'More and more Indians taking to spirituality'

An increasing number of Indians are moving away from conventional religion and embracing spirituality to overcome crisis situations, according to spiritual leader Sri Samadarshini.

An increasing number of Indians are moving away from conventional religion and embracing spirituality to overcome crisis situations, according to spiritual leader Sri Samadarshini.

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"Spirituality alone can help at times of crisis. It is beyond religion. Circumstances are never under our control but spirituality helps you give yourself an opportunity amid crisis and come out of it," Samadarshini told IANS on the sidelines of an event here. "Therefore a number of people are actually moving away from conventional religion."

She said that people from all walks of life were taking to spirituality to deal with recurring and serious problems in both personal and professional lives.

"Not just the corporate sector, people from all fields are now coming forward to learn about spirituality in order to learn how to handle stress," said Samadarshini, who is director of the Chennai-based Oneness University. "People keep dropping in our university over weekends and holidays to take short-term courses in order to do that."

She said spirituality also helps in building strong relationships.

"Quite often we don't have enough courage to apologise," she explained. "At other times we keep waiting for another person who may have hurt us to say sorry, in the process losing a dear friend.

"Spirituality gives you the strength to take the first step. And if things don't work out, it helps you accept things as they are. A spiritual person is like a star fish which regenerates itself."

Samadarshini said her university conducts free courses for tribals and villagers.

"One such course we did was for the youth in Maoist-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh. Initially they were hesitant, but after the first batch of 150, another 500 turned up for it.

"Frustrated with all the violence, they had loads of pent up feelings to let go of. At the end of the course, they all admitted that they felt more positive to start their lives with a new vigour," she said.