It’s a secure feeling, isn’t it? We have someone to turn to in crisis, someone to blame at in our failures and most importantly someone to look up to for HOPE- the omnipotent, the omnipresent, the omniscient- the GOD. It’s a secure feeling to believe that he exists and not many can reject it. So let me express my feelings not about GOD, but about religion and the reality in religion.
Diwali, Holi, Sankranthi, etc. - this is what religion is for many of the Hindus. All through our childhood we are made to believe that X, Y, Z etc are the Gods and that we should respect and follow the traditions of our religion. As children we were supposed to believe them and when we come to an age capable enough to think, understand and then believe, none of us has the time or courage to verify the authenticity of those childhood beliefs.
Though many of the practices we follow can be explained scientifically, how can we ignore the atrocities happening in the name of religion, the caste system, the male domination, the superstitions? Why are people donating crores of rupees to temples when there are crores of people without shelter?
But, let me tell you all this is not religion. According to me, the foundations of any religion lie in the core values not practices. Dharmam, Sathyam, Ahimsa etc. -this is the real religion. The form it is in now is as a result of the transformation it has undergone for the past 3000 years. It’s the same religion that told us that ‘Manavaseve Madhavaseva’. So, let’s accept our religion as a set of values and relate it to today’s world. Let’s learn to respect our religion and make it real and relevant.
“I’m a human and yes I’m a Hindu,
Inspired by the preachings not traditions.
I’m an agnostic, yet I’m a Hindu,
Bound to the religion by values not practices.”
