From kindergarten to spirituality

While religion is so important, it is most unfortunate that it is only a kindergarten. What does this mean? It means that religion teaches us about God, makes us live a good moral life, and gives us certain rituals and superstitions to follow, but thereafter, it doesn't lead us to the ultimate truth about God and help us unite with the Divine, although directly or indirectly, it preaches that this is our ultimate goal of life.

Each religion is committed to its God and makes us blindly follow its scripture and theology. We grow with it and do not question anything that it advocates. This happens because we fear that questioning can be misunderstood as blasphemy, showing a lack of respect for our religious customs. Though it is very important to build the basic foundation of our trust in God, we get stuck in the kindergarten of religion. We don't grow beyond that to realise the truth about God.

Imagine, we went to a school, we learned the alphabet and got stuck in nursery! We did not graduate with any specialised knowledge. Would that make us good global citizens? Absolutely not! We need to grow beyond a kindergarten to achieve anything in life. So it is with religion! We need to grow beyond our religion to learn the truth about God. We need to go on a quest to realise the truth about the self and God.

It is sad that most of us, probably 99% of the believers in God, do not grow up beyond religion to realise the truth about god. god is a power, the very life energy within us, the spirit, the soul. But even though we read this a million times, hear it a thousand times, we still don't know this because we are so ingrained in our religious beliefs that it becomes impossible for us to go beyond our religion to become spiritual. It is like being in the kindergarten class all our life. How sad, isn't it? But this is the truth!

If we use our intellect and analyse, 'can God be like us humans, made of bone and skin or is the creator a power? Can God be born, and can God die? Can God have a name and a form? Can God be male or female? If God were like you and me, then, he would need a cardiologist and a dermatologist! Isn't it sad that we are taught these mythological stories and then, we believe in dogmas, rituals, and superstitions throughout our life, without realising the truth about God!

Does God live in a distant heaven or is God an old man, with a long white beard who lives somewhere above the clouds? As kids, we were all taught these fairy tales and we believed that Santa Claus would bring us gifts on Christmas. Today, we know that these beliefs are a myth, but we don't realise it. We just continue to pray to God, till we die. We don't go on a quest to find out – Who, Where, and What is God? Unless, we go on a quest, there can be no God-realisation.

Can there be many Gods or is there just one Supreme Immortal Power? Isn't it true that God is birth less and deathless? Although the scriptures say, 'The kingdom of God is within', 'God lives in the temple of your heart', 'Not this, not this –Thou Art That,' we blindly believe in our God and do not correctly interpret our scripture. We live and we die, and we don't realise the truth about God. All religions are good, but religion is only a kindergarten. While we all grow from kindergarten to school and then to university; when it comes to God, we remain in the kindergarten of religion throughout our life. We don't evolve to graduate in the University of Spirituality. We don't realise that God is a Power, the Supreme Immortal Power. We don't realise that God is not God! God is SIP.