Props-Free Spirituality

One of the remarkable features of the Judeo-Christian religions
including Islam is the ban on idols. The Jewish scriptures prohibit
the making of idols and the worship of any objects representing God.
Biblical Christianity has continued the same tradition. Islam standing
in the same religious traditions has the same emphasis. However, this
never banned art from these religions. Christian church has a great
tradition of promoting sculpture and painting. Islamic art is also rich.

Nevertheless, some Christian churches have gone quite far from its
original ethos of an iconoclastic religion to the veneration of the
cross and praying before the images of saints. Those who use idols or
images in worship argue that these help in focussing their thoughts on
God. The argument is that the worship is not offered to the idols but
to the deity represented by the idols.
Biblical Christianity, however, advocate a spirituality that does not
require crutches. Their object of worship is Jesus Christ. None of the
images of Jesus Christ whether sculpted or painted represent the real
Jesus who walked on the face of this earth 2000 years ago. No one made
a portrait of him while he was alive. We do have a description of
Jesus by an eyewitness historian Josephus, but he does not describe
the features of Jesus in details enough to make a sketch of him.

It was easier for those disciples of Jesus who have seen him to love
and rejoice in him. Love and joy are the two important expressions of
spirituality. However, Christianity continued to spread to nations and
to people who in space and time stand quite far from the historical
Jesus. It is true that there are Christians who would stand before a
crucifix or the icon of Infant Jesus to offer their prayers. At the
same time, there are millions of Christians who relate to Jesus
without any of these props. Icons entered Christianity much late, but
early Christians who lived in the days of Saint Peter, who haven't
seen Jesus nor a picture of him continued their worship of Jesus
without any of these. Peter's commendation of them is remarkable. He
describes Jesus as the one, "… whom not having known you love; in
whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly
with joy unspeakable and full of glory— " (1 Pet 1:8). This is the
essence of Christian spirituality: love, faith and joy in the one whom
we worship, though the object of worship is invisible!

I feel icons though may be of some use to focus my thoughts, limits my
adoration of Jesus. It brings down Jesus to the level of a tangible
object; he is much more than that. Icons eclipse the real Jesus my
Lord from me by standing in between. Moreover, I do not need them as
long as I can relate to Jesus by faith and love him, and rejoice in
him. A props-free spirituality, which senses Jesus' present all around
us, able to immerse in his love made manifest in our lives daily is
what we should be heading for.

Pandita Ramabai versus Swami Vivekananda: Two Visions of India

This is more than a story about two remarkable nineteenth-century Indians. It is a story about two competing ways of seeing India itself. Pandita Ramabai and Swami Vivekananda were contemporaries, reformers, and influential voices who introduced India to the Western world. Swami Vivekananda (b. 1863—d. 1902 and Pandita Ramabai (b. 1858—d.1922) were contemporaries for about 39 years. Pandita Ramabai was five years older than the Swami and lived 20 more years than he did. Both individuals had connections to Brahmo Samaj. Swami Vivekananda was an official member, whereas Pandita Ramabai closely aligned with its principles and members but did not formally join. When Ramabai arrived in Kolkata in 1878, she received a warm welcome from Brahmo Samaj leaders such as Keshab Chandra Sen, who was notably impressed by her Sanskrit skills and encouraged her to study the Vedas, which were traditionally restricted to men. Although she adopted many of the movement's social reform ideas—such as opp...

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The Smoking Meat-Eating Swami

Typically, we imagine a revered spiritual monk as a quiet figure subsisting on fresh vegetables, clear water, and pure air, untouched by worldly habits. However, Swami Vivekananda challenges this traditional image entirely. His life was characterised not by a strict adherence to conventions but by practical wisdom, profound humanity, and a bold rejection of superficial dogma. Throughout his life, Vivekananda regularly enjoyed cigars, pipes, and the traditional Indian hookah. It was a habit he picked up in his youth and maintained during his travels across India and abroad. Yet, for him, a simple pipe could carry profound spiritual meaning. During his wanderings across India, he once asked a man from a lower caste for a smoke from his hookah. When the man hesitated because of the era’s strict customs of untouchability, Vivekananda initially walked away—only to turn around immediately, realising that bowing to caste distinctions violated his core belief in spiritual unity. He took ...

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