life.

Religion, with its code of ethics and morality teaches man to enjoy his “freedom” in a disciplined and controlled manner so as to get the maximum benefit from his life. Unfortunately, because of misguided perception that religion is dogmatic and restrictive to personal freedom, it has been ignored by a majority of people. Religion inculcates in man a disciplined way of life with proper conduits for the regulation and enjoyments of the senses and their objects of desire, wherein there is no blaseness that comes into the individual but he has an enjoyment of all life has to offer in proper quantities and at the correct time in his life. This leads to a proper over all development of personality rather than leading him to a mechanical and joyless existence which eventually results in the total destruction of the individual due to excesses in all behaviours. Hence religion is the intellectual exercise of one’s mental capabilities to live life well and to the fullest.

“Freedom” here refers to the freedom enjoyed by man to choose the path he wants to follow. The two paths are that of doing what is pleasant and that which is right. The problems and grief of man are created by the excessive wants and desires of the mind over which he has no control. By pursuing one desire and achieving it he is satisfied to some extent and then he sees something else, and is running after that to fulfill his minds wishes to possess it. This constant running after material things in the hope of finding happiness and fulfillment is the reason for his constant misery and the reason why he cannot find peace and happiness in the outside world. Man has forgotten or has not realized that the source of happiness is inside his own self, provided he looks deep within to find that well of nectar and tranquility. Man has the freedom to choose what he wants in this life—whether he wants the transitory happiness which is pleasant initially and satisfying to the senses and which is constantly needed for him to feel happy, (but the threshold of happiness with the material things is constantly becoming high), or to choose the everlasting happiness which is initially very difficult to follow but gives constant and intense happiness which is forever.

Controlled pursuance of life and what it has to offer is a matter of exerting “Freedom of Choice”. Pursuing it continuously and ruining our health—both physical and mental, is “Licentiousness”. This is the distinction between freedom and licentiousness. One is liberating in its discipline and the other is detrimental in its excessive liberty with no control what so ever.

Happiness is the feeling of joy that is experienced when the mind and soul are in a state of bliss. Man in his ignorance is of the impression that wealth is happiness and its increase leads to an increase in happiness. To this end, he pursues materialistic ideals and behaviour to enhance his wealth, irrespective of what means he employs to achieve his goal. He indulges in all sorts of irresponsible behaviour and ignores all the laws of nature and the disciplines of life that are the foundation of a good life which needs to be followed. He knows that his methods are wrong, so he is guilty and this guilt robs him of his happiness in life. To rid himself of his guilt, he runs behind other material things to find happiness, forgetting that by following the disciplines and behaviour prescribed in religion and by looking within himself to understand himself and his actions better; by looking within for answers to his questions and problems; and by doing what his conscience consents him to do and ignoring the rest he would be far more happier than he is now. By looking inside deep enough, man is able to find peace, tranquility, happiness and the answers to all his questions, paradoxical though this statement seems superficially. Hence meditation, and the practice of quietitude and looking inside oneself everyday is the sole key to everlasting happiness, for which man in his folly is running all over the world to seek and find.

Materialism is not a goal to be pursued in life as a goal of life. Materialism is something which is needed in small quantities, for us to live life comfortably in this world. Unfortunately, some people make this their mission for living in life which is wrong. According to Indian intellectual tradition, the pursuit of money or “Artha” is not wrong at all but is encouraged, to a certain extent. It is when this pursuit of money goes beyond the limits of decency and greed that it is frowned upon and is considered to be an impediment to life’s satisfaction and goals. So, according to our religious Masters, controlled and limited pursuit of money is not bad but is needed in life to do and follow our religious tenets and other duties prescribed in our scriptures. The indiscriminate accumulation of wealth to the detriment of other people and society is bad and is to be refrained from. So, this pursuit of money is not and never can be a goal in life. Then what is the goal in life?

