Please Note-: This article is written in Hinglish and focused on Indian cultural perspective.
Just came across a recent news that is widely circulated on the social media platforms and got wide media coverage which says " As much as 1.2 lakh Kerala students left religion column blank during admissions." This was widely received or to be precise widely propagated as a trendsetting action in the Indian history that will wipe off inequality and bring peace to the country. Well, sounds fascinating, isn't it? Wow, what a heavenly place that would be without religion, only peace and prosperity, complete Ram Rajya; Oops, Sorry; No religion stuff. No wonder India is always considered as a very good market because we buy things more easily like this.
Let's analyze a bit more. There are two aspects to this news; Firstly, Frankly speaking, there is nothing new about it given the state from which it came out; and we are still a country that sees numbers in Lakhs as a very big number. We often compare the bigness or shortness of any quantities based on money and not on the parameter that is required for that particular quantity to be compared with. This quantity is 0.01% of total population of India(1.3 bn) and 0.035% of the total student population of India(315 mn), i.e, one out of 3500 student says he does not have any religion. Well, who cares then. Scientifically it does not have any relevance in the country nor as politically or even from the religious perspective. Since it is mentioned in numbers of Lakhs it looks like so big; as we still consider 1 lakh rupees is a big money. Isn't it?? No wonder the figures are in numbers contrary to the percentage which could have been an ideal parameter. So the conclusion is this number is irrelevant and there is always a population in India that always challenges the existence of God, you know God is not a Monarch, you need to have some persons to question you always.
Although the theory does not have much relevance, the way it is sold and more importantly the way it is received is a bit of concern. So let's see what the hell this Religion is. Well, I don't know, but from my little experience what I know is; a set of guidelines or rulebook preached by some person and followed by a group of persons is what a religion is. We identify religions with Hindu, Muslim, Christian etc. I am not going to get into Islam and Isai, will be more focused on Hinduism as we always know out of those 1.2 lakh atheists how many will be from otherwise Hindus; barely any Muslim or Christian you will find in these type of rhetorics especially from an Indian perspective.
The first arguments that atheists say " You can't brand a person with his religion on the day he born, It is his own choice." That's okay, it shows how materialistic we are and how shortsighted we always have been. The day you born you have a country with you, you have a mother with you, you have a mother tongue with you but only and only you can't have a religion with you. We only see the tangible things and compromise with it, the country as a Land as we can see it seems obvious, the mother as a person we can see it seems obvious and as a language, we can hear it seems obvious. But the most obvious thing is what we feel and we tend to ignore it, and that is what is Religion.
Chanakya has told once " Agar koi baccha janam leta he toh wo apni Maa ki garv se aur Matrubhumi ke garv ke saath ek Sanskrtiti ke garv se bhi janam leta he". This culture and religion are synonymous for Hinduism.The day you born your parents first and foremost thank the Almighty, It comes naturally; even the stringent of atheists can never restrict himself to thank the God in this situation. Religion represents happiness. Your mother put a "KALA TIKA" on your face so that you will be kept away from the sights of evil spirits before even you realize this person is your mother. Hence religion represents Love. In an Indian society you start going to school you touch the feet of your parents, some person comes to your home, you welcome him saying " Namaste"; Religion represents respect. Just imagine a there will be no Diwali, no Holi, no color, no light. Can you sustain in that environment?? Religion represents Joy. People always say have the utmost respect for your country. But just put your hand on your heart and ask for which day you are more excited " For an August 15 or for a Diwali? For a Jan 26 or for a Holi?". Religion is excitement. You just don't slap anybody like this, just say some bad words like this, just don't go on a rampage and hit others like this, don't go and commit a crime. Although there is law that prevents us doing any crime, still we think twice before slapping a person, scolding anybody, speak harshly on elders. What's that? Religion represents fear. After everybody fails you the only hope you keep is, well atheists say not God, but on whatever you keep your faith, that person is the one who is your hope. Religion is hope. And please don't say you are so strong that you never cared for this, then it's like you are so lucky that you never get into that situation rather than boasting yourself as a mentally strong guy. There are numerous festivals or Pujas that vary from state to state, we find many of these pujas like Karwa Chauth, Sabitri, Bhaiduj, Rakha Bandhan etc, are more or less are just designed to keep your relatives close and have a strong bonding with them. Religion is an attachment. So you are relinquishing your religion means what the hell you are left with?? Don't you have any feelings in you? You better not to be called as human.
Now comes the question, how come God is related to religion?? How come believing or not believing the God relates to religion. Well everything that you feel is a belief. Just sit for a moment and think. You will get to know that whatever you believe you gonna feel it to believe it. And that belief is on some anonymous some unknown that's called GOD. There are many other ways to describe more spirituality, but I am not a big fan of spirituality but a fan of Politics. Now let's analyze the political aspects of Religion.
Religion being a feeling also contains the feeling of pride. You feel proud of your religion just like you feel proud of your country, your parents and your teachers or whatever it is and Why you should not be?? Anything that affects your pride you have to vanish it by hook or by crook. You can't deny that fact. It's a natural tendency of human and much-required one for maintaining the balance. You don't tolerate if somebody attacks your country or your mother by saying that there should not be any land boundary of countries, No countries should exist, no mother should exist, Sounds idiotic, right. Your country is unique to you, your mother is unique to you so as your religion. There must be some faces to represent your religion as humans attach themselves better with tangible and visible things. Ram, Krishna, Durga, Hanuman, Bhagwad Gita, Ramayan, Puran all these are those essentials that keep the feeling intact in us. These are the things that make us express ourselves that keep us behaving like a human. We need to respect them, not necessarily follow them blindly but at least we can't discard them.
