~Yeh Kya Bol Raha Hai?
For the past few months I've been studying World History for my SAT Subject Tests and while I was studying I figured something out. This is probably just something someone out there's been thinking through and through, and I'm a sure a few buggers will say "Haan toh? I've heard/thought of it all before", but that hardly matters. I think it's time that I say what's been on my mind for some time now.
Religion, as I've learnt, has changed. It's changed a lot. I'm not going to go into the details of how. Wikipedia will tell you that.
What caught my attention was how easily it changed. If you read through world history you'll realize that every few hundred years, you either have a new religion springing up somewhere or an old religion getting altered a little to fit the place, people and time.
Christianity readily adopted pagan holidays and traditions to ease the transition of people into Christianity. In Japan, when Buddhism was adopted, it was eventually mixed with Shinto, the native religion of the Japanese. Hinduism is another example. Hindus believe that the Cow is a sacred animal purely because when that particular rule was made up, Cows were the most important commodity around.
It sounds harsh but in all honesty, it's true. And it makes me wonder really hard whether religion is the path to salvation or just something to give you that feel good factor.
Think about it, and you might come to the kind of conclusion that I came to.
Religion is like the security at a Mall or a 5 Star Hotel in Mumbai (at least). The security isn't even close to being able to keep a man with a gun/bomb out. It's just there to give the people going in a False Sense of Safety. An Assurance that can not be fulfilled. Rituals are the same. How can God be won over by offerings and chants? If it really was that easy, the effects would be evident. We are such fools to believe that the path to salvation is as superficial as this. May be we never knew better. May be we just chose to ignore all the facts.
Most of us can't really help it now can we? Religion gives us a high. Makes us feel better about things in general. Makes it all a little more bearable. Religion is a lie. A lie many of believe in purely because we have nothing else to hold us up.
~Break that glass wall down.
See, religion answers questions the way a parent would answer the questions of a child. It's horribly dimwitted. Take free will for example. We all have Free Will. But if we don't live according to the outlines that GOD has provided us with, we're gonna go to hell. It's like God's telling us to pick and colour as long as it's Red. Reality doesn't work that way!
Question the answers you're given by religion and you'll come to a point where the false sense of logic that religion brings just breaks. You don't even have to go to blurry fields like Metaphysics. Very simple questions do the trick.
Example:
Sindhi's can't eat meat on Tuesdays. Why? Because Tuesday is Bhagvaan ka din. (God's day). Why is Tuesday Bhagvaan ka din? Well folks! Here's where the long story comes into play! If you're lucky, you won't get an answer at all.
One More:
How does the Ramayan make any sense at all? Talking Monkeys? A Monkey God that could change sizes and fly mountains around? Come on! I've asked a few Sants about this and they've told me that it was a "Yug" (Age) where animals could talk.
What? How does that make sense? Well it doesn't. The Logic breaks. It makes no sense. And I will not buy it.
Religion is a fickle thing. The cheapest, most abundant High. The easiest lie. One that will not die.
Religion is a fickle thing. And I know better than to care much for it.
But enough for now.
I think I'll talk about the Harsh Realities soon.