The ultimate and noblest goal in life is the goal of finding ultimate happiness or “Brahman”. This is the only truth and the final truth, beyond which there is nothing more in life, and the achievement of which is the dream of dreams and the consideration of which also is limited and restricted only to a very few. It is also the toughest of goals to reach, and the most strenuous. “Brahman” is that reality which is everlasting, and which has no beginning and no end. “Brahman” is the only happiness and is the only one which is permanent while all the rest are transitory. Knowledge of Brahman is the only one which is “Vidya” or “Aloukika”, while all other knowledge is “Avidya” or “Loukika”. Hence this pursuit of Brahman, which is true knowledge (Vidya), which is not of this world (Aloukika) and which is permanent is the true ideal or goal in life that any person can choose and which leads to true and permanent and ultimate happiness. All the rest is only transitory knowledge (Avidya) or knowledge that is necessary for the conduct of life in this material world. Materialism (Loukika) and is not the reason for which man has come to be on this earth and does not lead to true happiness nor is it permanent. Hence the pursuit of Brahman through a rigorous practice of meditation every day where the person looks deep within, to find that ultimate knowledge and peace and happiness, should be the goal that everyone pursues in life, to be able to reach a higher plane of existence which is different from the ordinary life of living in this world.

Standard of living is the quality of life that we are living. This is measured by the economists of a society to determine how much each person has materially, with respect to a standard that is set by the government or the authority of a society, to determine the prosperity of its people. Hence each society has a different standard of living compared to another one, determined by the amount of income that a person draws, the kind of house lived in, the kind of area it is situated in, the number of electronic gadgets that a person has to make life easier, the number of vehicles and their quality are all determinants of the standard of living. Higher the standard of living, more prosperous the person is and consequently, more the number of people who are above the basal requirement for the standard of living, the more prosperous the society is.

Standard of life also refers to the kind of life a person leads. It is totally different from the standard of living that is materialistically and economically orientated. When a person leads a blameless life in which he follows all the rules and regulations as dictated by spirituality and religion, whichever that may be (Hinduism, Christianity, or Islam); believes in the omnipresence and omnipotence of God; that God is the only truth in life and strives to achieve and realize Him, he is said to have a high standard of life. Standard of life is immeasurable by the common yardstick that is employed to measure materialistic success in this world. In fact, Standard of life cannot be measured at all, only seen and strived for by common people like us who try to emulate those saints and seers who have led us from times immemorial and who are ideals for us to look up to now and for all times, like Sri Shankaracharya, Sri Madhvacharya, Sri Ramanujacharya, Patanjali, Gaudapada of the more further past, and Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda of the more recent past—the galaxy of thinkers and evolved beings seemingly endless. Probably if we are able to achieve even a fraction of the standard of life that these people led, we should be able to achieve the highest levels of enlightenment that we could ever dream or aspire for.

Humans are constituted of different planes or parts that are integral to their functioning and is an identification of them as unique individuals. The operate on different planes like the physical, the vital and the spiritual. The different parts that constitute a human being are:

• The physical personality.
• The emotional personality.
• The intellectual personality.
• The spiritual personality.

The physical personality is that which responds to the physical needs of hunger, thirst, sleep, and other sensual gratifications.

The emotional personality is that which responds to the emotions and feelings that are exhibited by others to us and our reactions to them in a like fashion.

The intellectual personality is the one that is responsible for the rationalizing of our thoughts and actions and which controls us by thinking about the pros and cons of an action and then decides how we act/ react to a given situation, without being emotional about it.

The spiritual personality is the one that is responsible for the total integration of a personality by harmonizing the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual desires and thoughts that impede a person. It is the spiritual personality that brings in equipoise and acceptance, forbearing and understanding and compassion in man. This is something that is unique to man in this world of creation which is totally absent in all forms of life except the Human Being.

