A universal principle of spirituality is benevolence to all beings. This relationship with all beings manifests when we see who we are within, and then understand our relationship with all others. Spirituality is meant to cultivate within our hearts universal values, morals, and ethics. One of big causes of suffering in this world is indifference. People who are healthy – do they really care about people who have disease? People who are wealthy – do they really care about those that are poor? And people who are happy – do they really care about people who are suffering? Can we eradicate this suffering? Yes, we can. But for that we have to start by understanding who we are.
From a spiritual perspective we understand that we all have a body, a mind, and also a conscious living force, which the Bhagavad Gita calls the “atma” and the Bible identifies as the “soul”. In the Bible it is said, “What is the use if you gain the whole world, but you lose your soul?” In the Bhagavad Gita it is mentioned that the nature of the soul is eternal. It is never born and it never dies; it is divine and a part of God.
Secondly, we have to connect this soul to the Super Soul or to God. Religion, which means “to bind back” and Yoga, which means “to reunite” are ways to reconnect with our essence – with the living force, who we really are to who we have come from. It is the nature of that living force to love God and to see every living being as a child of God. My beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupada said, “True religion is not about being a Hindu or a Muslim or a Jew or a Jain or a Sikh or a Christian or a Parsi – it’s about learning how to love God and learn to see the spiritual essence in all living beings”. One cannot love God without feeling genuine love and compassion for every living being. Spirituality in its true sense is this universal spiritual essence that brings about true compassion across all forms of life.
Compassion more than anything else touches people’s hearts. This is a spiritual principal, to serve, to give without selfish expectations, it’s an expression of love and it’s that love that touches our heart and it’s that love will touch others hearts. We need to learn how to love God and in loving God loving all others. Just like we water the root of the tree and the nourishment goes to every leaf, branch and flower, similarly, if we learn to find that the love within our self for God it will naturally extend to all the living beings. - Radhanath Swami