THE PRISON OF MYTHS, RITUALS, AND SUPERSTITION
It is very sad that more than connecting us to God, Religions have created a prison of myth, ritual, and superstition, which imprisons us in ignorance. They promote so many dogmas that we get paralyzed in these religious concepts. We live and die in this darkness and though we love God and believe in God, we are unable to realize God.
All Religions believe in myth
It is not just one Religion, but rather all Religions believe in myth in some way or the other. Religion starts with praying to God and loving God but beyond that, Religion becomes a theology that practices so many rituals, dogmas, and superstitions that the focus on God is lost. We are so very focused on the act of performing the ritual that we forget God. Our goal is God, but Religion makes that second to the practices that we are made to follow. Whether it be going to church on a Sunday, a mosque on Friday or a temple on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday or celebrating Easter or Maha Shivratri or Ramzan, be it celebrating the birthday of Jesus or fasting during Ramadan, Religions have many rituals that seems to be an act of faith but unfortunately they take away our attention from realizing God.
All Religions have these rituals to follow. Sometimes, it is not the saint who started the Religion but the followers who institutionalize these rituals. However, the rituals are now not just a part of the Religion but a priority for its followers. Unfortunately, we get caught in this maze and we remain distant from realizing God.
Why do we teach our children about Santa Claus?
Although we know that Santa is a myth, why do we still teach our children about Santa? Why are we coaching our little ones to believe in a lie? This is the problem with all Religions. We teach children certain things that make it a core part of their belief system. As they grow, they are unable to get out of it. They become prisoners of these myths and this stops them from realizing the Truth. Hindu families teach their kids that Lord Shiva one day got angry and cut off the head of his son, only to later replace it with the head of an elephant! This now becomes the worldfamous Lord Ganesha who is prayed to with reverence. There is no harm in praying to a God but believing that these are the real Gods that we must pray to offering them Ladoos, Indian sweets and other offerings that please the Gods are an act of ignorance. We can offer God anything with our love but we must be conscious that our God is allpowerful and needs nothing, not the sweets or other offerings which are in any case sourced from his creation. Spirituality believes that more important than all these rituals is to go on a quest and to realize God.
Although we know that several superstitions and rituals are meaningless, we still follow them hoping they will bring us “good luck”. In the end, we become miserable because of our own ignorance, ignorance that is triggered by Religion and can finally be overcome by Spirituality.
Does God actually have an elephant head?
We all know this with our common sense as something false, something that is purely mythological. Why then do we continue to believe in such forms? And not just that, we continue to teach our children and future generations to believe in these myths. Isn’t it really sad that instead of helping our families to overcome myth, we encourage them to follow these mythological tales?
In Hinduism, it is said that if you die in Kashi, you will go straight to heaven. How can we educated people believe in such stories? People pack up all their belongings and go live in Kashi waiting to die! It’s not just in Hinduism, but in all Religions of the world such strange superstitions exist. We believe in heaven and hell on some distant planet, although we know that we don’t go there, as the body is very much cremated or buried on planet earth. Then how is the myth of us going to heaven to be rewarded or to hell to be punished true? Why do we believe in such myths and let our children grow up with them?
Who has seen heaven or hell?
While many Religions talk of heaven and hell, has anybody actually seen these physical destinations? These are just a figment of the imagination of some religious scriptures. Even the Bible says, “the kingdom of heaven is within you”. But still, its followers believe the teachings, that post-death, we will go there for the final day of judgement. Instead of spending our time searching for the Truth, we live and die believing in mythological tales that take us nowhere. Whether it is heaven or hell, Jannat or Jahannum, it hardly matters! This is not about criticizing the beliefs of any particular Religion. It is about myths in all Religions of the world that most unfortunately, make us distant from God. This is not the objective of Religion, but without realizing it, Religion creates a gap between God and His followers, something it does not intend to do.
It just happens due to rituals, dogmas, and superstitions.
The body perishes here, but Religion takes it to God
In ancient civilizations, there was a lot of fog on the Truth about death. While till date, nobody has uncovered the mystery of birth and death, we see that every human being born on earth dies. At death, the life inside the human departs leaving the body here, to be cremated or buried. Where then is the possibility of us going to a distant heaven or hell, if the body itself returns to dust? Still, we innocently follow our Religion and believe that after our life is over, we will go to face our God in heaven if we live a good life or a hell if we are sinners.
