Religion in the form of dogma and belief is never absent from society, nor are rituals and traditions. They become just another aspect of our social life. Pandits, priests and mullahas keep them going and even modify them. However, when spirituality disappears from religion, a spiritual master appears on earth to elevate us beyond the level of ritual and external forms of worship lead us towards true spiritual awareness. Such Teachers reveal the perfect and pure Reality behind religion, which is timeless and universal, and one and the same for all mankind. It is his original and natural religion. This ‘core religion’ is at the heart of all religions, it is the common factor in them all, and knowing it makes one truly religious. That is why all saints and masters opposed the external practices of the religions of their day and proved to their contemporaries how false the current superstitions were. They turned dogma into Knowledge, ceremonial worship into meditation, materialism into spiritual consciousness, and enmity into love.
www.manavdharam.org
