Spiritual - Indian Laws - General

Meaning of word spiritual The word spiritual has been defined in Oxford dictionary thus: 1. of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things: I m responsible for his spiritual welfare the spiritual values of life. (of a person) not concerned with material values or pursuits. 2. of or relating to religion or religious belief; Iran s spiritual leaders. (also negro spiritual) A religious song of a kind associated with black Christians of the southern US, and thought to derive from the combination of European hymns and African musical elements by black slaves. ..... A spiritual person is one who seeks to value and connect himself to higher power or simply his higher self. The word spiritual has been defined to mean in Black s Law Dictionary as of or relating to ecclesiastical rather than secular matters. Spiritualism is alien to temporalism. One whose desire is for temporal gains, cannot be said to be on the spiritual path. Same are aliens to each other. One who is really spiritual is far away from the temporal desires. Mere spiritual knowledge (gyan) is not enough. Spiritual wisdom is necessary to be really a spiritual person as said by Lord Krishna in the Gita. Shri Ram Krishna Paramhans, the Indian mystic, has given a simple comparison to distinguish between the two, i.e. gyan and vigyan. Gyan is knowledge and wisdom is vigyan. A person who has only heard of milk, is ignorant. One who has seen the milk has gyan. But one who has drunk milk and become strong has attained vigyan. Spirituality is born and develops in a person. It may be kick started by religion or revelation. Religion is a manifestation of the flesh. But spirituality as defined by the God as manifestation of his nature. True spirituality is something which is found deep within oneself. It can also be said that spirituality is a form of religion but a private and personal form of religion. Spirituality is more personal and private while religion tends to incorporate public rituals and organised doctrines. A twilight zone. Religion and spirituality are two distinct terms associated with faith. Spirituality is more abstract than religion. Religion usually promote a creed and define code of ethics. Spirituality exists in the nebulous realm of the undefinable. Spirituality is a supernatural form of transformation. In Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics by James Hastings spirituality has been defined as: The term spirituality has been used in a great variety of ways. The French have appropriated it as the name for the finer perceptions of life; by the American transcendentalists it is used as a special mark of superior intellects; it is often applied to those mediums through whom communications from departed spirits are said to reach common earth; Evangelical Christianity reserves the term to describe the warmer religious emotions; and it has its proper and peculiar application as the distinguishing quality of NT believers. The substantive spirituality does not occur in Scripture, but the adjective spiritual is frequently employed to describe the character of the man who has entered the Kingdom of God. Such a man has the Holy Spirit as the vital, determining principle of his life. Such usage does not permit us to apply the epithet to any one who has been moved in some vague way by holy impulses, for a definite and well-marked character as indicated by this description. of spiritual persons Newman writes: He [the holy Spirit] pervades us (if it may be so said) as light pervades a building, or as a sweet perfume the folds of some honourable robe; so that, in Scripture language, we are said to be in Him, and He in us. Swamy Chidanand Saraswatiji has defined spirituality in the Essence of Spirituality-Service of Others as: The essence of spirituality is service. As one goes deeper and deeper on a spiritual path and as one gets closer to Realisation and Enlightenment, one realises that the Divine resides in all. One begins to see God s presence in every person, every animal, and every plant. The first line in the Ishopanishad says: Isha vaasyamidam sarvam Yat kincha jagatyaam jagat Tena tyaktena bhunjeethaa Maa gradhah kasya svid dhanam This mantra tells us that God is manifest in everything in the universe. All is Him and all is pervaded by Him. There is nothing which is not God. In the Bhagvat Gita, Bhagwan Krishna says, I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the Beginning, the Middle and also the End of all beings. When we embark on a spiritual path, or as we walk the path, we must dedicate ourself to cultivating the divine vision and awareness with which we can see the Divine in all. Eytmologically, the English word spirituality is a derivative of the word spirit which means animating or vital principle in man and animals . The term spiritual means concerning the spirit , which is derived from Latin spiritualis, which comes from spiritus or spirit . Spirituality was meant to imply the mental aspect of life, as opposed to the material and sensual aspects. Vedantic philosophy lies at the core of Hindu spirituality from the hoary past down to present. According to the tradition, is the process of realisation of this axiomatic truth. The obvious corollary is that one who has realised this truth does not make any distinction between man and any sub-human species and also does not discriminate one man from another, given the fact that God is at core of every evolved form including human. In Words and Phrases, Permanent Edition, 39A. Spiritualism and spiritualist have been defined on the strength of the decisions referred therein thus: SPIRITUALISM The word spiritualism immediately suggests mediums. In Re : Lockwood s Estate, 25 A. 2d 168, 169, 344 Pa, 293. A belief in communication with dead people by letters ad telephone and other physical and material means goes beyond a normal belief in spiritualism, since the words spiritualism or spirit would indicate that such communication, if at all possible, would be by spiritual inspirations through a higher power rather than by natural or physical materials, such as letters and telephone invented and controlled by man. Compton v. Smit, 150 S.W. 2d 657, 660, 286 Ky. 179. Spiritualism is a form of religious belief which should not be inquired into in a judicial proceedings, and undue influence of a donor is not to be inferred merely from the fact that he and the done were Spiritualists. Watson v. Holmes, 140 N.Y.S. 727, 731, 80 Misc. 48. SPIRITUALIST A spiritualist is a believer in spiritualism; or one claiming to have some power, through intercourse with the spirit world, or the hidden power of occultism, to divine the thoughts of others; or who holds communications with departed and disembodied spirits; also one who professes a regard for spiritual things only. Johnson v. State, 65 So. 218, 220, 107 Miss. 196, 51 L.R.A., N.S., 1183. K.S. VARGHESE AND ORS. VERSUS ST. PETER S AND PAUL S SYRIAN ORTH. AND ORS.- 2017 (7) TMI 1440 - SUPREME COURT