The Importance Of Spirituality

"Spiritulity refers to a broad set of principles that transcend all religions. Spirituality is about the relationship between ourselves and something larger. That something can be the good of the community or the people who are served by your agency or school or with energies greater than ourselves. Spirituality means being in the right relationship with all that is. It is a stance of harmlessness toward all living beings and an understanding of their mutual interdependence.” (Kaiser 2000)

It involves the ways in which people fulfill what they hold to be the purpose of their lives, a search for the meaning of life and a sense of connectedness to the universe. The universality of spirituality extends across creed and culture. At the same time,

A sound mind in a sound body and vice-versa is true. Health of the two is interlocked. Balance between the two is not only a sufficient but also a necessary condition for healthy and meaningful life. The WHO way back in 1958, defined health not merely as the absence of illness but as physical, mental and social well being as well. All these dimensions have to operate in harmony. There is a craving for peace and freedom from agonies of the life. In spite of the glaring progress on all fronts, be it medicine, surgery, science and technology, infrastructure, economic prosperity, access to tremendous material comforts, there exists a lag. Restlessness and purposelessness are widely discerned. Futility syndrome prevails heavily. What for? What after? Suicides are the regular feature in National Dailies. Whether public health? It is a major challenge. A formidable pressure is discerned to redefine the meaning and interventions of public health in the country. In the present era, spiritual health assumes significant dimensions since anxiety and emotional discomforts are on rise. There is a great need to heal one of resentment, jealousy, anger, ego, agony of existence and death anxiety to focus on higher dimension of work and healthful living. While as science depends on objectivity, spiritual health delves on inner self, consciousness, intuition and subjective factors. All these have a direct impact on physical health. ‘Science gets us physical comforts, spirituality brings us mental calm’. (Dalai Lama 2006)7. Positive values, attitudes, beliefs and strength that one acquires through spiritual health practices contribute to the sense of well being, health and happiness. Empirical evidence is available to indicate a direct relation between religious involvement, spirituality and positive health outcomes. Spiritual health practices have a positive correlation with survival, low blood pressure, less remission time from depression, less number