Spiritual Thinking is an excellent way beyond religion.

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Spiritual Thinking is an excellent way beyond religion.

Spiritual Thinking is an individual journey in pursuit of truth, and while common to all people around the world, it is not restricted by religious beliefs or other communal thoughts which are based on tradition nd are usually followed blindly without any relevance to fundamental truths. While we draw examples from religious texts such as the Bible, Vedas, Bhagwad Gita, etc, the logical inferential truths are derived independently and is way beyond religious beliefs. People who do not have the intellect to understand may be sometimes offended because of their blind belief in something without any logical reason. That is not the purpose of Spiritual Thinking. The sole purpose of Spiritual Thinking is to follow the footsteps of truth wherever it may lead to a better understanding of the creator and the helpo He offers in our daily lives.

Spiritual Thinking is a simple way beyond all religions.

Sadhguru Quotes, Isha Foundation: https://isha.sadhguru.org/en/wisdom/article/5-quotes-about-truth-from-sadhguru

If you are in communion with Truth, your relationships will be relationships, not attachments. You will know involvement but no entanglement.

The closest, nearest, and dearest place to commune with Truth is within yourself.

Truth is not for comfort – it’s for liberation. It’s not a medicine – it’s a killer.

If you look for truth, don’t assume anything –seek.

Ye Shall Know the truth, and the truth will make you accessible. Christ Jesus

Truth is still the truth, even if no one believes it.—Pinterest.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.- Mark Twain.

Although religion evolved only a few hundred years ago, various cultures worldwide have developed their beliefs and codes of conduct and worship of a higher power for thousands of years. These were all based on the regional cultures, some with some rationale and others without any. By nature, people sought refuge when they perceived some dangers, whether they were floods, wars, earthquakes, or sickness. Various cultures dealt with such issues based on their belief, eventually becoming rites and rituals. They ultimately turned into beliefs between 5000 BCE and by 2000-1000 BC during the Vedic period; early beliefs were a range of Socio-cultural systems, including designated morals, virtues, behaviors, prophecies, sacred places, beliefs, ethics, etc., and these varied from region to region and sometimes involved humanity about supernatural, transcendental and miracles, etc., which led to a concept of a higher power, with the development of philosophies by Greeks, Vedas, and Torah, which expanded into the Bible ( Old Testament and later, the New Testament). These dealt with the Rites and Ritual in more detail. These became so ingrained in the various cultures that people started blindly following them and became traditions. After the Middle Ages, the concept of Religion came into being, and Christianity was further organized into various denominations. Over the last 3000 years, the Hindu religion has been organized into multiple castes and subcastes and followed their traditions and rites. While all faiths developed with their traditions, a fundamental question remained: What is the Truth? This truth was not based on religion but on our origins and the commonality of all humans. Let me make this point clear. If a man gets into an accident and needs a blood transfusion, do the Doctors worry about that person’s religion in trying to save his life? Do men from different parts of the world, driven by various desires, and do their bodies react differently? Spirituality pursues these thoughts independently of religion, and this is the pursuit that occupies several deep thinkers, irrespective of their religion or caste. Traditionalists, especially people who are obsessed with their belief in religious rituals, get offended when these questions are raised.
Spiritual thinking is a logical, rational pursuit of the Truth, irrespective of religious or cultural boundaries. As we pursue this Truth, we can explain the prophecies, miracles, and philosophies of prophets and saints, enabling us to understand how these developed. Such knowledge and understanding help us to cross the shallow barriers of religious beliefs and arrive at the truths that motivate every man, woman, and other living beings on this earth. The industrial revolution in the early nineteenth century started this inquisitive thought that produced great religious philosophers such as Annie Besant, Ramana, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Sivananda, Mary Baker Eddy, Shankaracharya, and numerous others who further developed these thoughts. Standing on their shoulders, we can see a little further and develop our thoughts on Spiritual Thinking to enable us to reach out to the ever-present God inside us, The Divine Mind, Brahman, and find a mechanism of coordinating our limited human thoughts with the Divine. Propagation of this truth may take some time, and as we make progress, not only would we be able to eliminate false manifestations such as the pandemic, greenhouse effects of human errors, etc., and enable humanity to enjoy peace, prosperity, and happiness in this world. Thus, Spiritual Thinking is a simple way beyond all religions.

