Are You Spiritual But Not Religious?

In an article entitled "Are There Dangers in Being 'Spiritual' But Not Religious?" dated June 3, 2010 CNN correspondent John Blake writes:

"I'm spiritual but not religious." It's a trendy phrase people often use to describe their belief that they don't need organized religion to live a life of faith.

What Mr. Blake has written about above may be trendy nowadays, but it is nothing new. 5,000 years Lord Krishna was also encouraging spirituality without religious when he instructed Arjuna to abandon all varieties of religion and simply surrender unto the Supreme Lord. As soon as we forget the original pure essence of spiritual life, to become a lover of God, our tendency is to invent a system of rules of regulations for elevating ourselves into some kind of "holier than thou" consciousness.

This is why none of the great saintly enlightened teachers throughout history have taught sectarianism. They have all simply taught their students the art of how to reconnect or relink themselves with the Supreme Person, the source of all existence through loving service.

In 1966 in New York my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, started ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, for this purpose. He founded an educational society, not a new religion. ISKCON was started to teach people the ancient, powerful, effective techniques for dovetailing their consciousness 24 hours daily with the Supreme Consciousness. So now on his order, his students are making this most powerful spiritual knowledge available to everyone all over the world so that the entire world can transcend the sectarianism and divisiveness of religion and attain true harmony and global unity through spiritual perfection.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: When a Devotee is Envious

In case one devotee becomes envious of another devotee's service to Lord and accordingly tries to disturb or sabotage his efforts to serve the Lord - how this mater can be sorted out ?

Please reply in "Thought for the Day" if possible, so that all of your 12,000 students can benefit from your reply.

Thank You.

With Regards,

Mukesh Doshi

Answer: Be Non-Envious for Rapid Advancement

If we do not appreciate another devotee's service we are sabotaging our own spiritual progress. Therefore the intelligent devotee always appreciates the service of all the other devotees. In this way he is blessed with more and more spiritual advancement by the Lord.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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