Various religions offer various practices to obtain salvation. Christians propose belief in Jesus and his dying on the cross as what can lead the soul to salvation. Modern Indian schools of Yoga recommend sitting cross-legged, focusing the mind between the eyebrows, and achieving mental standstill as the way to Samadhi (super-consciousness). Muslims insist that performing certain rituals at certain times is required to reach Jannah (heaven). Chinese Buddhism posits that repeating the name of "Amituofo" will lead to being reborn into the pure land of Buddha in the next life.
Noble indeed are these practices, but none of them are enough on their own. Indeed, we need "all" these practices together to truly make progress. For man is composed of various bodies and aspects—physical, emotional, mental, psychic, spiritual, etc.—and each requires its own practices and maintenance.
Along these lines, we do various practices similar to these religions on our path. We practice meditation, mindfulness, worship, chanting, repetition of the name, etc. We agree and approve of all these practices. But there is one practice missing from most religions today, and that is the practice of "good works." And this is the practice that, among all others, produces the "most" spiritual elevation and progress. And it is not an accident that all religions today ignore and downplay the importance of this practice, for Evil always hits the most important part of the machine.
Now, what are "good works"? Internally, it is to develop virtues in ourselves, to develop good attributes and behavior, good manners, a gentle and natural character, ethics and moral understanding, empathy, courage, and other noble qualities. Externally, it is to ease others' pains; it is to solve society's problems; it is to treat others with respect; it is to care about the environment, about trees, about rivers, and never pollute them; it is to be considerate and not disturb others. At more advanced stages of the path, good works also include opposing oppression and injustice in society, and fighting bullies and the evils of the day, even at the cost of one's life.
Good works and the efforts and struggles they entail may seem wearisome, but they produce the greatest spiritual progress, the greatest light in the heart of the aspirant: the light of joy, which is true joy; the light of peace, which is true peace; and the much sought-after state.
The Mahabharata war described in the Hindu epic never ended; it is still on. Similarly, the struggle of Haftkhan described in the Persian epic Shahnameh never ended and is still on. These symbolize the battle of life indeed: when the armies of Light and Darkness are arrayed against each other, when God and Evil willed for a battle within a certain time, there formed the life and essence of this world.
Thus, this life is a battle between Good and Evil, as ancient wisdom testifies in allegorical or non-allegorical language. We are made for this battle, and our salvation lies in our "participation" in this battle. And participation means doing "good works" of various forms and levels. More participation, more perfection; more damage, more improvement; more engagement, more peace. And this explains the dilemma of life for those with deep understanding, and the importance and centrality of good works in our salvation and spiritual progress. Without good works, practically, there will be no salvation.
It is unfortunate to see that most, and even all, religions today do not emphasize good works. Instead, they focus on meditation, rituals, faith, and other acts. They do not offer many practices for developing patience, courage, good behavior, and other virtues, nor do they actively perform service and charity work in society, nor do they do anything to fight oppression and injustice. More unfortunate is that some of these religions and paths even explicitly avoid doing good works by considering this world as something worthless and unrelated to man's salvation, such as it being the result of sin, or Maya, or illusion, etc.
This is not a good picture of a religion and spiritual path that its adherents perform all types of rituals and meditation but do nothing in the external world, and whose manner shows no virtue or moral level beyond an average person. Today we see Christians perform a service ritual at church, but when they step out of the church, they treat others with no empathy and no respect. Muslims pray five times a day but have zero consideration for others. New Agers spend their morning in meditation or yoga practices of some sort and then spend the rest of their day creating more problems than solutions for the world. All of these occur because these religions and paths do not heed good works and virtues in the way they should.
As far as life in this world is concerned, good works are like the fruits of all spiritual practices, and you will be judged by others based on your actions and behavior more than the length and depth of your solo meditations or rituals. Ultimately, our religion is judged by our actions, and if we perform no meritorious action and exhibit no virtue and manner, then people will turn away from our religion, and subsequently from religion in general. This way, spirituality is undermined, and corruption will take over the world (as it has today).
Thus, we must do good works alongside other spiritual practices and give them priority. If I woke up early this morning and meditated or prayed to God, afterward I should come out of the house and treat others with good behavior, and help someone, and solve some problem. When religion is practiced in a city and people worship God in a temple daily, afterward we should see that equality is established in that city, justice is established in that city, nobody struggles, nobody is left alone, and so on. If we see such results today, then it means our religion is on the right path and is producing "fruits." If not, then as John the Baptist said: "every tree that bears not good fruit shall be axed and thrown into furnace" (Matthew 3:10), where by fruit it means good manners, good behavior, consideration, caring, justice, equality, and other good deeds as described in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
Arguably, today's religions do not produce such fruits. The fact that all the power and money fell into the hands of evil people today is because the spiritual and good people do nothing other than meditation, prayer, and other private actions in their closets. They sit and stare all the time, while greedy people race for power and control.
God and good works cannot be separated, just as fire and its heat. And that is why we say good works and virtues are the most important part of our path. For good works and virtues are attributes and manifestations of the Divine, and when we perform them, we become like unto Divine and closer to It. Similarly, vices and defects are attributes of Evil, and when we perform them, we become like Evil and closer to it. So a two-way fork is ahead of us in all situations, and we should choose the right path: the path of goodness and virtue.
We should keep our place of living clean and organized, since cleanliness and organization are attributes and manifestations of God, while dirtiness and mess are attributes of Evil. We should have respectful behavior since respect is an attribute of God, while rudeness and insolence are attributes of Evil. In the same way, we should maintain all other good deeds and virtues.
Followers of our religion are not to be known by any special clothing or special haircut, but by their good manners and actions, which like the scent of a flower attract others to our religion, and it will spread on the face of the earth organically like the spring breeze. And this way, no father has to force his son to go to the temple, and the son will go by himself, and no missionary has to go to remote continents to evangelize, and people will come to him themselves. For people go where they see love and goodness.