What is Spirituality?

I started thinking on this subject since I started reading the Times of India today. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has some interesting articles where he mentions that spirituality should now move out of religion or our house and move to board rooms, offices, factories, etc.

The little that I understand of Hinduism, which unlike all other religions, is actually not a religion with set rules and regulations to follow, but a more holistic way of life, is more about spirituality than about religion.

According to Swami Vivekananda spirituality is not same as religion. In fact, spirituality is more of a philosophy, a basis of each individual’s vision and mission in life. National Cancer Institute of USA describes spirituality in a very beautiful away - “Spirituality may be defined as an individual's sense of peace, purpose, and connection to others, and beliefs about the meaning of life.”

To make it simple, when a dancer performs in front of an audience and devotes completely at it, it is her spiritualism. When a high profile executive on his occasional walk on the road helps a newspaper man in collecting the newspapers which have scattered on the road - is also spiritualism. Spiritualism is also when a little boy gives away his ice cream to a street girl or a son’s sense of happiness while giving his first salary check to his parents…

Therefore, spirituality is something that touches us everyday in each small thing that we do, and when by doing that, we add a little love, fun, laughter, caring, sharing understanding, respect, etc to some one else’s life.

If that is so, do we need to carry it forward from one place to another as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar suggests?

Or, we need to be more aware of our daily spiritual needs to connect to the outside world in a better way? And when everybody starts practicing this, may be we could make a small step towards a more peaceful world…


I don’t want this to be a wishful thinking, but a spiritual one!

Eleven Minutes a too short a time - I want a life time!

“Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it badly” Paulo Coelho in Eleven minutes.

The statement says it all. But how many people understand the true potential of this line? All of us are always depending on others to make us happy…or, we are always letting others hurt us severely.

Life’s lessons are not learnt in the life-time of human kind, we love our status-quo so much, that we forget to look beyond ourselves.

Eleven minutes is a book which can change people’s life – for better or for worse. It has, however, helped me in coping with the life’s calamities. Only thing, in real life there is never a Ralf to arrive in our horizon…

But, that’s what, I guess, keeps us searching relentlessly for the rainbow.

Cheers to myself…I am here to stay!