Spiritual thinking is proof of God’s unconditional love.

Romans 5:8:
God loves us even when we are still sinners

John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

1 Corinthians 13:13
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”.

God, when He created man in his image and likeness, stayed inside each being as Divine Mind to enable man to breathe, enable all the material organs to work, and activate all the senses to guide him. As long as God stayed inside us as the engine of life, man would be able to function from birth until his last breath when God decides to leave the body, and it becomes useless and starts degrading soon after. God also gave man the capacity to think for himself, with a material brain, knowing fully well that this brain would help him develop an ego and forget about the creator and all the goodness God had bestowed on him. Once the ego becomes dominant. The man starts wandering, straying away from all good, and develops all undesirable qualities, like pride, cheating on other human beings, domination over other God-created human beings, accumulating an unproportionate share of available resources and wealth, etc. Despite all these bad qualities, God still stays inside man, driving his engine of life because of His unconditional love for man. This unconditional love always allows man to correct himself, no matter how far he has strayed. Spiritual Thinking is one such opportunity.
Spiritual Thinking involves recognizing and understanding that God is all in all; He is right inside each of us as Divine Mind, Brahman, and is the cause and effect of everything in this universe. When we follow this understanding with meditation, Mantras, Hyms, and Prayers to remove all distractions from the human mind, then we will be able to synchronize the human mind with the Divine Mind and open the channels of communication between the two, God, the Divine Mind passes on His thoughts to us. We attain peace, harmony, and prosperity ( unlimited supply) by following God’s whisperings. This is what prophet Elisha helped the poor widow get her sons out of bondage by making a little oil container fill an unlimited number of containers. Likewise, Jesus had his disciples feed five thousand followers with two fishes and five loaves of bread; Lord Krishna could stretch Draupadi’s saree and keep her from being disrobed. Lord Krishna also gave Pandavas a pot called ‘Akshaya Patra’ to enable Pandavas to feed while in exile for twelve years. Through all these, God always blesses us unconditionally, if only we realize the truth. The fantastic thing is that even if we wander away, He still drives our engine of life unconditionally. He does not abandon us.

Because Duryodhana and his uncle Shakuni beat Yudhishtira in a dice game by cheating, Duryodhana headed the Kaurava brothers, and Yudhitira was the head of the Pandava brothers. The Pandavas had to go into exile for twelve plus one year and leave their half of the Kingdom. When they returned at the end of the thirteen years, Duryodhana refused to return their part of the Kingdom. That led to the Mahabharatha war. Before the war started, both Duryodhana and the Chief warrior of the Pandavas approached Lord Krishna for help. Since he was fast asleep, they sat near his bed until he woke up. Krishna asked Duryodhana what he wanted. He replied. “ he wants Krishna’s army on his side. When Krishna asked Arjuna what he wanted, Arjuna replied, “ Just You ( Lord Krishna) on his side. Lord Krishna granted them both their wishes. Though he was with Arjuna, he acted as Arjuna’s charioteer through the war. When Arjuna’s son was killed, Arjuna was depressed and sorrowful, and he did not want to fight anymore. Krishna then motivated him through a series of poems, which became the Bhagwat Gita ( 18 chapters) on the philosophy of life. Arjuna was then encouraged to fight and win the war. Even though. The Kauravas were the ones who had cheated and usurped Pandava’s kingdom; Lord Krishna did help Duryodhana, head of the Kauravas, with Krishna’s army as he had asked for, an excellent example of God’s unconditional love. Even though there are so many these days lying and cheating and have no scruples in hurting others, God does help them with running their engine of life. However, they are racists, fascists, and narcissists, a superb example of God’s unconditional love, giving them opportunities to reform themselves. Still, most of them refuse to do so and are self-righteous.

Krishna as charioteer

Krishna preaching Bhagwad Gita to Arjuna.

One of the most outstanding examples of God’s love is when Jesus was put on the cross and crucified before he breathed last; he said,” Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” It was such a powerful act that God reciprocated by raising Jesus from the tomb on the third day, and we celebrate Easter each year as a reminder of God’s Love. Thus, Spiritual Thinking is proof of God’s unconditional love.