If the four personalities are in congruence, then there is integration of the person, but if the four are not in congruence but the physical needs are overtaken by the emotional personality or the emotional personality is overtaken by the intellectual personality or if the intellectual personality is overtaken by the spiritual personality, then there is total chaos or stress in the individual as he knows that what he is indulging in is wrong but is not able to control his baser instincts to channelize his desires and energies into a more constructive and holistic pattern of behaviour. He either suppresses his desires, which will later come back with a vengeance or will give free reign to them, and excessive indulgence, leading to a detriment of his whole persona. Both suppression and indulgence is not the solution. Hence it is important that we realize what we are made up of and how each of them act and react in order for us to have a better control over our senses, sense organs, behaviours, feelings, emotions, thought processes and the like to be able to reach higher in our plane of consciousness.

According to the philosophers of the world, man can bring about harmony and peace in this world which is torn by war and strife by developing his inner personality and bringing the four various factors that it consists of, into total harmony and unison with each other. According to the philosophers man has a unique instrument of mind and intellect which is not present in any other creation of man. This mind-intellect inner instrument of man is the one which experiences all that this world has to offer and all that the inner world is capable of experiencing. If this mind-intellect which is like a machine is well maintained and kept in proper condition, then the output of this mind-intellect which is the emotions, feelings, behaviours, thoughts and other processes also are good. For example, the strength of the wall that is built depends on the quality of the bricks and the mortar that are used and the qualification (not necessarily bookish in nature, but could also be of a practical nature) of the person who is building the wall. When all the three are of a good quality, naturally the wall is of a good quality. If any one of the three is bad, then consequently the quality of the wall that is constructed is bad. Hence, the mind-intellect inner instrument is to be looked after and maintained well so that when the inner world is in peace and harmony, it will reflect on to the external world also—which is true for each and every one of the constituents of this society, as each and every one of us make up the society and are a part of it. Hence by rehabilitating the individual personality in every society, we can have a prosperous, peaceful and harmonious society in this world.

When we are confronted with problems of every nature as we are wont to be, we immediately apply our intellectual mind to it, to see how best we can solve the problem with as little damage to our self as possible, while ignoring the damage that it may cause to other people or the environment. We don’t know if the solution we are executing is the right one or not. Man is constantly in the trial and error mode of existence, not realizing that if he could only think from within, or rather contemplate deeply on the problem, then the solution would present itself through the divine intervention that we call in to help us, rather than him having to actively think about the solution which could in all probability be the wrong one also. This looking within to solve problems is a dynamic-silent way of acceptance of the Will of God and surrendering ourselves to him with everlasting positive implications.

Every living creature of God has a mind which is what commands the creature to act and behave in a particular way. It is common to all life forms. Mind does not have a distinguishing characteristic in the sense that it cannot contemplate upon what it should do or say in a particular situation. It is governed by impulses and feelings devoid of rationality and rational enquiry which in turn translate into impulsive reactions and behaviour without any thought to the consequences.

The intellect is that inner instrument of Man alone, as he is the only one who is endowed with it, which has the capacity to analyze an action/ stimulus that it has been presented with to identify the factors governing that action to contemplate and think upon that particular action and then to decide what should be the course of reactionary behaviour that needs to be employed or indulged in to counter it. This intellect is also called the power of discrimination and judgment, to decide what is wrong and right and what has to be done rationally to counter it. Man’s high place in the world of God’s creation is only because of his intellect which he chooses to employ in discernment. If he did not do so, then the difference between man and animals would be surely lost.

