Religion Ltd.

“God is one of the greatest inventions of man” – when I first read this statement I found it a very funny statement and wondered at the level of atheism that the statement denoted. Through the course of my experience, I have moved from disagreement to complete agreement with this statement and then moved on to a pragmatic balanced thought. Before I explain this course of my experience and evolution of thoughts, I wish to share a few thoughts about the aspect of ‘spirituality’, which has enticed the human mind from time immemorial. The domain of spirituality has been one of the most experimented and variedly explained areas in the history of mankind. At the basic level most of us associate spirituality with religion and further hold our induced perception of ‘god’. In fact these aspects become so important that they become the way and pursuit of life for many. Although these are non conflicting aspects when construed in a perverted sense, the so called religion can create mystic paths that more often confuse than convince people about divinity and spirituality. Thus we give room for critics to make statements like “God is one of the greatest inventions of man”.

Religion and spirituality are domains which are interlinked and some time synonymously used, but it is important to know that there is an ocean of difference between the two. Religion is an aspect, which can be termed as a social thought born out of a synergy of many evolving thoughts, which define the relationship between man and the so called almighty and thus maintaining the sense of morality in humans. In a broader sense religion ‘should be’ a refined set of ideas that can inspire individual to the more pervasive area of spirituality. Now, spirituality is an aspect which has to be dealt separately, but what is to be remembered is that the religion cannot take over the aspect of spirituality which is completely an individual domain and no ‘religious dogmas’ can claim a complete manifestation of this. This is the aspect which creates conflict for a thinking mind because more often than not religion and its interpreters in form of gurus, priests, missionaries, ulemas try to put forth religion as the sole bridge between the individual and almighty. This is manifested in different imaginations of gods which play a central role in every religion and emphasized with the numerous rituals and stricture like procedures, which are supposed to appease these gods! While these are pushed down to the individuals through formidable channels of society one simple question is often ignored. The question of why the creator or the almighty would require any kind of appeasement from his own creations?

It becomes even more complex when religion surpasses its role and starts dictating the material aspects of lifelike social interactions, political and economic life. When religion, which runs on dogmas, having no room to evolve start dictating every aspect of life, then it will be literally surrendering to a ‘ghost of the past’. However I’m not negating the importance of religion, but I’m merely indicating that religion should and can have only a limited room of influence in our life.

As Gandhi mentioned religion is very important in social life to preserve and inspire the sanctuary of morality in an individual. But inspirations should not try encompassing every domain which will jeopardize the balance of society acting like a dam stopping a flowing river and thus creating uncontrollable floods moving in all the perverted directions. It is when these perverted notions start developing that religion becomes a instrument to control masses, which is what most religions across the globe have turned in to. Every irrelevant aspect is brought under the domain of religion to gain legitimacy and thus the so called religion become rotten rag used to bundle all the ills of the society. No wonder the sacred sanctuary keeper called religion become the ‘the opium for masses’, which is rationed out by those who wield power.