When will we question these beliefs to discover the Truth? Religions continue to hold us against their dictate by insisting on this belief to be true and that it must be followed. Instead, if we try to go on a quest and understand who we truly are, body, mind or Soul, we could realize the Truth about God. If the body becomes dust then who actually goes to heaven or hell, and if we go, then how do we travel there, and if we somehow reach there, then who experiences the judgement if the body has perished? Will it be by some magic that the body will be recreated or will it be through another body in another birth that we will face the final date of judgement?
Religion must be very clear in its theology and not confuse its followers. This is what makes us live and die in ignorance and we don’t realize the Truth.
Religions imprison us in Ignorance
It’s very sad, but it’s true that though Religions don’t intend to, they imprison us in prisons of ignorance which lead us to misery and sorrow. We don’t realize the Truth about God and we remain distant from God. We are unable to truly love our Divine Master though we have such strong devotion and yearning for God. This is because of the unintentional misunderstanding that is created by Religion which causes us misery and sorrow.
Because of superstitions, we start to believe that if we go around the pedestal of God one time or a hundred times or a thousand times, then we will find God. We believe that God can be found on a faraway pilgrimage and we spend all our life, our money and our time preparing to go on that pilgrimage when in reality, God lives in the temple of our heart. When will we overcome ignorance and realize the Truth?
As long as Religions exist and continue to make us believe in the myth, we shall live and die in ignorance. They are not a few, but hundreds if not thousands of rituals, dogmas, and superstitions that the world follows which in reality have no meaning at all. Still, being sincere to our Religion, we follow these dogmas and in the end, we reach nowhere.
Blind faith will lead nowhere
As intelligent beings gifted with an intellect, we must realize that our blind faith in our Religion will lead us nowhere. We are just going to go on and on till we die. Sure, our acts may be symbolic in showing our love for God, but if we don’t even understand who is God, where is God and what is God, then how can we achieve God? We need to overcome our blind faith and ask questions. We need to truly love our God and aspire for our God. That is our challenge and as long as we blindly believe in our faith, our Religion and our scriptures, we shall just go around in circles and reach nowhere.
If we truly want our God and we want to realize the Truth, then we must not have blind faith. We must talk to our God, listen for answers and then go in quest of God, with true love in our heart. Thus, it is said that though less than 1% of this world is visually blind, more than 99% is Spiritually blind. This is really sad as we blindly follow the directions of our Religion in innocence, not realizing that we will never ever reach our God.
The intellect must overcome Religious dogmas
Isn’t it time that we use our intellect to discriminate the Truth from the myth? Shouldn’t we question what we have been taught to find the Ultimate Truth or should we just blindly continue to believe in the teachings of our Religions?
Why have we human beings been gifted with an intellect? Of all living beings, we are the only ones who are blessed with a full-fledged intellect. That’s why we pray in the first place, but should we just pray as ignorant beings or should we realize the Truth about God and then pray?
Should we be slaves to our ignorance? Should we be imprisoned in rituals and superstitions or should we realize the Truth? What should be our life goal and our life objective? It’s good that we all believe in a God, a Power that created us and this universe, but should we not try to find out the Truth of this Power? Who it is, where it is and what it is or should we blindly read our scripture and go by it? Many people are proud to follow their scriptures with total devotion and dedication and it seems with total ignorance. It is unfortunate that most of us are born with an intellect but it seems we take that gift from God to our graves. We don’t use our intellect to discriminate and to realize the Truth.
It’s time to overcome the myth and discover the Truth!
For centuries, we have just blindly followed Religion and its scriptures and prayed to God that seems to be known to us, but unfortunately, it is not the real God that we are seeking. We are seeking to find our Master, our Creator, and our God, but we end up praying to a saint or a statue, one who has been created by God. Instead of going further in our quest and finding God, we get stuck in our belief system and stop our search for the Divine. Sad, isn’t it?
Isn’t it time to overcome the myth and discover the Truth? Will we just continue to live and die, believing in mythology and then continue to teach our children what is not true? Should we not question this myth to discover the Truth?
We want God, we seek God and Religion surely teaches us about God. It builds our faith, our hope, our trust and our belief in God and for this, we must be ever grateful to our Religion. But then, beyond that, Religion stops us from going forward. Should we not go within and discover the true Spirit, the Soul, the Atman that is within and that is beyond any Religion? All Religions talk of God being within, but when it comes to practically executing this, they fail to do so. They just continue to make us believe in myths, in rituals, and superstitions and we end up with the Religion’s dogmas, instead of realizing God.
We need to have the courage to go beyond our Religion to find God, otherwise, we will just live and die, following rituals but never realizing God. The choice is ours.
Our ignorance imprisons us behind bars.
We believe the myth that God lives up in the stars.
We just blindly follow what Religions tell,
And wait to go to heaven or hell!