"Today is
Tuesday. Don't get a haircut". "Don't wash clothes. Its Thursday
today". "Aaj Saturday hai. Don't buy the car today. Its inauspicious
to buy an iron item today". "Arrey shaam ho gayi. Ab jhaadu nhi
lagate". "Raat ko nails nhi kaata karte".
I am sure most of you would have heard these from your
elders around you. We all have grown up listening to all such phrases. I belong
to a Hindu family and I will be honest, I have heard one such thing almost every
day. And the feeling of hatred and even curses to whoever made such
"stupid" rules, ooze out your brain. Sometimes you suppress that
uncomfortable feeling and while at times you revolt and that’s when you have to
hear a senseless explanation as to why you are told, what you are told!
Most of the things that we are told to believe in, for the
sake of religion, as a ritual or as a superstition are not worth following!!
All of them are just some man-made myths without any scientific or a physical
proof available! And for the greater good of the mankind, I believe, these
myths should be banished!
I am not against any religious belief. Religion should be
practiced for the greater peace of mind and soul. I really appreciate the way
India has evolved as a secular state with so many religions evolving on one
holy land. The process of learning and teaching from and to other religions has
been incredible (Though sometimes it gets disturbing when riots happen and
bombings take place and religious cause is blamed for it while political gains
are the main culprits behind it. But that's off topic for now!!). Belief should
provide inner peace and not hinder growth. I have seen a sneeze cancelling a
big businessman's highly profitable deal and a cat crossing the way forcing a
friend to miss his flight 'coz his parents thought that the plane might crash.
While one is a medical condition another is an uncontrollable animal. Was it
fair and justified?
Superstition is given the name and backing of the society.
Since, society follows this, we should follow it too! But why? Nobody knows the
answer. For example many of you must have heard “Don’t use broom after sunset”. This one had (mind the word had) a logical
relevance. Long ago in India, when most of the population lived in rural areas,
electricity was not so common in households and the only source of light was
the sun for many houses. People would not clean their houses after sunset lest
they should unknowingly sweep out something valuable. It made perfect sense
then and still does in areas without electricity. But why there is any need to
follow it now when our rooms have a CFL, an additional lamp maybe, and drawing
rooms have a big chandelier. There is ample light even after sunset Tell me why, why can’t I sweep away the dirt
that's in my house after sunset? Can’t I make my place look good after sunset?
We all have some hard-core-chicken-eating friends. Some of
them are the funniest bunch. They have this theory that they will not eat
chicken on specific days because it is the day of one of "their" Gods. Now guys, you are
non-vegetarian. You "sacrifice" by not eating chicken, by not
sacrificing an animal on some specific days to 'please and survive the wrath'
of your loving Gods. At times I wonder
how much inferiority complex would other Gods (for the day on which they eat
chicken) feel. True to say, in India, people do not worship God, they fear from
it. Since childhood, we are taught "Don't do it, else God will punish
you". A child restricts himself to an imaginary phenomenon called God. He
never realizes what it looks like, the only thing that it knows is if he does
anything without the consent of his parents, God will punish him. And then restricting him from experiments would only limit his knowledge. Love God, don't fear
Him.
I am not judging anyone and neither do I expect anyone to
change the way they think. My only point is to make these people realize that
religious beliefs and myths(read Superstition) are two opposite concepts. While
one promotes a promising life, other leads to a miserable and empty soul
without any peace of mind. Think before you follow and think a hundred times
before such myths are preached, especially to an innocent child because you
would never know what repercussions it would cause him in the later stages of
his life.
I don't know since when, but I picked up this habit of
questioning these myths. Mind you, it does make some people very-very
uncomfortable largely because they don't have any explanation for it. They have
been blindly following such practices and abandoning them just makes them nervous.
What’s more they expect the same from others too!
The graphic below is true satire to the practices which are
followed without any logic behind them. The essence highlighted here pertains
to many day to day scenarios including superstition. It shows a common human
nature. We are scared of change and instead of changing ourselves or situation
around us, we adapt to them. This adaptability is unknowingly taking a toll on
us. We do not give a damn to the reason. But since "it is the way things are done here" we do it that way and move
on. No one realizes that things made sense then and today, it holds no
relevance. Moreover, if someone else tries to do something different we pull
him back saying "Dude!!! That's not the way it is done". Go through
it and think over!
Lastly I have this question to my Dear Darwin. Have the
humans really evolved?
