Now I know this is a controversial topic but I want to start with a disclaimer that these are my personal views. If you are a devoutly religious person who gets offended very easily, please stop now and don’t read this blog post.
I was born and raised as a Hindu. It is the oldest religion in the world and the Vedas were complied between 15th and 5th century BCE. I have always considered Hinduism as a way of life especially the way i was introduced to the religion and indoctrinated into it.
My exposure to religion was through my grandmother who lived with us. Neither of my parents were extremely religious when we were growing up and gave us ample freedom to ask questions or follow the parts that we were comfortable with.
I was the curious one and asked a lot of questions around everything. There were lot of rituals and stories and festivals and the visits to the temple. It was a lot of fun as a young girl coz every event meant food, fun and celebrations.
Now, when I look back, I realise that I learnt a lot of my values through the various religious stories that my grandmother used to tell me. The different rituals and celebrations had a big part in shaping who I am today.
Over the years I have realised that I am not religious – not in the way it is described by most people. I don’t believe in a creator or supreme being. I believe in the Universe and energy and I derive my energy from that.
I am not against religion – not the way it was originally intended to be – to unite people. It gives millions of people hope and something to look up to in times of distress and anguish. Religion is personal and what I don’t like it is when it becomes public and people use it to separate rather than unite humankind.
My parting quote would be from a tv show:
Religion is like penis. It’s fine to have one.
It’s fine to be proud of it.
But please don’t whip it out in public and start waving it around.