[Advaita-l] New topic for Discussion - Religion vs Spirituality

[Venkateswaran N E]

Dear Sadaji, there are lot of overlaps between these two english words in the way different people use them.

My take is that it would be more beneficial for us to first see whether there are equivalent concepts/words for (popular) religion and adhyatmic philosophy (to differentiate it from the western philosophy) in our culture and then discuss further. 

Taking a cue from what you have stated at the end of your post, I would like to propose the following working definitions, which could be improved/replaced by better ones.

RELIGION: Predominantly following karma khanda and upasana khanda almost exclusively for worldly/ immediate kAmya outcomes. Involves lot of physical rituals / activities with very little attention on upliftment of oneself even from a moral/ethical perspective, leave alone spiritually. 

SPIRITUALITY: Predominantly following jnana khanda, focusing on meditative aspects, reducing physical rituals, or where done only for aiding the first part. Focus is predominantly on adhyatmic progression.

Warm Regards
Venkateswaran N E

> On 22-Mar-2016, at 8:40 AM, kuntimaddi sadananda via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> 
> PraNAms to all.
> 
> What is the difference between Religion vs Spirituality? Are the complimentary or sometime contradictory. Should one has to be Religious (whatever that means?) to be spiritual and for one to follow spirituality should one has to be religious. 
> 
> The question is raised since I see in some posts in facebook that Religion is a problem or is causing lot of problem in the very practice and can even be obstruction for spirituality. I have also seen many who spend lot of time in daily religions practices and not interested in Vedantic study. 
> 
> Hari Om!
> Sada
> 
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