NON-ATHEIST finalaugust | Page 34

Spirituality is all about building a strong bond with one‟s inner self alongside exploring its different nuances. Our soul is our sanctum sanctorum in which the divine light resides and shines. With spirituality increasing, we devise ways of staying in touch with it while maintaining a temporal existence. Everybody, even an aghori or a stoic loves the scent of a new blossom and enjoys it. Nature is a manifestation of the mother divine. There is godliness in every aspect of nature and almost all religions do respect nature as a part of their rituals. Moon, for example has a religious significance in Islam, Hinduism, Wicca etc. Jains respect nature and the fellow beings so much that it is sacrosanct to even breathe in the microorganisms with the air. They even leave the corpse to the nature. Flowers and aromatics are used in the rituals in almost all religions. Incense is burnt in all religious places to bring in positivity into the atmosphere and to uplift the mood of the people gathered. Flowers are used to adorn idols and religious icons. In Hinduism, all five elements are worshipped in pooja traditions and fragrances are applied on the deity in the form of sandalwood paste for invoking the earth element and flowers are showered on the deity for ether and incense for the air element. NON-ATHEIST, Aug 2018 34