Being SPIRITUAL is different from being RELIGIOUS

We have often heard the phrase 'Religious fanatic' but it is doubtful if we have ever heard of a 'Spiritual fanatic'.

I too like many other people had made the mistake of thinking of religion and spirituality as one and the same thing.
We claim we are Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians etc, simply because we are born to parents who made the same claim, like their parents before them. Most of us are mere zombies mindlessly following practices and rituals. Do we really follow the teachings of Christ, or Buddha, the Guru or Prophet?

Their comes a time when we begin to seek answer to such questions? If we are lucky we find someone who provides us some answers. If we are blessed and extremely fortunate we need not be told, for our answers will be born out of our own experiences.

We discover spirituality in many ways and this is one incident that helped me to become a less religious but more spiritual person.

I had to attend to business in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and decided to fly from Delhi to Benares and then drive on to Allahabad.
Located on the banks of the holy river Ganga, Benares is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest of India.

As I sat down in my aircraft seat and buckled myself in, I noticed two South Indian gentlemen, dressed in their traditional clothing of Lungi and shirt but they were barefooted.

It is rare, even for us Indians to see barefooted passengers on an aircraft. This however was not the only eye opener.

As is my habit I always greet my co-passengers and converse with them. If I am lucky I am able to engage them in a debate. This is a tremendous opportunity to learn about random matters and opinions which I am rarely exposed to during my other social interactions. I was intrigued with my fellow travellers and we started to converse.

Residents of Malaysia, my co-passengers were Dr Arjunan Balasubramaniam and Swanand . They remarked that they were on their yearly pilgrimage to various holy Hindu shrines in India. I learnt a little later that Arjunan is amongst Malaysia's leading attorneys and Swanand manages his own shipping company.

They planned to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple at Benares dedicated to Lord Shiva and then bathe in the holy Ganga adjoining the temple.


I with my curious but immature mind remarked to Arjunan that it was quite obvious that he worshipped Lord Shiva, and Arjunan must be very religious to undertake this pilgrimage every year.

Arjunan responded, "I worship the One True lord and all his manifestations, including Lord Shiva.". He further added, "On the contrary I am not religious at all, but I am deeply spiritual."

I was puzzled. This was a revelation for me and I began to think, I always used the words religion and spirituality interchangeably believing them to mean the same thing. This interaction planted the seeds of a friendship. We decided to hang out together in Benares.

We arrived at Benares and I was appalled at what I saw. Here was one of India's most religious places, mentioned since ancient times. Hindu teachings have referred to Benares for more than twenty thousand years. The great city had been turned into an ugly mess with no discipline and garbage strewn everywhere, except at the temple premises.

Shock gave way to anger, then sadness and despair as I travelled through the city to the temple of Kashi Vishwanath, the temple of 'The King of the Universe'. The temple itself was magnificent and quite clean but the surrounding areas was indescribably bad. Food was strewn everywhere, dogs, cattle, monkeys abounded in their feasting of the food so wasted and discarded on the roads and by-lanes by 'devotees'.

We washed up and entered the temple and paid our obeisance. The vibrations from within the temple were overpowering and soothing to the soul. My anger and despair was transformed into hope as I bowed and surrendered to Him, and said a silent prayer.
For fleeting moments I felt calm before I was rudely shoved by people standing behind me, waiting for their turn to transact whatever they had come for.

I emerged from the temple recharged, and back to the reality of this beautiful world made ugly by our neglect and abuse.

We debated what to do next. We decided to take a bath at the bathing ghat near the temple. I took one look at the state of the river Ganga. Mother Ganga, which is considered to be the holiest of holy rivers. She has the power to wash away the sins of all those who bathe and pray in the river. I could not but help feel that the Holy Ganga was herself being overpowered by the sinners and the pollution we humans had created.

There was so much debris floating near the banks that devotees had to push the rubbish away to find a clear patch in the water in which to bathe. I balked at bathing or even touching the Ganga’ s water because I was not yet willing to believe. However Arjunan and Swanand calmly disrobed and after clothing themselves in 'dhotis' waded into the river and offered their prayers while taking a dip in the holy Ganga.

The terrible state of the Ganga is an example of human selfishness and apathy. We seek salvation but we cannot even provide the basic courtesy so required to take the first step in this direction. I swore that I would do something about this situation and decided to devote some part of my life to preserving the environment and our cultural values.

