There is a force guiding you without you knowing it

Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi.

What does Spirituality mean to you?

It is a word often used these days, but above all, it is for me a very internal affair. It means different things to different people, whether action, or ritualism, or just being passive. For me, it means my own conscience, my own inner guidance. It is not necessarily attached to a particular religion. If religion means showing the path, evolving one’s judgment about what is right, what is wrong ---- then actually it is common to all religions, it can be called ethics, morality, character and I believe in this, to me it is something internal. But I do not believe in the ritual forms of religion. I have not yet felt the urge to go to a temple, or a church, or a mosque to find solace. I have not yet developed that need, maybe one day I will.

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

I cannot say I have a figure in mind, I do not see a human form for it. But sometimes things are so uncanny, that you have to believe that there is something beyond your mind, beyond your capabilities of creating a certain situation. You have to believe that there is a force guiding you without you knowing it, that something happens not because of your own energies or your own thinking, but by what can be called in common language a piece of good luck, or ill luck. Basically you feel it all internally, you know intuitively if it is a good time or a bad time. It is like a storm --- you learn that when it happens, you should bend and not try to meet a force that you do not feel capable to stop. All of us have that intuitive feeling, if we listen to it. Why we have it --- I could not explain, but we know inside which direction to take, and when. I do not believe in almanacs and things of the sort, because they are supposed to be relevant to so many millions of people, which does not seem plausible. But a good time or a bad time, a good step or a bad step ---- you feel it inside.

... contd.