Being Religious

Let me call this prompt my ‘comeback post’ after this long, self imposed hiatus.

It is too tempting a subject not to write on, though I have, for reasons best unrevealed, become an infrequent writer.

Self restraint, I realise, is very important for writing as well. Though not  inherently esoteric, the practice of self control itself is in-built into  religiousness.

Lately, being increasingly interested in South Korea as a country, I am surprised to learn that half of its population does not have or follow any religion. Then how and what do they live by?

The question stems from our age old belief that religion is what we are made up of. Our social, cultural, political and economic fabrics are intricately weaved into the matrix of religion. Our ethics and moral consciousness are deeply inspired by conventional religious teachings. We Indians cannot think away from or beyond religion. Whether we strictly follow religious rituals or not we think from the viewpoint of religion.

That’s how we are groomed by our elders. From listening to bedtime stories culled out of  religious or mythological scriptures to taking part in deeply ritualistic familial ceremonies, we get married to our religion in  infancy itself which is subsequently nurtured throughout our lives.

Breaking away from tradition is hard as it entails a carefree ‘don’t give a damn approach’ to  familial pressures, social castigation and fear of moving away from the cultural casement which we are so proud of.

In India it is difficult not to be religious. From our psyche to common conversation, everything tends to veer towards if not religion then definitely religious practices. Here I make a distinction between the two – the very concept and what we take away from it.

While  core religion has a vast connotation the practices are our take-aways. Indians are ritualistic as well as religious. If we do not follow rituals at given intervals we have this nagging self doubt that we are ignoring our religion. We all suffer from the dread of blasphemy!

Therefore, we are unable to conceptualize ethics, morality, good and healthy living and thinking, culture and social orderliness as standalone pillars of racial survival. Faced with an  emotional catastrophe, we are advised to seek strength from regular visits to places of worship. An aspirational dilemma, the best resolution is with God, “Ask from him.” Landing up with your coveted career, pay tribute to your family deity to preempt any untoward eventuality subsequently.

This  personal networking or perhaps negotiation with our ‘own Gods’ is omnipresent in our psyche – an anchor to rely on in times of need and deed. It may sound claustrophobic but it is not. Instead it is an abstract source of strength which lends confidance to our personalities, a backbone to avoid complete breakdown, a fibre keeping us afloat on the right side of humanism and a very special infusion of mystical compulsion to our day to day living.

Given the length and breadth of this sub continent what is grandly available to us is the freedom of how we wish to practice religion. It can be by following regular rituals, it can be through higher studies and contemplation, it can be by an ingrained child like faith in the Supreme Lord and it can be through pure and simple good thoughts and deeds. 

I guess I have spoken about this before. However, at the expense of repetition,  I shall re-tell  the story of a rich and spoilt girl who is made to believe she can have anything in this world because she is entitled to it. After losing her husband, whom she “owns” like all other possessions, to an ugly, older, scheming employee,  she turns to religion for strength to cope with her heartbreak. Surprisingly, she realises she has never been tutored to be religious. She accosts her parents with a compelling question, “Why have you left me ungroomed? Do you realise how lonely you have made me?”

Though this story belongs to someplace else,  the query is universal. How diffident and feeble we are without religion.

Although it is taught that religion has been instrumental in socially organizing the primitive hunters and later  tarnished history igniting feuds, factions, war and mass destruction, dissociating religion from politics is an impossibility in our country. Even economic growth is intertwined with religious perceptions. All this and many prove a basic fact that mankind has created religion for its own benefit but is now chained to it.

So not practising religion is out of question.

Yet what remains to be explored is how to make religion more relevant in today’s divided humanity. Where capturing the space is a political agenda, we blissfully give in to limit and objectify infinity into something controllable. Can an overambitious species grapple and be comfortable with the presence of an indefinable and invincible authority which has its own inexplicable machination of toppling down what we have cumulated so far so fastidiously? Perhaps not. That is why we want to comprehend and command the Universe.

Can we extricate ourselves from the realms of well purposed but decidedly narrow peripheries that religion provides to an elevated and unifying stature of spiritualism? I believe the thumb rules of all religions are the same. Unfortunately, we focus more on the variant paths in place of the ultimate goal to be reached.

Can we redirect our well targetted administrative plannings to building  an all comprehensive  ethos, irrespective of sovereign boundaries,  where our spiritual heritage will be safe for posterity ? I guess if imagination is employed in proper measure and horizons of a meaningful future is widened the project itself can be a singular, global endeavour.

I believe, in due course, of course.