It is most certainly a matter of personal choice about how a person applies religion to one’s life. Whatever maybe its meaning to people, it is almost always taken to be a positive influence in ones life. Common sense would force us to believe that it first originated in man’s mind and hence is man made! Faith in a supreme power is almost a necessity in men almost like food and water. It is a means for survival, a vital social need.
When science was yet in its prenatal stage, man was bewildered and awed by the powers and the wonders of nature. There had to be a way to explain nature’s breath-taking beauty and at the same time its tremendous ferociousness. Nature is therefore the foundation and inspiration behind the great social institution called religion!!
Even today, what drives each man’s conviction in the supremacy of Him are phenomena that defy all logic and rationality: such as, events that cannot be understood by a man’s mind, factors that we believe play a very important part in our lives (chance and luck), incidents that leave us utterly helpless. Man’s faith feeds on these uncontrolled aspects of his life.
The search to understand and know the divine power leads us closer to our own soul. The quest to know Him is actually a journey towards knowing ourselves better and better, to find our purpose in life. In other words, it makes us spiritual and meditative. It then heals us, makes us calm, peaceful and content.
Praying is a way of talking to ones owns ‘self’. Through prayer, we may find solutions to our most difficult problems. It gives us the strength to pass through life’s roughest patches. The strength that we derive from prayer is the force that is within ourselves.
Each person’s intellect and the level at which his/her mind functions, decides what religion means to him/her. Of course, our upbringing, customs, culture and society play the most important role in determining our relationship with Him. What is once written on a child’s mind leaves a permanent mark and cannot be wiped out, no matter what, in his/her later life. Therefore, parents hand down ‘god’ to children like every other thing in their lives.
Our belief and faith fulfil our most important social and psychological needs. It is not a matter of great surprise that no one wants to face and own up its evil consequences. Questioning the maddening havoc and destruction caused by religion in every part of the world shakes the very root of our belief in Him and the purpose of ‘dharma’. It is certainly better to turn a blind eye to this devastation and lead blissful lives!!
