A new religion is on the rise, that of humanity. But it has to be universal and spiritual with material applications only. Matter may be the means, not the end.
Most of the things we hear about practising religion are material pursuits with a spiritual cover. Spirituality is the depth discovery of the soul culminating in the realisation of the Self or God in the absolute sense. It consists of suppression of the senses and not giving in to them.
Sensory living, societal life, these are preliminary phases of the run to freedom. These are human preoccupations prior to living the inner life 'far from the madding crowd'. This outer life in society is what most confuse to be the life of the spirit as well and this is especially so in those religions where continence is not a sine qua non for the spiritual quest.
Happy marital living is not spirituality and this has to be clearly understood. Continence is the basis of the quest for spiritual freedom and marital chastity is but the preliminary preparation for it and not the advanced means which is why the Sanatan Dharma has expressly divided human evolution into four phases of progressive refinement : kama, artha, dharma and moksha.
End of Part 1
To be continued ...
Written by Sugata Bose
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