The French Catholic writer Charles Péguy said, “Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics.”

I’ve always harboured the greatest mistrust and suspicion towards all forms of organised religion.

I’ve also forever been seeking – “truth” and “meaning” and “purpose”. Today, I’m a monk in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

It has been a long journey. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way.

Institutions are a necessary evil

Institutions are slow, bureaucratic, corrupt and frustrating. They can at times not only protect but actually enable wrongdoers who know how to manipulate the “system”. They can become preoccupied with money, power, and politics. Religious institutions are not immune to these pitfalls.

Yet, institutions are necessary if something lasting has to be achieved in this world. We need them to perpetuate ideologies, organise resources and mobilise men to action.

As soon as any spiritual revelation grows beyond an individual’s fleeting sentiment and is shared amongst individuals, seeking to affect lasting transformation in a large number of people’s lives, an institution is born.

Ignorance, prejudice and bigotry are universal human problems

Terrible atrocities have been committed in the name of religion. Religious terrorism, persecution of minority groups, marginalisation of women to name a few.

Yet, extreme or fundamentalist beliefs, either deliberate or misguided, which result in antisocial behavior by becoming blind to evidence in the service of ideology, are not religion-specific phenomena.

Secular ideologies have similarly been taken to an extreme with negative consequences. The wars and genocide resulting from fascist nationalism is a case in point.

Religious practitioners are not perfect, neither should we expect them to be

Many a time, the actions of people who claim to be very religious are completely at odds with what they supposedly believe in and so vehemently preach others should do. Religious people are rightly expected to be far better and exemplary in their actions.

To see them fail to live authentic religious lives in accordance to their espoused values and ideals is difficult indeed. How can one genuinely believe in certain principles yet struggle to abide by them?

While it is tempting to demand perfection from people, it is ultimately naïve. We need to reconcile our trust in people with the reality that people are flawed. Balancing the ability to know right and wrong with the capacity to forgive when someone doesn’t live up to the standards set for them requires immense maturity.

“Religion” is misunderstood, misused and abused. So is “Spirituality”.

“Religion” is thought of as external and formal. A mere social convention. A stifling set of rigid rules and archaic rituals with no place for curiosity, independence, critical thought or freedom of expression.

It conjures an image of a box, labeled Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Jew with cult-like uniformity of practice and belief inside.

“Spirituality”, in contrast, has become “anything that you want it to be”.

Alternative medicine, self-help, long walks on the beach, yoga retreats, mindfulness, detox diets, just being a good person, caring for the environment, traveling, trying an eclectic mix of customs and rituals from exotic traditions, tarot cards, crystals, aromatic oils, psychedelics… The list is endless.

Both these perceptions are partial and problematic.

Real religion and authentic spirituality go hand in hand

There is no denying the importance of spiritual intuition. It is indeed the beginning of any transcendental pursuit. However, it has to be balanced by a considerable amount of self-discipline, rational enquiry and practical guidance.

So called “spirituality” which makes no such demands and leaves me free to do whatever I prefer in the moment, without any obligation or accountability, is meaningless and unfulfilling.

We need a clear spiritual goal and a clear path to attain it.. This is the meaning of spiritual science and it is universal. Real religion provides entrance to this science. It provides a coherent and well-structured belief system which built on a solid moral and ethical foundation, necessary for pursuit of transcendental knowledge. It prescribes practices which have stood the test of time and proven themselves effective.

In a religious community, there are checks and balances. There are guides who have walked the path before, know the pitfalls. They can show us the way and help us not fall into the traps that our own mind lays for us. It holds us accountable. It demands humility and surrender. It deflates our ego.

To truly make spiritual progress, you have to declare what you believe and behave accordingly. You have to let someone other than yourself scrutinize whether your spirituality is coherent and integrated in your life.

Genuine spirituality needs to be informed by genuine religion.

“D-I-Y, Lone-Wolf” spirituality can be psychologically & emotionally damaging

If someone claims to have spiritual intuition of the existence of something greater than the self, but insists that it is a purely personal truth, divorced from the broader community, it is solipsism masquerading as spirituality.

A spirituality which is about my self-realization, my liberation, my emancipation, and my salvation, and makes no demands to co-operate and work together to realize its potential in the world, is narcissism in disguise.

Trying to separate our individual inner spiritual life and communal, outer, material life creates a dichotomy which can be damaging.

According to a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, “People who have a spiritual understanding of life in the absence of a religious framework are vulnerable to mental disorder [dependence on drugs, abnormal eating attitudes, anxiety, phobias, and neuroses].”

Concluding thoughts

The spiritual impulse and longing is inherent in the human psyche. To tread on this path is difficult. The road is narrow and bumpy. We all have our weaknesses, obsessions and neuroses which can quickly spin out of control without the support of others.

Why try and walk it alone?

Religious traditions have debated, wrestled with, and tested their belief systems, practices, and rituals since antiquity. They continue to scrutinize and refine their teachings. They analyze its philosophical, psychological, socio-political, cultural, and economic impact. Such traditions form an integrated whole.

Why reinvent the wheel and try to piece everything together by yourself?

Being spiritual but not religious is like saying I am a scholar, but I don’t read. Or to give another example, it is like wanting to learn an extreme sport without the help of an instructor, refusing a safety net, and no one around to take you to the hospital if you meet an accident.

Why take the risk when you don’t have to?

Not all religions and religious institutions are rigid and fanatical, or numb and comatose. There are thriving, vibrant and supportive communities where members take care of each other’s spiritual and material growth. They strive collectively to make a positive impact on the whole universe.

Why not be a part of something greater than yourself?