Vasanas are tendencies of an individual to act or behave in a particular way, even in a new and novel situation based on the imprints of his previous life/ lives. Vasanas are intrinsic to an individual and are not learned responses to stimuli. They are inborn. But by understanding ourselves with the help of religion and religious scriptures, it is possible to train ourselves to change our way of thinking and behaving, though not totally, so that we can consciously try to change ourselves and become someone who is closer to our ideal in terms of thoughts and behaviours. If we realize that we are basically lazy then we can change our vasanas to be more dynamic and become more dynamic in the process. By this, our tendency to be dull and lazy in our thought and behaviour can be changed to become dynamic in our thought processes and behaviour. This will take considerable time and constant effort, with a careful eye to see that we don’t slide back to a lower plane of existence. Sometimes, it is also possible that we have cultivated a particular set of behaviour and thinking—like indulging in intense study/ research/ scientific enquiry in one life, which will take us on the same path in the next life too, if not in exactly the same area of study, but in a general sense so that when we are study something, we get the feeling that we know what it is the books or the teachers are talking about without us having consciously studied it in this life at all. This feeling of pursuing something which drives us from within, without us knowing how we know something or if we will succeed and being committed and passionate about is also called as Vasanas, which are left over from a previous birth and which will be present and pursued in this birth.

Our past behaviour has given rise to us being in the particular situation that we are in today. Here, past is indicative of the recent past as in this life and the far away past like in a previous life/ lives also. The behaviours that we have indulged in previously, and the actions that have defined us are responsible for what and who we are today. This is the Law of Karma.

But when we understand the short comings of our behaviour, when we look into the mirror and see our mistakes which are highlighted by our understanding and pursuing of religious thought and scriptures—we see where we have gone wrong and are able to correct ourselves so that we may shape our future to be something better than what it would have been—this is the Law of Destiny which is in our hands to shape as we want, and to make our tomorrow as we want to live it.

Hence we can say that our past decides what we do in our present; but our present actions decide what will happen to us in our future. This amalgamation of the past, the present and the future is known as the Law of Karma and the Law of Destiny, with its own set of rules and ideals to be followed, and this is the unique contribution of Vedantic thought to mankind. It is very scientific and rational in its thoughts and principles and not at all debilitating or restrictive where everything is preordained. In fact, it is very interactive as previously stated. So, even though there is a certain element of predetermination in our lives we do have the freedom of choice to express and act in a way in which we want so that we can decide what we will be in our future. The allegation of some sects of people who have not understood this principle that whatever we do we will suffer is neither right nor is it optimistic—as optimism and hope—for a better tomorrow and future is what drives to do what we do. If things were hopeless, then we would do nothing to bring ourselves out of the rut we are in.

The freedom of choice is the elemental and underlying principle in Hindu Philosophy and Vedantic thought which forms the cornerstone of Karmic Philosophy. If man did not have this freedom of choice, then the whole of life would be a waste as everything we do would be pre-ordained with no chance to learn and learn better and elevate ourselves to a higher plane of existence at all. The central ideology that God has given us this life to teach us something would be lost. Hence, this freedom of choice is optimistic and liberating, rather than being pessimistic and restrictive and central to our understanding of Religion, Spirituality and Karma.

In a river, the water has a certain speed in its movement. When a boat is moving on the river, it too has a certain speed that it conforms to depending on whether it is going upstream (against the flow of water) or downstream (with the flow of water). If the speed of the boat which is independent to the flow of water is along the flow of water, then the boat reaches its destination faster and with more force. If the movement of the boat is against the flow of the water then its speed of reaching the destination is reduced and with less force. Alternately, if the boat has to reach the destination faster against the flow of water, then the boat will have to use more power to counter the water’s force to reach the desired destination. In both the cases, the boat will reach the destination, provided the person manning the boat is vigilant and does not crash the boat due to negligence or other factors that lead to wrong perception. But, how, when and with what force the boat will reach its destination and in what condition is decided by the person manning the boat and cannot be pre-decided. Thus self-effort to reach a destination decides our destiny and it is not pre-ordained nor is it pessimistic without giving us the freedom of choice.

This project has helped me to formulate my ides and angst about Religion and Spirituality in a better way, and to be able to think clearly and concretely on what needs to be done, and it is also helping me resolve this issue in my personal life, which had been bothering me a lot.

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