The Spirit Within: An Excerpt from Rethink Ageing: Lessons In Ageing From the Bolder and Older Generation

Many understand spirituality as the connection with the divine, God or a higher power. But through our conversations, we found that even an atheist can be spiritual, for spirituality transcends religion. 

‘It was the tenth day in captivity since my husband and I had been abducted by militants as a bargaining chip for the release of twelve terrorists. I had been crying all night and couldn’t sleep. At the sound of the morning azan of the first namaz of the day, I found myself in an angry dialogue with God for having subjected us to this ordeal and questioning His very existence. I was crying copiously and feeling all the venom that had accumulated in my system over the last few days. I felt like a hand grenade that could blow up the group if I could just lay my hands on a weapon! I wanted to kill them all! As I continued this bitter exchange, slowly and subtly a change started to come over me. The lump in my throat that had felt like a solid block of ice started melting’, shares Khem Lata Wakhlu about an experience in 1991, at the peak of militancy in Kashmir. ‘At the crack of dawn as light started streaming into the room, for the first time, I looked at the faces of the militants sleeping around us, one by one. At that moment a shift happened and I saw them as helpless fellow human beings. I experienced forgiveness and letting go.’ 

Wakhlu is an author and a political and social activist from Srinagar, Kashmir. 

The transformational experience that night shifted her outlook, making her bolder around the militants, sometimes donning the role of a teacher, scolding them for their wayward ways and even finding the courage to slap one of them. ‘I always believed that both of us would return home unscathed, which we did after spending forty-five days in captivity, moving across seventy hideouts until the Indian Army rescued us. My meditation practice and positive belief helped us see it through.’ 

Wakhlu and her husband convinced the militants to surrender their arms when they were surrounded by the army personnel on the forty-fifth day. The militants returned to the village and mingled with the crowd avoiding any bloodshed, saving the lives of the villagers who had given them shelter. 

What was that transformation that came over Wakhlu? What she experienced can only be described as a shift in her inner spirit or soul. The mind, body and soul are like the trinity of our lives. In the previous chapters we spoke about taking care of our body and mind, but what about our soul? In this chapter, we talk about this final piece of the jigsaw puzzle called healthy and active life. 

What is a soul? The way we interpret it, it’s the deep connection between the mind and the body—like the energy that courses through an electrical circuit and lights up a bulb. To activate that energy, you need to connect or plug in to the source of electricity. Spirituality is that nourishing source for our soul. 

Many understand spirituality as the connection with the divine, God or a higher power. But through our conversations, we found that even an atheist can be spiritual, for spirituality transcends religion. 

Maitreyi Dadashreeji, the spiritual guide of MaitriBodh Parivaar explains, ‘In life, religion conveys the message of truth, teaching us how to practically apply spirituality. However, with time, it has become lifeless and mechanical. Socially and politically influential people altered religious essence and ways to suit their agenda and position in society. As a result, we ended up with conflicts between the spiritual path and religious teachings. Simply put, being religious is about a priest’s relation with the deity’s statue, whereas being spiritual is about the connection between a devotee and their beloved Lord. Spirituality connects you with the divine, and religion creates society to follow a spiritual path. Religion may bind you, if misunderstood. Spirituality sets you free.’ 

Excerpted from Rethink Ageing: Lessons In Ageing From the Bolder and Older Generation, Reshmi Chakraborty and Nidhi Chawla, Penguin.

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