I sought to continue our discussion on spirituality and religion and the meaning of life, but the pressure of the appointment in Allahabad meant I had to leave with my doubts unanswered. Reluctantly I bid adieu to my new found friends and drove off to Allahabad.

Many questions nagged me until nearly three years later I met Sant Baba Ishwar Singh ji of Dheradun. I sought his guidance on religion and spirituality. I have summarised what I learnt and wish to share it with you.

• There is, but one God.

• He is known by many names. The names being given by people as they have learnt of Him and how they have experienced His greatness.

• He is not like a human being but is energy manifest in this universe.

• There are countless religions, but all religions are merely roads to reach Him.

• To merge and be one with Him should be our aim.

• However we forget the destination and our stuck on our various roads. We fight for religion but not truth, each religion claiming that "my God is better than your God", and "my road is better than your road" etc.

• Organised religions are ever growing and powerful institutions serving to fulfil mainly political and social needs. Performing rituals for birth and death, marriages and separations, acquisitions and losses, etc. Religion has come to be associated with power, greed arrogance and falsehoods.

• Religion has become materialistic and at best offering superficial solace to the masses, often failing to touch the soul or the consciousness.

• Organised religion as practiced nowadays is a hijacked and distorted version of the teachings of Gurus, Prophets, Messiahs, and Saviours.

• Religion which was meant to bring people closer to one another and to God had actually caused great divisions between men and distanced humanity from God.

On spirituality and spiritual beings he said;
• Spirituality means love, compassion, tolerance, friendship and contentment with what we have and with the universe in which we exist.

• Spiritual beings do not follow a particular religion save that of truth. They do not believe in dogma and rituals, they will spread joy and peace wherever they go, for the Lord travels with them.

• All people, creatures and nature are precious to the spiritual being.

• A spiritual person never gets provoked into anger.

• Spiritual people do good things and help others without expecting anything in return, for they know it is not their own doing they are only doing God's bidding.


If something is burning we can pour water to cool it off, or we can find and eliminate the cause of the burning. Religion is like water thrown on an inextinguishable fire. Spirituality on the other hand removes the burning caused by fire of hate, greed, false ego etc.

I was until not long ago a bad guy, but the good thing is I knew I was bad and I needed to change. I consciously tried to change my nature, but always relapsed because our sub-conscious is much more powerful than the conscious mind.


With the blessing of Babaji my spiritual teacher and guide, I have changed considerably for the better, because my core has changed. I no longer struggle to be something I am not. I hope and pray that you too are as lucky as I have been.

Yoga at the speed of light

Fascinating.

Professor Subhash Kak of Louisiana State University recently quoted Sayana, a fourteenth century Indian scholar who commented on a hymn in the Rig Veda. The Rig Veda, the oldest and perhaps most mystical text ever composed in India."With deep respect, I bow to the sun, who travels 2,202 yojanas in half a nimesha."

A yojana is about nine miles; a nimesha is 16/75 of a second. Translated into easy-speak it is 185,794 miles per second, which matches the figures put out by modern day scientists that the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second.

How could a Vedic scholar who died in 1387 A. D. have known the correct figure for the speed of light? If this was just a wild guess it's the most amazing coincidence in the history of science!

Yoga tradition is full of such coincidences. Many yogis and students of yoga wear a rosary or 'mala' round their necks comprising of 108 beads to keep track of the number of mantras a person is repeating. Why 108 beads ?

Part of the reason is that the mala represent the ecliptic path of the sun and moon across the sky. Yogis divide the ecliptic into 27 equal sections called nakshatras, and each of these into four equal sectors called paadas, or "steps," marking the 108 steps that the sun and moon take through heaven. Each is associated with a particular blessing force, with which you align yourself as you turn the beads.

Traditionally, yoga students stop at the 109th "guru bead," flip the mala around in their hand, and continue reciting their mantra as they move backward through the beads. The guru bead represents the summer and winter solstices, when the sun appears to stop in its course and reverse directions. In the yoga tradition we learn that we're deeply interconnected with all of nature. Using a mala is a symbolic way of connecting ourselves with the cosmic cycles governing our universe.

But here is the another coincidence: The distance between the earth and the sun is approximately 108 times the sun's diameter. The diameter of the sun is about 108 times the earth's diameter. And the distance between the earth and the moon is 108 times the moon's diameter.