Spiritual Thinking is a simple way to bust Religious Myths.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers according to their desires, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths.
1 Timothy 1:3-4

As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines or pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God, which is by faith.
1 Timothy 4:6-8

In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and the sound doctrine you have been following. But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for older women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for godliness; bodily discipline is only of little profit. Still, godliness is profitable for all things since it holds promise for the present and future life.
Titus 1:13-14

This testimony is true. For this reason, reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Myths

Bhagavad Gita
Maya (illusions) is the most terrific liar and Cheater in the Universe.

Upanishads
Satyameva Jayate ( Truth alone Wins )

Almost all religions will have myths ( like Old Wives Tales). People propagate these myths for whatever reason without any truths behind them. Politicians may want to propagate these myths to seek votes and cover their mistakes. After returning to India, one of the myths I frequently heard was that when one goes through some hardships, one suffers from sins from a previous birth. Let us analyze it to see if it has some truth. For instance, if this is true, why should Rama, considered a reincarnation of God Vishnu, have to suffer and spend fourteen years in exile in the Forest? Likewise, the virtuous Pandavas spend thirteen years in exile while the Devillish Kauravas enjoy the Kingdom. Throughout history, there are prime examples of noble and righteous people who suffered. The Israelites spent forty years wandering in the wilderness before they could reclaim their land. Daniel and his associates had to endure being thrown into a lion’s den and survive to prove their God. Jesus, who had not harmed anyone, had to endure crucifixion. King Harishchandra voluntarily handed over his kingdom to Saint Viswamitra to prove that he would speak only the truth under strenuous circumstances while having his wife serve as a maid. We can go on and on, but it will be sufficient to say that these events and happenings take place to glorify God, and only chosen people go through these hardships by God’s design. The Hindu myths about sin from previous birth are propagated by people even today only because of envy, jealousy, and hatred. Let me bring an analogy here: They want to place themselves as higher and pure because they do not have to endure hardships. Both gold and brass look the same, shiny yellow. To ascertain that a piece of Jwellry is Gold, you must immerse the jwellry in concentrated hydrochloric acid. Nothing will happen if it is Gold, but if it is brass, the jewelry will dissolve. So does the Gold complain about” why it has to endure the Acid to prove its worth” The point I am making is that God likewise puts selected people to severe tests to set an example to others about the glory of God and has nothing to do with the sins from previous birth. God sends us on an assignment to the earth with a clear purpose, and like gold, some people will have to undergo testing to glorify God. This does not mean that people going through hardships enjoy it. No!. Just as Gold may not like being immersed in acid, good souls do not either, but they spend that time praying to God that it should end as soon as possible because they are hurting. But rather than being bitter about it, they understand that God is aware and will rescue them when it comes. When we finish that assignment, we get another assignment to progress forward or backward. Depending on the goodness we can show in this assignment, we move towards heaven or to a lower birth, such as a snake or crocodile, and spend hundreds of years crawling through mud and swamps. This ends our sins and is never carried forward. Old wife’s tales are only myths and have no truth to them. Hardships are used to glorify other human beings. It is only to Glorify God. Thus, spiritual thinking is a simple way to bust religious myths.

Spiritual Thinking is the ultimate Spirit-based Ritual.

A Google search on the definition of “Ritual” yielded the following answer.

What is the definition of a ritual?
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community.

• An analysis of the above showed that it refers to a sequence of actions, including a religious community. Further, the word Spiritual is derived from Spirit and Ritual. By our definition of Spiritual Thinking. It is the synchronization of our human thoughts with the Divine Mind (Spirit) inside each of us, and it involves a series of actions:
• Affirming that God, Spirit, and Divine Mind are all in all and are the Only Power in the Universe.
• This Power is omnipotent, Omnipresent and omniscient.
• Meditate on the above thoughts accompanied by prayers to focus our thoughts,
• Repeat the above until we can start hearing God’s words.

