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Spirituality vs Pleasures

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Simple answer: Spirituality is not against pleasures. It's only a path towards a more intense and enduring form of emotion usually referred to as bliss. Spirituality brings to mind visuals of sadhus who have renounced all material possessions, given up all pleasures of life, and are meditating in some forest or cave or the Himalayas. From the eyes of an outsider, it's scary to live such a life without pleasures. From the context of the spiritual being, however, he has purely left worldly pleasures because he has found eternal bliss! In that context, spirituality is a means to a higher intensity of happiness which is more enduring. The beggar's story There was a beggar, who used to live off the pennies that others gave him. One day, he found a diamond. So he had a difficult choice to make - should he continue begging or leave it now that he had a diamond (yes, this is sarcasm) Same is the case with seekers, they leave the "begging" of wealth, of position, of respec...
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Spirituality and Religion

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This is one of the most misunderstood concepts. Spirituality and religion are used interchangeably in day to day usage. However, there is a world of difference between the two. Simply put, Religion: Following the messenger Spirituality: Following the message Nexus of Spirituality and Religion Religion is a set of beliefs and rituals which are observed, followed, protected, and passed on. Enlightened beings who understood spirituality in its true sense, based on the circumstances of the time, along with the knowledge of spirituality, gave a set of rituals that would help seekers on the path of spirituality. This is to say, that during its inception, the purpose of religion is always spirituality. May it be any religion of the world - Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc. The purpose of all of these religions was to attain divinity. Along the way, however, with the passage of time, even for the same words of scriptures, the changing context opened numerous interpretation...
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