Could this be the reason the ancient sages considered 108 such a sacred number? If the microcosm (us) mirrors the macrocosm (the solar system), then maybe you could say there are 108 steps between our ordinary human awareness and the divine light at the center of our being. Each time we chant another mantra as our mala beads slip through our fingers, we are taking another step toward our own inner sun.

As we read through ancient Indian texts, we find so much the sages of antiquity could not possibly have known-but did.

The yogis have always maintained that our present cosmos is billions of years old, and that it's just one of many such universes which have arisen and dissolved in the vastness of eternity.

In fact the 'Puranas', encyclopedias of yogic lore thousands of years old, describe the birth of our solar system out of a "milk ocean," the Milky Way. Through the will of the Creator, they tell us, a vortex shaped like a lotus arose from the navel of eternity. It was called 'Hiranya Garbha', the shining womb. It gradually coalesced into our world, but will perish some day billions of years hence when the sun expands to many times it present size, swallowing all life on earth. In the end, the Puranas say, the ashes of the earth will be blown into space by the cosmic wind. Today we known this is a scientifically accurate, if poetic, description of the fate of our planet.

The 'Surya Siddhanta' is the oldest surviving astronomical text in the Indian tradition. Some Western scholars date it to perhaps the fifth or sixth centuries A.D., though the next itself claims to represent a tradition much, much older. It explains that the earth is shaped like a ball, and states that at the very opposite side of the planet from India is a great city where the sun is rising at the same time it sets in India.

In this city, the Surya Siddhanta claims, lives a race of 'siddhas', or advanced spiritual adepts. If you trace the globe of the earth around to the exact opposite side of India, you'll find Mexico. Is it possible that the ancient Indians were well aware of the great sages/astronomers of Central America many centuries before Columbus discovered America?- the Mayans or Incas!!!

Knowing the unknowable: To us today it seems impossible that the speed of light or the fate of our solar system could be determined without advanced astronomical instruments. -as Sanjee argues!!

How could the writers of old Sanskrit texts have known the unknowable? In searching for an explanation we first need to understand that these ancient scientists were not just intellectuals, they were practicing yogis. The very first lines of the Surya Siddhanta, for of the Golden Age a great astronomer named Maya desired to learn the secrets of the heavens, so he first performed rigorous yogic practices. Then the answers to his questions appeared in his mind in an intuitive flash.

Does this sound unlikely? Yoga Sutra 3:26-28 states that through, samyama
(concentration, meditation, and unbroken mental absorption) on the sun, moon, and pole star, we can gain knowledge of the planets and stars. Sutra 3:33 clarifies, saying: "Through keenly developed intuition, everything can be known." Highly developed intuition is called 'pratibha' in yoga. It is accessible only to those who have completely stilled their mind, focusing their attention on one object with laser-like intensity.

Those who have limited their mind are no longer limited to the fragments of knowledge supplied by the five senses. All knowledge becomes accessible to them.

"There are [those] who would say that consciousness, acting on itself, can find universal knowledge," Professor Kak admits. "In fact this is the traditional Indian view."

Perhaps the ancient sages didn't need advanced astronomical instruments. After all, they had yoga !

Our Thanks to Sheel Rege for this interesting article.

Who do they work for ?

Ms. Madhuri Gupta the 53 year old member of the Indian IFS - Indian Foreign Service was recently arrested for allegedlly spying and providing information to Pakistan. Most Indians were aghast,and wondered how she could she have indulged in unpatriotic activities.

Ms. Madhuri claims that she did not receive any financial benefit but did it only to take revenge against her bosses in the IFS, who treated her badly.

This raises several big questions ;

1. What do we Indians understand and believe is India ?
2. What is patriotism in today's world.?
3. Who do people work for?

Here are some thoughts on the last point.

• Try to meet your elected representive in Government. Is he even approachable?
• Visit a government office, do they appear to be the servants of the citizens?
• What about many organisations, do they exist for the customer?
• Look at employees, how often do they work for their organisation?
  Legally and technically these people work for their organisation and stakeholders, but in reality they work for their superiors within the organisation i.e. people, within thier organisations.
  
  Ms. Gupta appears to be prima facie unpatriotic, but she claims she bears no ill will against her country but her damaging actions arise from her ire against her bosses and the system. Research has repeatedly shown that nearly 73% of poor morale is the result of poor leadership.
  
