isupportaap
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Religion has been there since human existence began, and I believe it will be there, till it ends whatever one may say. Religion grew out of the need for man to define the cause and purpose of the universe, of life, the answer to the question "Who am I?". It is more or less a moral code, governing the human conduct, laying down the rules for society.
Superstitions on the other hand are beliefs that are often irrational or age old myths. Walking under a ladder, spilling salt in home brings you bad luck. Or it is inauspicious if a black cat crosses your path. Or using a good luck charm, or some stone that is supposed to bring you luck. It does not actually dictate your life, or what code of conduct you need to follow.
Now coming to the question, would India have been a better/more progressive nation had it's people been less religious?
Let us take an example, you own a start up, employing around say 50 people. You believe deeply in a God X, pray to him regularly, observe a fast on a day dedicated to him, and do not believe in starting any work on that day. You also have an idol or at least some representation of your God, at your workplace, and make it a point to pray daily before you start work.
So far so good, none of your employees have an issue with whom you worship, or what is essentially your own personal belief. Now let us say you pass an order, stating that all employees in your office must worship only the God you worship and they must bow before the deity before starting the day's work. You state that they must fast on the day you fast, and they should start no work on that auspicious day. The problem here is that among your 50 odd employees, there are some who have more faith in God Y, and while some may share your faith in God X, they do not necessarily believe in fasting on that day, or not doing any work. And there are some among them, who might not believe in any God for that matter.
When your faith and religion is a personal matter, no one really has an issue. It is when you insist that your religion is only the right way, and try imposing it on others, the problems begin to arise. Contrary to popular opinion, being religious does not necessarily mean being backward thinking. Social reformers like Swami Dayananda, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Ramana Maharshi were deeply devout in their own life. Tamil Brahmins are one of the most religious community in India, very conservative in their personal life, yet some of India's greatest scientists, thinkers have hailed from this group. Jains, Marwaris are deeply religious and conservative, they also happen to be one of the more enterprising community in India. The Sikhs dress as per their religion,do not smoke, and they have been the most enterprising, hard working people in India too.
Religion is what you follow in your personal life, a code of conduct, you feel is necessary for you to do well in life. At a larger level, the code of conduct applied to people following the particular religion. The problem began when a group of people anointed themselves the "custodians" or "protectors of religions", they began to dictate what the State must do, making up their own rules, just to protect their own hegemony. And this is what happened in India, self proclaimed "custodians" desiring to perpetuate their rule, distorted the original religious texts for their own selfish purpose.
Take the taboo of Kala Pani, which stated that any one crossing the seven seas, would not be reborn again, and they would lose their identity. What this meant was that for a large period of time, Hindus did not envisage any interest in maritime commerce and trade, leaving the Arabs and European nations to dominate the area. Now when did this taboo come into place, I really do not know. Because Ancient India, had a rich maritime history, with traders traveling extensively to South East Asia and Arabia. The Hindu heritage of South East Asia, be it Angkor Wat or the Ramayan versions in Indonesia was a result of this exchange. The Cholas had a history of undertaking maritime expeditions to Malaya, both militarily and later on for trade purposes.Yet somewhere in between the taboo came in, and the result we lost our predominance on the seas. Just imagine how different the history of India would have been, if we had developed our maritime capabilities.
The above was just one of the examples, but more often than not religious leaders perpetuated ignorance and backwardness, in order to protect their hegemony. They distorted the meanings of the text, and refused to evolve with the times. Most of the traditions prescribed by religion were made keeping the circumstances of the day in mind, over a period of time, they really outlived their utility, and they had no place in a modern world. And that is why we keep seeing all those ridiculous fatwas that have no basis or background anywhere.There was no concept of vaccination itself when the Quran was made, how could the Prophet prescribe whether polio vaccination was haram or not? Where in the Vedas or Upanishads was education forbidden or proscribed for women,it never was, so why were women not allowed education in later times?
My belief is that religion should always be a personal affair, we can't allow a bunch of self styled custodians to impose their religious views on society or on governance, administration. I am a religious person myself, believe in God, have my own superstitions, but would never let that influence my professional life, or in my social interactions with other people. Religion can't and must not be allowed to have a say in the day to day affairs or administration or governance, and even more so in a country like India that has a diversity of religious faiths. Unfortunately secularism in India has come to mean vote bank politics, with politicians pandering to fundamentalist leaders of all hues, for sake of power. These so called "religious leaders" then try dictating what the State should do, or how it should govern. I would not want to paint all of them with the same brush however, there are a whole lot of religious leaders and organizations doing yeoman service to society through their work. But there are a whole lot of others, who have not been just backward in their thinking, but also have a record of fraud, indulging in land grabbing, it is these fake swamis,babas.shadhus that our political leaders seem to love more than the genuine ones.
