Modern thinkers influenced by western philosophical ideologies say, “I am spiritual but not religious”. “I believe in the higher power that is running the existence. I will work towards achieving what I desire. But, I don’t connect with the rituals followed in Hindu religion.”
How fair are these statements? Can spirituality and religious rituals exist without another? What do these two terms really mean?
Spirituality refers to ‘a series of connected thoughts (aalochana) aimed at understanding the purpose and the nature of spirit, which is the cause of existence.’
Religious rituals refer to the ‘activities (aacharana) driven by and aligned to that spiritual awakening.’
They are two sides of a single coin, the head and the tail. One is the ‘thought’ and the other is the ‘resulting action’. An action without a predefined structured thought will be aimless. A thought without a resulting action is of no use.
For example: ‘sandhya vandanam’ is an act of gratitude towards the underlying source of supreme power (God), which provides the energy required for the Sun to rise and shine. If you do not consider this ritual a necessary and natural response to the spiritual knowledge attained through Vedicwisdom, then your perspective of spirituality isn’t aligned with that of Vedic practitioners.
One of the greatest initial seer, Manu mentions: “వేద శబ్దేభ్య ఏవాదౌ దేవాదీనాం చకార స:”
The supreme power(God) utilises Vedas as the base on which everything and everyone, including the devathas (the divine powerful entities such as the Sun, the wind, the fire etc) are created. Such Vedic wisdom is also therefore the base of all religious rituals.
Vedas contain a beautiful way to connect with God for people of different tastes, different mentalities, different goals etc. So, we may not connect with everything that is mentioned. But, they contain answers to anything anyone wants to know.
That is why, Vedic Wisdom is called THE WISDOM.
– From the discourse of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji
– 29 th September 2019, Indic Academy Grateful 2 Gurus Event
– NTR Auditorium, Telugu University
Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji was invited with great honour to Grateful2Gurus event conducted by IndicAcademy. Sriman Harikiran ji, Smt. Padmaja, Sriman Srinivas ji and many others were thrilled with the gracious presence of Swamiji. The entire team of organisers expressed their gratitude to Swamiji for giving the time and the invaluable message. Audience awaited with great enthusiasm for Swamiji to speak and were swayed by Swamiji’s extremely enriching message coupled with beautiful use of words.
Speaking on the occasion Swamiji said, “Gems don’t need glory for themselves. If we want to benefit from the precious and beautiful gems, we must take the initiative to take good care of them and preserve. This is exactly what IndicAcademy organisers are intending to do with the program. Beginning from the gurus of Vedic wisdom to many other streams of knowledge including
arts, music, telecommunications etc (divi to bhuvi), they are honouring 20 such great individuals. We appreciate the way are expressing gratitude to the gurus who are guiding the world with their wisdom.”
Every guru who was hounoured with the award bowed down to Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji with utmost reverence. They all expressed how lucky they all are to be alive and witness Sri Swamiji walk the path of Vedic Wisdom so beautifully…!