Thus, Spiritual Thinking is a Ritual, but different from all Religious Rituals in that there is no formal symbolism, and we are free to use whatever meditation and prayer work, but with a clear understanding of the affirmations.
In customary rituals, more emphasis is placed on the actions, such as kneeling, performing sacrifices, havans, shaving your head, growing a beard, or chanting mantras loudly or in a group, etc. These are mostly done with or without understanding and followed blindly as prescribed. More emphasis is placed on how the actions are done rather than the reason and goal behind it. Even if there is a goal, it is usually materialistic, such as wealth or health. In spiritual thinking, we recognize that God is fully aware of our desires and will automatically grant them if appropriate. In other words, we do not try to Bribe God for what we want since he is all-knowing and does not need anything from us. We are the ones who are needy.
It would be wrong to say that the rituals are not significant. After all, they were designed by prophets or learned men. Muslims are required to pray five times a day for some reason. Let us take, for example, Jesus. When he healed a blind man who had been blind from birth, Jesus took some mud from the earth, spat it on it, and applied it to the blind man’s eyes.

Jesus spat on the ground and anointed the man’s eyes with a mixture of mud and saliva. He told the blind man to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam; the Bible narrative adds that the word “Siloam” means “Sent.” The man “went and washed and came home seeing.”

When Pharoah ordered all the firstborns of the Jews to be killed, Moses instructed Joshua to have all the Jewish Homrs entrances painted with sheep blood, and as a consequence, only the Pharoah’s firstborn died, and not the Jewish people.
As the story goes, during the tenth and final plague, God passes through the land of Egypt and strikes down the firstborn of every household. But the Jews have been told to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb they’ve sacrificed — the Passover offering — and so God “passes over” their homes.

Muslims are required to Pray five times daily, no matter where they are.

Initially, 50 daily prayers were commanded, but this was subsequently reduced to five on the advice of Prophet Moses to the Holy Apostle. Therefore, Muslims pray five times daily to fulfill the obligation bestowed upon them by Allah through His Holy Messenger.

The tradition of praying five times a day arose from an incident documented in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. Verse one, chapter 17 of the Quran, tells of a miraculous journey made by the Prophet Muhammad, who traveled from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to heaven in one night.

Some of the everyday rituals practiced in Hinduism are:
• Devotion (Bhakti) Devotion (bhakti) refers to both a practice and a path (mārga) towards salvation. …
• Worship (Pūjā) Worship (pūjā) is one of the most central practices in Hinduism. …
• Fire Sacrifice. …
• Mantra. …
• Grace (Prasāda) …
• Service (Sevā) …
• Astrology (Jyotiṣa) …
• Life Cycle Rites (Saṃskāra)

An example of a Fire ceremony is shown in this Video:

Salvation or Moksha:

Mundaka Upanishad 3.2. 9
Moksha is Jnana. One who knows Brahman becomes Brahman (Mundaka Upanishad 3.2. 9). Moksha is nothing but realizing what is one’s true self. Therefore, there is nothing more to be done for Moksha than to know that one’s essential nature (Swaroopa) is Brahman.

Krishna Teaching Arjuna on Bhagwad Gita

Bhagwad Gita: Chapter 3: 17-19.
17
But a man who rejoices only in the Self is satisfied with and concerned with the Self—for him, there is no duty to perform.
18
For him, there is no concern here at all with acting, nor any concern with non-performance. Moreover, for him, there is no dependence on any object to serve any purpose.
19
Therefore, remaining unattached always performs the obligatory duty, for a person attains the Highest ( Salvation ) by performing one’s task without attachment.

Thus, Spiritual Thinking, the synchronization of our human thoughts with the Divine Mind, God, and Spirit within each of us, is the ultimate Spirit-based Ritual essential for Salvation. Krishna makes it abundantly clear that the purpose of all rituals (karma or duty) is to reach the stage of self-realization, which is spiritual thinking. Rituals are transitory phases on the path to Salvation or Moksha. There is no reason to think that Rituals are not essential to understanding their purpose, but doing it with attachment and fear is the obstacle to rise to salvation.

Let us conclude with Swami Sivananda’s Universal Prayer

You can read more in the author’s book: Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life. Available at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/author/sivaraman_raghu/
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