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Summary of Question:	Is There A Difference From Being Religious And Spiritual??
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 6/19/2002 9:03 AM MDT

What is the difference between being religious and spiritual?? I have been ask if I am religious and I always respond that I am spiritual. I am Sikh and I love my culture and religion but I am not religious. Does that make me any less Sikh than someone that is more religious than I am??

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REPLY
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If you are Guru's Sikh then you have no doubt whatsoever about that. It is between you and your Guru. The word "religion" comes from the Latin "religio", meaning to return (go back) to your origin. It is that practice which connects you to your source - to the Infinity within yourself. The problem is that the word has lost its original meaning and now denotes a "label" e.g., "I am a Christian", or "I am a Protestant", etc. I think that I understand what you are trying to say. You are saying that you relate to God and Guru and that relationship is sacred to you, but that you reject religious ritual and dogma. If that is indeed the case, I agree with you completely. The Sikh Way is pure and free of ritual and dogma. It is based on the technology of consciousness. Some people have lost touch with that exquisite inner experience and cling rigidly to form and ritual without the joy of the rasa of the moment-to-moment experience of Ang Sang Waheguru!

.....G