All
religions, arts, and sciences are branches of the same tree.
-
Albert Einstein
I am not religious, but at core spiritual. May be I am stuffed with this mindset when I was conceived by my mother.
I don't give enough credence to festivals, birthdays of deities. I profoundly believe that if there is any cause for Life here or Universe, it must have been only One Cause. It can't be two, which was advocated from Einstein to Stephen Hawking to Joel Primack and also neurologists like Rudolph Tanzi etc.
What I perceived in life so far is that our lives revolve through cause & effect. If we go on doing harmful acts to other beings/ creatures, we are bound to be fixed. It is not an orthodox belief but my life's own experience. Whether I help others or not, but I never attempt to snatch anybody's rightful 'due'.
At frequent intervals , I go to mandir, masjid, gurdwara or church to recharge myself. It is not to please the gods or deities. A couple of years back, I experimented by visiting Jama Masjid in Delhi and held a fast during Ramzan and offered prayers as per their practice. At heart, I felt so blessed to do so. Recently I visited the famous Sis Gsnj Gurdwara in Old Delhi and came back fully recharged.
Noted Indian spiritual guru Jaggie Vasudev rightly says that religious places/shrines are like 'public recharging places.
The refreshing effect of these holy places is beyond words. Why I showed special interest in visiting Gurdwara is the feeling of humbleness when I see the small acts of kindness shown by fellow devotees, especially the attitude of volunteers at Shoe House. They take your footwear with both hands and brush/polish them and give back with equal grace.
When I sit at Gurdwara for an hour, it stirs me to take inward steps to experience 'divinity' within me.
Another beauty of Gurdwara is, anybody can visit it without any restrictions. One should not miss the Community Lunch/ Dinner.
There may be a raging debate whether there is a God or not, but one thing is certain - we all share the same space for the origin of our life here and such conviction in nutshell is spirituality.