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Salman Khurshid, Congress MP.

What does spirituality mean to you?

The first image that comes to my mind is my grand-father’s, Dr. Zakir Hussein. Of course he became the President of India but for me he was first and foremost a teacher --- not in the conventional sense but in a simple and most precious way which I would call truly spiritual. He would teach with every gesture, with every word, with every step he took. I have tried to live my life by his example but I am quite sure I have not succeeded. To me there is such a conflict between striving to be spiritual, which also means being soft, accommodating and good and succeeding in the real world, especially the one of politics, where to strive one needs to be over-assertive and confidant, competitive, tough and aggressive.

Do you believe you are guided and protected by a superior force?

Philosophers have spent centuries trying to answer the most fundamental questions about life and its meaning, but I feel that if you go deep enough, there is a point after which you hit a wall and where you have no more rational answers. God to me is what is behind that wall. And life can be viewed as a dialogue with that powerful Force that influences our lives.

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