What is spirituality

Once swamini svatmavidananda was asked what is spirituality. I think she gave an exemplary answer that befits a follower of shnkaracharya.
She said, it is a change in vision, wherein what we generally consider as mundane, ordinary and boring, is understood to be ishvara in terms of knowledge. Hence we appreciate our ordinary life, for being the extraordinary grace of the lord.

People world over are seeking and looking for 'spirituality', as something other worldly, external, to be experienced in some meditative state, some special experience etc.
However the indian sage says, whatever you do, going to office, cooking, etc, is karma yoga, an act of devotion to bhagavan and the results are received from bhagavan.

Whatever you encounter in your life situation is karma phala, from bhagavan.

Whatever simple life you lead, is blessed with bhagavans presence in every step of it.

Hence strictly speaking, there is no need to look for something spiritual outside of your daily life. Your daily life, is resplendent with the glamour of ishvara.

Our culture and practices, teach us to consider everything as sacred, and ishvarise our life. Hence we consider all relationships, etc. as filled with love, devotion and a positive sense of sacredness ( sacredness does not mean a fearful devotion, rather a loving devotion).

It teaches us to maintain the dharma of a relationship.

Krishna with kuchelan, taught us how to be a good friend, there is ishvara in friendship.How to be a good father and King was taught to us by Janaka.
How to be a good mother was taught by yashodha. How to be a good warrior by Arjuna. How to be a good brother by bharatha and rama. How to be a good son by shri rama. Seeta mAthA is a great example of a loving wife, responsible mother and a queen.
There are stories where Umadevi or Parvati becomes angry and even shiva could not stop her anger when he cuts ganeshas head in haste.

So this effort to lead a responsible, loving, productive , positive and contributive life is really speaking true spirituality. And we do that by invoking bhagavan in our ordinary life, by recognising his presence in situations, relationship and in life itself.

Why dharma is non negotiable for a vedantin, even from knowledge point of view

For a vedantin the understanding of ‘jagath mithya’ is equated to the understanding that ‘jagat is ishvara’ or isavasyam sarvam idam.

This is really the pinnacle of vedantin, the knowledge that all that is here is ishvara svarupa.
Dharma is ishvara. In the way the individual relates to the world, the individual has to recognize the presence of dharma, therefore actions must confirm with dharma.

Dharma means to act appropriately in a situation. Do do what is to be done, and to avoid what is not to be done. Since in all of waking state, man is either engaged in action or inaction, strictly speaking dharma governs every single moment of ones waking state, one has to either choose to do the right action, or else avoid a particular action. ( this perhaps means no procrastination)

Now unless a vedantin commits oneself to dharma, the gnanam does not stand firm. The reason being, a vedantins actions when not in conformance with dharma, are in opposition to the knowledge itself, which affirms that what is here is ishvara. Adharma is possible only from the point of view of the karta. To the vedantin who has assimilated that akarta is the truth and any actions appear to be so only due to the three gunas , which is ishvara, really speaking, there is no karma. There being no karma, there is no possibility of adharma as well. So what the gnani does, is dharma (from standpoint of agnani, since from the gnanis standpoint there is no karta karma etc. really speaking) , gnani being akarta. That is why we as a civilization have always taken advice on what needs to be done, from great gnanis and mahatmas.
The attempt of a mumukshu is to assimilate the vision of Vedanta, that ‘aham akarta, abhokta’, and till that vision is firmly held one must deliberately avoid adharma through purusharta nishchaya, which is sheer determination and effort. There is no shortcut around it.

Typically calling out , the neo vedanta wherein, this isnt affirmed. the new vedantin person says I am akarta, so doesnt matter what I do. We have heard instances where some guru fools his disciples / exploits and then says , I didnt do any of this. Really speaking this is a form of self delusion. If you are saying it doesnt matter what you do, you are already a doer. Understanding that I am non doer, can only be deemed complete with the firm understanding that action itself is impelled off the gunas as well as the prarabdha which is in essence ishvara or mithya. And what is satyam is the non doer. We cannot bypass ishvara and reach satyam, since satyam is ishvara alone, there doesnt exist an alternate satyam. And we cant understand ishvara without acknowledging dharma, since for the karta, dharma IS the primary introduction to ishvara.
Saying bye to dharma is like entering the building called ishvara ( 5 star hotel), meeting the watchman and saying hi to him and leaving. Saying, I have seen the watchman, i know what the building is now. One has to enter the building. Stay in there for a while and for that one has to keep the watchman happy to be able to continue the stay. Only after staying in the five star hotel of ishvara for a while, does he gain the necessary vairagya, viveka and atma bala to assimilate brahma gyanam. And for that one has to follow the rules of the 5 star hotel, otherwise the watchman will get you. This is dharma.
hara namah parvati pataye
hara hara mahadeva