Superstitions on the other hand are beliefs that are often irrational or age old myths. Walking under a ladder, spilling salt in home brings you bad luck. Or it is inauspicious if a black cat crosses your path. Or using a good luck charm, or some stone that is supposed to bring you luck. It does not actually dictate your life, or what code of conduct you need to follow.
Now coming to the question, would India have been a better/more progressive nation had it's people been less religious?
Let us take an example, you own a start up, employing around say 50 people. You believe deeply in a God X, pray to him regularly, observe a fast on a day dedicated to him, and do not believe in starting any work on that day. You also have an idol or at least some representation of your God, at your workplace, and make it a point to pray daily before you start work.
So far so good, none of your employees have an issue with whom you worship, or what is essentially your own personal belief. Now let us say you pass an order, stating that all employees in your office must worship only the God you worship and they must bow before the deity before starting the day's work. You state that they must fast on the day you fast, and they should start no work on that auspicious day. The problem here is that among your 50 odd employees, there are some who have more faith in God Y, and while some may share your faith in God X, they do not necessarily believe in fasting on that day, or not doing any work. And there are some among them, who might not believe in any God for that matter.
When your faith and religion is a personal matter, no one really has an issue. It is when you insist that your religion is only the right way, and try imposing it on others, the problems begin to arise. Contrary to popular opinion, being religious does not necessarily mean being backward thinking. Social reformers like Swami Dayananda, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Ramana Maharshi were deeply devout in their own life. Tamil Brahmins are one of the most religious community in India, very conservative in their personal life, yet some of India's greatest scientists, thinkers have hailed from this group. Jains, Marwaris are deeply religious and conservative, they also happen to be one of the more enterprising community in India. The Sikhs dress as per their religion,do not smoke, and they have been the most enterprising, hard working people in India too.
Religion is what you follow in your personal life, a code of conduct, you feel is necessary for you to do well in life. At a larger level, the code of conduct applied to people following the particular religion. The problem began when a group of people anointed themselves the "custodians" or "protectors of religions", they began to dictate what the State must do, making up their own rules, just to protect their own hegemony. And this is what happened in India, self proclaimed "custodians" desiring to perpetuate their rule, distorted the original religious texts for their own selfish purpose.
Take the taboo of Kala Pani, which stated that any one crossing the seven seas, would not be reborn again, and they would lose their identity. What this meant was that for a large period of time, Hindus did not envisage any interest in maritime commerce and trade, leaving the Arabs and European nations to dominate the area. Now when did this taboo come into place, I really do not know. Because Ancient India, had a rich maritime history, with traders traveling extensively to South East Asia and Arabia. The Hindu heritage of South East Asia, be it Angkor Wat or the Ramayan versions in Indonesia was a result of this exchange. The Cholas had a history of undertaking maritime expeditions to Malaya, both militarily and later on for trade purposes.Yet somewhere in between the taboo came in, and the result we lost our predominance on the seas. Just imagine how different the history of India would have been, if we had developed our maritime capabilities.
The above was just one of the examples, but more often than not religious leaders perpetuated ignorance and backwardness, in order to protect their hegemony. They distorted the meanings of the text, and refused to evolve with the times. Most of the traditions prescribed by religion were made keeping the circumstances of the day in mind, over a period of time, they really outlived their utility, and they had no place in a modern world. And that is why we keep seeing all those ridiculous fatwas that have no basis or background anywhere.There was no concept of vaccination itself when the Quran was made, how could the Prophet prescribe whether polio vaccination was haram or not? Where in the Vedas or Upanishads was education forbidden or proscribed for women,it never was, so why were women not allowed education in later times?
My belief is that religion should always be a personal affair, we can't allow a bunch of self styled custodians to impose their religious views on society or on governance, administration. I am a religious person myself, believe in God, have my own superstitions, but would never let that influence my professional life, or in my social interactions with other people. Religion can't and must not be allowed to have a say in the day to day affairs or administration or governance, and even more so in a country like India that has a diversity of religious faiths. Unfortunately secularism in India has come to mean vote bank politics, with politicians pandering to fundamentalist leaders of all hues, for sake of power. These so called "religious leaders" then try dictating what the State should do, or how it should govern. I would not want to paint all of them with the same brush however, there are a whole lot of religious leaders and organizations doing yeoman service to society through their work. But there are a whole lot of others, who have not been just backward in their thinking, but also have a record of fraud, indulging in land grabbing, it is these fake swamis,babas.shadhus that our political leaders seem to love more than the genuine ones.
. You do need a birth certificate from me.
