What does Spirituality mean to me?

As mentioned in the contest announcement post by ecotrain, lot of people practice war, hatred and terrorism in the name of God which is why the word "Spirituality" has taken a toss over me.

As a kid, I used to visit temples and gurudwaras with my parents. I loved the act of praying and worshiping, taking prasad and giving it a bow before consuming, touching the feed of idols to take their blessings and all of that. But as I grew, I observed that this feeling of religion and spirituality was actually dividing people. People of one religion were boasting about their's and demonizing other's religions. And this especially holds true when it comes to Hindu-Muslim community. People have kind of forgotten that the fight is against terrorism and not against a religion.

And then came the concept of all these so called babas. I would not name anyone in particular because I believe all of them are fake but honestly, do you think they can tell us about our problems and future and help us with that? Then why would they not resolve all the agonies and sorrows of the world? Why are we in such a crisis?

So this whole idea of Spirituality doesn't work for me anymore and I have my reasons as I mentioned. But having said that, I don't mean to disrespect anyone's sentiments on spirituality. I respect people who follow it as long as it is not causing any harm to the larger society.

For me, I believe in humanity, respect for all and care for environment as my way of being spiritual. Rather than worshiping God, I like to worship the things he has made for our betterment. As my share of spirituality, I take care of those things.

1. When it comes to humanity, I try to help people in need, the poor ones who don't have clothes to wear in these winters and food to eat. The other day I was passing by and I saw a poor women working on the road and along with her were her 2 daughters, not wearing anything substantial to fight the winters. One of them was of Raag's age so I took out a jacket of his from my car (I had an extra luckily) and gave it to her. She was very happy and that made my happy.

2. I respect my people, all who come in contact with me. I respect their thoughts and feelings, their views and opinions and their style of living life. Respect doesn't come with age, I do the same whether the person is younger or elder to me.

3. Environment, which should be our holy mother and not the cow apparently, I try to plant more trees and plants in my vicinity. I refrain from plucking flowers or leaves from trees and I use public transport to travel to places to avoid polluting the environment, whenever I can.

Spirituality might mean different to different people but at the end of the day, what's important is to abide by your definition and pay due respect to it.