Do We Really Need Religion?

                                        First of all let me wish all Indians on this planet a very happy Independence Day. It’s the day for every one of us to be proud of our nation. And I am sure all of us are proud of our nation. When I look at India, I can find people of various religions, sects etc. and each one is proud of his own way. But it’s very difficult to find an Indian in India.

                                        Religion can be roughly defined as a particular system of faith and worship. But very few try to understand why religion was introduced. It was basically introduced to insert law and order in the world where ancient humans were living as nomads. It implied certain restrictions and certain conducts which people were made to follow and thus contributed for the establishment of a civilized society. It never allowed people to forget that some divine power is always watching and guarding them and punish them if they do anything wrong. It also helped to keep people united. This might be one of the selfless motives behind establishing the concept of religion.

                                            But human beings true to their selfish nature have spoiled the entire concept of religion. Humans over the ages have established many religions in different parts of the world depending over the conditions in that particular region. But once the founder of particular religion is gone, his followers have divided the religion to fulfill his particular self interest and thus bringing chaos in the world. Today if we look at any major religions of the world like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism we can find various sects among them and people being proud of their particular sect and criticizing others which is totally in contradiction to the basic teaching of any religion i.e. to give up your pride and ego. Even several wars were and are still being fought in the name of religion and thus sacrificing people’s lives and bringing chaos in this world.

                                            Man has even failed to understand the reason behind particular teachings and symbols of religion. For Example,

1) Bhagavad-Gita is a sacred text of Hindus whose knowledge was imparted to Arjuna by Lord Krishna himself on the battlefield just before the beginning of the great battle of Mahabharata.

2) If we tell a person that some people worship a man nailed on a cross, he might think it as insane. But Christians worship Jesus Christ which is not insane at all.

                                           Now citing the example of Bhagavad-Gita, one might wonder why the knowledge was imparted to Arjuna on the battlefield only and not somewhere in some peaceful location much before or after the battle. But if we think in a practical way, it’s the Lord’s way of telling us that He is always with you in your tough times and He will always guide you and protect you from both physical and mental pains just as Lord Krishna later guided as a charioteer Arjuna and protected him from weapons and ensured Arjuna’s victory in this epic contest. Thus, if we believe in Him, he can be our charioteer as well and ensure good for us.

                                        Similarly in the second example if we think in detail, Lord is telling us that even God has to suffer pain as he was crucified, but the story of redemption tells us that like lord we can also emerge unhurt from our pain and sufferings, if we have faith in Almighty. Hence, to remind people to be victorious from the sufferings, Christians must have epitomized Jesus as nailed on a cross to remind its followers of the constant struggle in life. But it’s difficult to say that how many Christians think and believe that way.                                

                               Similar examples are there in every religious teaching. I feel very few religious saints are understanding the basic concept behind their respective religion. Even if they have understood this idea, they are perhaps afraid to preach that fearing reduction on the number of their followers which is again a selfish act by religious leaders who are considered equal to divine. If they themselves are living in fear, how can they preach the righteous path to their followers. If everyone on earth would have tried thinking in a different way than earth would have been much peaceful rather than chaos. Man since long has been fighting in the name of religion which preaches nothing else but peace and tolerance. The best example is the crusades of ancient times or riots occurring in present world in the name of religion. And most leaders are criticizing other ways and preaching their own religion as the greatest, there are even examples since ancient times of people being forced to change their faith and embrace other religious faiths.

                          But sadly, man sticking to his foolish selfish nature has done exactly opposite. He has contradicted the entire idea of religion of implementing peace in human kind and brought wrath everywhere. It makes one think that whether in present day, with man being so unkind, do we really need the idea of religion? Will religion really help bring peace or create more chaos?