It's hard to say, why religion exists? Hard to understand, why it becomes a mass-accumulator. Easy to see why people fall trap to its social herdings..it gives them an identity. Man is in search of an Identity, about who he is, all his life. Religion has the intoxic mix of spiritual and social gathering. We feel connected with the group socially and spiritually.
But see the toll it takes. It divides man from man. People get defined by their religious beliefs. And worse, sometimes that seems to hold true!
These days there's a new controversy: Hindu saints saying Sai Baba not be worshipped.
Regardless of anybody's opinion, why do they have to get didactic. This is not what religion, and especially the Hindu way of life, was meant to be.
Religion started off, and should've stayed as an individual's journey. An invidual's journey to self-realization. Social norms should have been kept separate and not intertwined with religious norms. In that I respect the Hinduism religion being the most tolerant; not enforcing the individual to any practice. I think it became a social accumulation more as a response to other religions who were able to exert influence around the world, by commanding mass gathering, fellowship and rules.
But regardless, every religion should not intervene with individual freedom. These days, the much-hated "western culture" has brought about that good. Little do they realize that people even in western societies follow strict religious norms. It's more an individual choice there though, than something enforced. And that's how it should stay!
Let religious influences, on either side of the pendulum, be discouraged, a heady concoction though it might be. Let religion be encouraged as an individual's journey, his/her search or pursuit. Let religious intermingling be encouraged in all social institutions, celebrations, and even marriage. And those who dislike the idea, let's tell them to "Take a Hike!"
But see the toll it takes. It divides man from man. People get defined by their religious beliefs. And worse, sometimes that seems to hold true!
These days there's a new controversy: Hindu saints saying Sai Baba not be worshipped.
Regardless of anybody's opinion, why do they have to get didactic. This is not what religion, and especially the Hindu way of life, was meant to be.
Religion started off, and should've stayed as an individual's journey. An invidual's journey to self-realization. Social norms should have been kept separate and not intertwined with religious norms. In that I respect the Hinduism religion being the most tolerant; not enforcing the individual to any practice. I think it became a social accumulation more as a response to other religions who were able to exert influence around the world, by commanding mass gathering, fellowship and rules.
But regardless, every religion should not intervene with individual freedom. These days, the much-hated "western culture" has brought about that good. Little do they realize that people even in western societies follow strict religious norms. It's more an individual choice there though, than something enforced. And that's how it should stay!
Let religious influences, on either side of the pendulum, be discouraged, a heady concoction though it might be. Let religion be encouraged as an individual's journey, his/her search or pursuit. Let religious intermingling be encouraged in all social institutions, celebrations, and even marriage. And those who dislike the idea, let's tell them to "Take a Hike!"
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