Dharma is the actual path that you follow, using the knowledge that spirituality has given you: Manish Raisinghani

Mumbai: Actor Manish Raisinghani, who has featured in shows like Sapna Babul Ka…Bidaai, Sasural Simar Ka, Ek Shringaar- Swabhiman, Nima Denzongpa, and Katha Ankahee, among others, was recently invited as a guest on The Vedas Speak, a podcast hosted by Dr. Sammeer Arora that is being produced by Ajinkya Jadhav’s Paparazzi Entertainment. A proud Sindhi that he is, during the conversation, he not only shared his views on Dharma and religion but also spoke about what being spiritual truly means to him.
For him dharma is the path that every human being should follow, because it is a path leading towards moksha, enlightenment. He said, “It is the right path, and the right path can be called dharma. In simple words, spirituality is like a textbook. When we are children, we don’t know the alphabet, and we don’t know how to form words or sentences. So, we are taught from A to Z; we are taught tables and numbers so that we can express ourselves.”
“Spirituality is that institute, that book, that textbook, where we slowly take words and form sentences, and then interpret those sentences to understand that this sentence will lead us on the path of dharma; it will teach us how to walk on this path. So, spirituality is that, according to me, and dharma is the actual path that you follow, using the knowledge that spirituality has given you,” he added.
And for him, being spiritual also means fulfilling one’s responsibilities. He said, “Being a good son, which you are—I know it for a fact because I have seen the relationship you have with your parents—God bless them to have a son like you; that itself is spirituality. Just being a good person is spirituality. Whether a person follows a religion or not is not that important. What matters is being spiritual.”
Trained in martial arts, Manish shared that his spiritual journey began with the sport. He said, “I had won at the state level, national level, everything. I think I had won one battle twice. After that, a person becomes aware that, if you have fighting skills, you understand your own strength. I asked my master, ‘Sir, everyone else comes with all these fighting styles. They do flying kicks; they fly through the air. Why don’t you let me use them?’ He got up, touched the ground, and said, ‘Look, this is Mother Earth. As long as you hold onto her, she will support you. If you let go of her, how will she support you?’ That hit me.”
“For me, those were moments of spirituality because he connected me with myself. He made me realize that when we let go of the earth, we become the most vulnerable. Even though I had won nationally twice, he made me understand that I only win gold because I am grounded. If you let go of the earth, the support is gone, and then you are on your own, relying only on your own skill set,” he added.
That became a lesson for him because it was not just about martial arts but about life itself. He said, “As long as you are connected to the ground—connected to yourself—no one can shake you. When you abandon the path of truth, meaning your connection to yourself, you let go of your grounding. When you let go, your mind starts creating unnecessary drama.”
He went on to share that throughout his journey every teacher has kept him grounded. He said, “Swapna ji, another teacher of mine, directed me in five shows and kept me grounded.”
Manish is married to actress Sangeeta Chauhaan. He feels that keeping one’s inner child alive is also a form of spirituality, and he helped her with that. He said, “While I have lived seven lives in one, like a cat that has lived nine lives, she has not lived even one of those lives. I used to wonder why she was struggling with everything, and then I realized that she hadn’t been able to meet the child within her. The day we got married, I said one sentence to her: ‘Welcome back to childhood.’ She was numb for a few seconds. She couldn’t grasp it immediately, but it hit her deeply.”
“A few years later, she told me, ‘Manish, I have met my true child.’ She said she meets her own self every day now, and that becomes a journey within. She has evolved; she is happy. Instead of searching for happiness for herself, she is overflowing with happiness and serving society—unknowingly, because like a child, if you have something and someone asks for it, you give it. A child is the most spiritual form of a human being. And we are not able to meet ourselves for one simple reason: we have added ego and unnecessary frills,” he added.