Religion and Spirituality

Sir,
There are many countries in the world, but India is a unique country, because of its multi religious and multi cultural inhabitants. There is hardly any religious faith in the world that is not practiced or followed in India. India has a strong foundation of peaceful co-existence of different communites. The main purpose of any religion is to help people realise aim and purpose of human existence. Religion gives certain guidelines which help you realise the purpose or life. But now the question is why so many religions; is purpose of all the religions to realise god? The answer lies in historical background. Different religions originated based on the need and requirement of that time but the basis of all the religions is same. Since we are classified into religion based on our birth in a particular family, does it mean our blood,our heart, our mind, and our breathing pattern also change? . Infact, we are like different types of flowers and plants in a big garden. Each one has its own unique beauty and importance.
But being religious doesn’t necessarily mean being spiritual. Many saints tell us that we are all spritiual beings going through human experience. Spiritualism is a higher stage than religion. For following a true spritiual path, one need not to follow rigid religious practices. It is a state of mind which can be achieved by preservence, tolerance, fellow feeling and by recognizing the presence of supreme spirit in every living creature. Performing ones duty honestly, serving and helping the poor and needy and by remembering God as the ony Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer of all creation can lead to spirituality. A heart full of love, compassion and empathy takes one closer to God.
Col(Dr) K.N Padha
On e-mail