How do you actually draw a line between faith and superstition? The existence of healers, quacks, tantriks, and those jhada wala's all around is really shocking. Leave aside the uneducated rural folks, what is more shocking is to see the elite, educated and so called enlightened urban people seeking refuge in these practices for their physical, mental ailments. Not only that ,it does not stop here. I know a close relative seeking help of a tantrik for his transfer, someone sending his grandson for jhada to treat the effect of someone's evil eye, some other for promotion etc. If I ever try to discuss this issue, they cast such evil looks upon me as if cursing me that may such problem arise in my life or let misery befall upon me, then only I will understand the value of these weird ways of treatment because according to them 'marta kya na karta'.
I have seen people around me placing a platter of sweets and food on the road to keep the evil spirit away. The woman herself is no less than a graduate from Delhi University, has a son who is graduate from a premium engineering Institute of the country and working in an MNC. On the top of it she had actually asked her son to take the child to a jhada wali woman who would cure the child of some minor problem. I kept wondering if that highly qualified boy did not question the logicality of all that he was asked to do. The above instances are of the poshest area of the capital city. On the other hand I have seen a simple woman who derives all her mental strength by just praying to god and keeping her faith in the super power above saying that god will take care of all her problems. But then that is rarest of the rare case. The majority of the people fall prey to these tantriks in the hope of some miracle.
These practices will never end so long as the people remain oblivion of the fact that life can not be a cakewalk, it is rather a roller coaster ride and at the most one can only keep faith in oneself, leave rest in the hands of some super power ...we may call IT god , or destiny or luck. May be there is no need to give it any name.
I have seen people around me placing a platter of sweets and food on the road to keep the evil spirit away. The woman herself is no less than a graduate from Delhi University, has a son who is graduate from a premium engineering Institute of the country and working in an MNC. On the top of it she had actually asked her son to take the child to a jhada wali woman who would cure the child of some minor problem. I kept wondering if that highly qualified boy did not question the logicality of all that he was asked to do. The above instances are of the poshest area of the capital city. On the other hand I have seen a simple woman who derives all her mental strength by just praying to god and keeping her faith in the super power above saying that god will take care of all her problems. But then that is rarest of the rare case. The majority of the people fall prey to these tantriks in the hope of some miracle.
These practices will never end so long as the people remain oblivion of the fact that life can not be a cakewalk, it is rather a roller coaster ride and at the most one can only keep faith in oneself, leave rest in the hands of some super power ...we may call IT god , or destiny or luck. May be there is no need to give it any name.
Superstition, though not necessarily of faith, and provided me with further reinforcement that superstition is the root of much evil in the world. Superstition is humanity's attempt to put faith in a box, to constrain it, to order it, to control it and to create a hierarchy between the faithful and the object of their faith. I am a person of faith, but not of superstition.
ReplyDeleteFew years back after those senseless attacks in Worship places in Jaipur also “Mumbai Kaand”, my assertion that I was an atheist seemed to be too pat, too poorly reasoned? I was forced to look inward to try to understand the big-picture message God has tried to send to people over and over again. Rabbinical Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have, at their core, a prophet who said each of us has a direct connection with God and that all we have to do is use it.
I was raised in the Hindu Family with ‘Aaryan’ tradition. Lucky we (children) had parents with different sects but with same one fact. I am able to accept the miracle of Ram, Krishna, Shiv or Brahma, being the incarnation of God, but I deny that I must believe in them to be redeemed. Why am I so certain? The Hindu Ramayana, Bhagwad Geeta and even Christian Bible teach me that God is perfect and that God loves me. What is perfect love, then? The most perfect love I can imagine is unconditional. Unconditional love is a love that is constant, unwavering and without judgment. So if God is perfect, then God's love is perfect too: unconditional, constant, unwavering, without judgment.
But if God is perfect, and God's love is perfect, then what prevents me from being in a constant state of grace?
Me.
Sometime in April Jaywant Michael on Gtalk with me quoted I want to share with you Mamta… ‘I woke up thinking of Jesus’ greatest command to “Love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind. This is the first commandment, and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.’ And so I asked myself what is the opposite of Love…..because that is something I should not do……The thought that came to my mind is that we usually believe the opposite of Love is Hate….but there is a word that even more accurately describes the opposite of Love and it is ‘Indifference’. When I say I hate you I acknowledge your existence.’
So here is Mamta ….that thin line drawn between Faith and superstition, I guess drawn very well by us with prejudice of scaling it ourselves…..