  Surprisingly this is not unusual as people often indulge in malicious behaviour when they believe that the system does not work and they can only sabotage, damage and discredit the people in charge for they represent the organisation and the system. To negate their efforts.
  
  Was Ms. Gupta always negative? When did she become negative and what caused her to become like this?
  
  It may come as a surprise but secret destructive behaviour where in people turn against their own organisations, is not all that uncommon. This happens nearly all the time and not all actions can be as damaging as those of Madhuri Gupta.
  
  On the other hand there are individuals who give their all to build and nourish their organisations. Many people just want to get on in life, pay their bills, reduce hassles, look after their parents, prepare for their retirement and provide for their children's future.
  
  In the positive or in the negative view taken by these people, the major influencing their outlook and hence actions stem from their superiors. In their growing up years it is family and teachers. In later years it is the person for whom they work for. In the case of the entreprenuer, they look only at themselves based on their heros.
  
  What can you do to avoid becoming a Madhuri Gupta or have someone like her running loose within your organisation or even personal life? Let me share with you our own experience.
  
  The first generation owners of our company, my uncle and father had a very rough relationship with employees. The relationship was always confrontationary.
  
  We inherited many good practices and things, but good labour relations was not part of our legacy. Soon after taking over we had a labour strike.After a very long conflict which lasted over 17 months both we and our workmen were drained out.
  
  We brothers learnt from observing our elders and from the labour strike, that there are no victors in a war, there are only losers. So we resolved to build and nurture a harmonious relationship with employees and create a positive environment to grow, not only for the company but the employees as well.

While it was the right moral thing to do,our management team did not see it that way.
Managers and staff thought we were crazy. They had developed a hardened attitude.
Their reactions were understandable. Perception always lasts longer than fact.

On the other hand inspite of our best efforts we simply could not win over our workers, they refused to believe that we had lost our taste for battle.

We followed a simple rule of advertising; 'Keep the message simple, repeat it often'. It took a good a couple of years for everyone to start believing us and our intentions. Even then it remained fragile for another couple of years before becoming solid.

With the grace of God and the support of many, our family, customers, suppliers and our employees we started a brilliant rise in our fortunes. The employees were charged when they saw that believing in themselves and their organisation we could truly become a world class organisation with win-win and all inclusive growth.

This meteoric rise gave birth to many issues but the biggest problem was getting people who shared our beliefs.

We were constantly on the lookout for managerial talent. We recruited many managers and staff members who were tested for technical competence and knowledge but we were negligent about thier people skills. In time we realised the heavy price we had to pay for this negligence.

Human beings tend to try and dominate their immedeate circle of influence. They want to be the alfa member of the pack. Some do it by the primitive way of violence and fear, others do it by persuassion and reward.

The art of good management is to seduce people to achieve rather than bully them to do your bidding. It requires significantly greater effort and patience to inspire than to drive people. We can drive people with fear or we can lead with inspiration or a reasonable combination of both.


Several staff members, managers and general managers were recruited that pretended to share our values but were actually belligerent and even abusive in their conduct with their juinor team members. Several cases of slapping workers in addition to verbal abuse were reported.

Ouput did rise dramatically as fear is a powerful driver of human action. However a year down the road, all our efforts directed towards nuturing relationships, team building and providing a sense of belonging went down the tube.


When confronted they took pride in their actions, claiming that your juniors should be fearful of the boss. Violence is the most primitive behaviour of mankind and should not be tolerated particularly in a professional organisation.

In one plant we took immedeate action and in the other we failed to take any noticable action because the managers were 'indispensable'.

Blaming urgencies many people recruit senior staff that do not share their management's or organisation's values. One bad boss can turn an entire section of people within the organisation against itself.


Sadly when faced with a dilemma, values are often sacrificed at the altar of expidiency. We too have been guilty on this count.


When running under extreme pressure there is a tendency to take shortcuts or shoot from the hip decisions. We soon learnt that a shortcut is the longest distance between two points.

Exploitive relationships can be developed in an instant , but there are no shortcuts in building genuine relationships. They have to be developed and nurtured over time, yet they can be destroyed with a few stupid words or thoughtless actions.


Eventually we got our act together and changed our approach and we were amply rewarded by the love, commitment and hardwork of a magnificient team.

People work for other people before they work for organisations and nations.

We should not be surprised if we continue to see many more Madhuri Guptas emerging in Government and within business. Effective mangement of people and relationships, productively and positively is the hallmark of great nations and institutions.