Belonging to a community, any community, not just a religious one, does not equal having to agree with their worldview in its entirety. The idea that we should or even can find a group with whom we agree on everything needs to be given up. We are all individuals, with personalities, and that’s what makes life interesting–not just material life, but our religious lives as well.

In truly religious communities, individual personalities are not stifled but encouraged. Variety is not just tolerated but celebrated. Diversity is not seen as a threat but an axiomatic truth.

How do I know? I know because I am part of such a community! Is it perfect? No. Not by a long shot. But it is my spiritual home and I belong here.

A (Very Brief) Introduction to Bhakti Yoga

I am a practicing bhakti yogi. Bhakti-yoga has been taught and practiced for millennia within a tradition commonly associated with what people call Hinduism.

But, as people connected to Hinduism will tell you, bhakti-yoga is not constrained by any sectarian ideas. Rather it is founded on a universal spiritual science that can be accommodated within any religious tradition.

Mantra meditation and bhakti yoga do not require adopting any specific religion in the external sense. There are even instances of people adapting mantra meditation to names of God in other traditions.

At its core bhakti-yoga transcends all religious differences, going to the heart of all religion which is – To know and to love God!

I considered myself to be quite the rebel in my teens and early twenties, and I was proud of that label.

I thought I was so cool – smoking cigarettes behind the art building at the strict, all-girls school I attended in the dull, conservative city of Pretoria. [Never heard of Pretoria? Don’t worry about it]. It’s true that I had very little respect for authority, but more than anything else, I was deeply dissatisfied with what life was offering me.

The Oxford English dictionary defines rebellion as: “the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention.”

Actually, rebellion is in all of us. We naturally resist authority, control and convention – that is the nature of our ego. None of us want to be another brick in the wall because, in fact, we are all utterly unique.

But we’re not who we think we are.

There is a Sanskrit word ahankara, which literally translates as “I am the doer.” It is used to describe the false ego – the false identity of being the physical body and the ultimate controller of our lives. And so, when others tell us what to do, we rebel, thinking that we alone know what’s best for us. Really?

Our false ego makes us proud, our pride interferes with our higher intelligence by preventing us from accepting good advice, and therefore we can’t access knowledge beyond ourselves because we have no faith in any authority.

“Faith is the precursor of knowledge. If you don’t have faith, which is assisted by the culture of genuine respect, your ability to understand things is limited to your own frame of reference.” – Dhanurdhara Swami

The problem is, where do we point our rebellious faces once we’ve recognized that we should turn our backs on the uninspiring authorities and ill-considered conventions of modern society? Well, some of us are intelligent and humble enough to seek out inspiring mentors and higher truths… But not me.

Nope.

Unfortunately, if you don’t know where to find a constructive alternative to what you’re rebelling against, the only clear way forward is to tear it all down. So I, like many others, not knowing any better and convinced of my superiority over all the sheep out there, embarked on a path that, looking back, I can only describe as hedonistic self-destruction.

It took me years to realize that my rebellion for individualism was just the same as everyone else’s. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll… What I considered to be rebellion was in fact just a jaded pattern of behavior that led to an overstimulation of the senses. It was nothing special, but nonetheless, it made me proud. My pride then stripped me of my intelligence and fuelled the dissatisfaction that I was trying to escape from in the first place.

To make a long story short, it all came crashing down and I had a proverbial wake-up call. Thankfully.

Naturally, the Bhagavad-gita has something to say about this:

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage. – BG 2.69

Is self-control and introspection the rebellion of the future?

Yes. And here’s why…

The ultimate rebellion is to turn your back on your false conception of yourself. It is to take the humble position and allow yourself to be guided by a worthy teacher. The alternative is simply ignorance. If we can’t understand our true nature as eternal spiritual beings, we can’t make sense of what we’re meant to do with this crazy world, and nothing will ever truly satisfy us. We’ll keep rebelling at every new situation that’s not quite right. There’s no peace in a life like that.

Rebel once more, but do it right this time.

One of the many gifts of Hare Krishna mantra meditation is that it allows us to see our existential condition more clearly. Many great personalities have composed songs and prayers to glorify this type of meditation because it is so uniquely powerful. Sometimes I recite a particularly potent prayer, called the Sri Siksastakam, before starting my daily meditation. The first line translates as follows:

Glory to the Sri Krishna Sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life.

Sri Krishna Sankirtana refers to the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. The dust is our false conception of ourselves as material beings, and the fire of conditional life is the uneasiness we feel that impels us towards acts of rebellion and seeking.

These days, my day begins at 3:30 am. I rise, wash, dress and spend 2-3 hours meditating on the mantra that came crashing into my life 14 years ago with a rebellious message: swallow your pride and chant Hare Krishna. All it takes is a little bit of initial faith.

After careful consideration (nearly 8 years of it), I wholeheartedly embraced the practice of chanting Hare Krishna. My parents didn’t like it much (a sure sign of a truly worthy rebellion)… At least not initially… But now, almost 6 years later, they can’t deny the integrity and benefit of my personal transformation. And transformation is exactly what a solid rebellion should yield. All it took was a mantra, some meditation beads, a qualified teacher and a calculated leap of faith.

I don’t think I need to convince anyone that the world needs a lot of rebelling right now. But don’t put too much faith in the rebellion of the modern world, which is focused on material issues and generally just encourages satisfaction of the senses. If you’re gonna do it, do it right, and uncover your true spiritual individuality along the way.

Bhakti Tirtha Swami says it best:

“We must resist the temptation to be ‘normal,’ because those who are now considered normal accept the values and practices of an insane world.”[1]

Rebel, dear ones… but don’t leave your intelligence behind, and take the maha-mantra with you.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

[1] Spiritual Warrior III: Solace for the Heart in Difficult Times, Chapter 8 – How To Strengthen Ourselves –  by HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami