Religion And Spirituality

I thought I was one of the very few in my age group to be interested in religion and spirituality. I attributed it to my upbringing. Then came a surprise element in the form of a very glamorous wife of a friend – she called up specially to appreciate one of my articles, saying that she was in regular touch with many astrologers and gurus, etc. Then walked in a young designer, who talked in terms of soul, destiny and of course questioned me about my meditational habits! In our circle of friends I find doctors talking of pranic healing. Our quarterly trips have become discussion forums on the supreme power, the vedic way of life, mythology and yoga. In kitty parties and dinners, people are talking about topics once reserved for satsangs. In fact, if you haven’t tried meditation yet – you’re in the minority. Religion and spirituality have gone mainstream.

As we practise yoga, take up tai chi, and energise our chakras, we still are not satisfied. The big spiritual questions -- the ‘why’ questions -- have not gone away. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God take away a loved one so young? What is the meaning of our existence? These questions haunt us. When we go through a crisis, an illness or the death of a close one, these questions loom larger and the need to answer them is felt stronger. For this -- and more -- people are returning to religion and spirituality. Sometimes when people put the religion down, it's the dogma that they rebel against. But at their core, the religious traditions are where our impulses, our need for something bigger, have been satisfied.

Religion and spirituality have been the most common coping mechanisms for many, as science and medicine fail to live up to their expectations. People are now seeing the limits of medical care. People do get sick, they do die, and sometimes there is nothing medicine can do about it. When you feel you’re fighting these battles alone, that’s when you feel great stress. But if you are part of a faith or tradition, you feel that you’re not alone. You begin to feel that God will use this crisis to create some good -- that you can turn this crisis into something good.

There was a young boy who got HIV from a blood transfusion and died of AIDS. His parents kept asking, ‘How could God allow this?’ There was no answer. Ultimately they found their own way to cope by making a commitment to helping children who were ill. There are many such stories around us. Doing good to others is the root of religion and spirituality.