Finally, how this anti-religion propaganda machine works. It comes with different levels. I will Explain in descending order
Level 5- These kind of guys are anti-nationals. They will say filthy words to Gods. Will put slippers on God's image. Scold them and raise questions on the dignity of our Women Gods like Durga, Saraswati etc. They only target Hindu Gods.
Level 4- This kind of guys are use and throw guys. They will use your caste, gender, region, color, language to keep you away from religion. Just like Men worship Ram, Ram tortured Sita, Women should not worship Ram. Ram is north Indian, Ravan is south Indian; Hence Ramayan is an oppression of North guys on South. Durga is fair in complexion and Mahisasur is black, Hinduism says fair is god and black is evil etc.
Level 3- These guys are most dumb ones. They are called Neither Nor guys. They will paint everything in emptiness. Just like, Na Hindu Na Islam, Humanity is the greatest religion. LOL, Humanity is humanity, not religion. Similarly, Na mandir Na masjid, let's make a hospital. You say that when a goon destroys your house and tell him neither yours nor mine we will build a hospital here. Similarly Na Hindu Na Muslim be an Indian, Hum log apne religion column me INDIAN likhte hain. With no disrespect you are mentally unstable, there is always a column for nationality and you should feel that there.
Level 2- These guys are still in the era of pre independence. Hum mandir bhi jaate hain hum masjid bhi. Hum hindu bhi he aur hum musalman bhi. Well then you will be called a Bahurupiya with no identity of yourself. Another sect still follows the Gandhian dialouge of " Hindu Muslim Bhai Bhai".Need less to shout like this, religion should not be criteriea for choosing firends or brotherely friends. You will never find visionaries like Bhagat Singh , Subash Bose etc giving this irritating Naras. If you are identifyig yourself with multiple identities then you don't have any identity. You are atheist.
Level 1- These guys just love to be called as atheists. It's strange but it's a mentality to do what the majority don't. If these people go to China then they will undoubtedly say we are highly religious. Just for the sake of doing the opposite, they will do.
So beware of this kind of propaganda.
There is a popular saying in India " Aap Kahin bhi Jate ho, Apna kismat saath leke chalte ho". Religion is similar to this. You take your religion with you whatever you do and wherever you go.
Jai Shri Ram
Just came across a recent news that is widely circulated on the social media platforms and got wide media coverage which says " As much as 1.2 lakh Kerala students left religion column blank during admissions." This was widely received or to be precise widely propagated as a trendsetting action in the Indian history that will wipe off inequality and bring peace to the country. Well, sounds fascinating, isn't it? Wow, what a heavenly place that would be without religion, only peace and prosperity, complete Ram Rajya; Oops, Sorry; No religion stuff. No wonder India is always considered as a very good market because we buy things more easily like this.
Let's analyze a bit more. There are two aspects to this news; Firstly, Frankly speaking, there is nothing new about it given the state from which it came out; and we are still a country that sees numbers in Lakhs as a very big number. We often compare the bigness or shortness of any quantities based on money and not on the parameter that is required for that particular quantity to be compared with. This quantity is 0.01% of total population of India(1.3 bn) and 0.035% of the total student population of India(315 mn), i.e, one out of 3500 student says he does not have any religion. Well, who cares then. Scientifically it does not have any relevance in the country nor as politically or even from the religious perspective. Since it is mentioned in numbers of Lakhs it looks like so big; as we still consider 1 lakh rupees is a big money. Isn't it?? No wonder the figures are in numbers contrary to the percentage which could have been an ideal parameter. So the conclusion is this number is irrelevant and there is always a population in India that always challenges the existence of God, you know God is not a Monarch, you need to have some persons to question you always.
Although the theory does not have much relevance, the way it is sold and more importantly the way it is received is a bit of concern. So let's see what the hell this Religion is. Well, I don't know, but from my little experience what I know is; a set of guidelines or rulebook preached by some person and followed by a group of persons is what a religion is. We identify religions with Hindu, Muslim, Christian etc. I am not going to get into Islam and Isai, will be more focused on Hinduism as we always know out of those 1.2 lakh atheists how many will be from otherwise Hindus; barely any Muslim or Christian you will find in these type of rhetorics especially from an Indian perspective.
The first arguments that atheists say " You can't brand a person with his religion on the day he born, It is his own choice." That's okay, it shows how materialistic we are and how shortsighted we always have been. The day you born you have a country with you, you have a mother with you, you have a mother tongue with you but only and only you can't have a religion with you. We only see the tangible things and compromise with it, the country as a Land as we can see it seems obvious, the mother as a person we can see it seems obvious and as a language, we can hear it seems obvious. But the most obvious thing is what we feel and we tend to ignore it, and that is what is Religion.
Chanakya has told once " Agar koi baccha janam leta he toh wo apni Maa ki garv se aur Matrubhumi ke garv ke saath ek Sanskrtiti ke garv se bhi janam leta he". This culture and religion are synonymous for Hinduism.The day you born your parents first and foremost thank the Almighty, It comes naturally; even the stringent of atheists can never restrict himself to thank the God in this situation. Religion represents happiness. Your mother put a "KALA TIKA" on your face so that you will be kept away from the sights of evil spirits before even you realize this person is your mother. Hence religion represents Love. In an Indian society you start going to school you touch the feet of your parents, some person comes to your home, you welcome him saying " Namaste"; Religion represents respect. Just imagine a there will be no Diwali, no Holi, no color, no light. Can you sustain in that environment?? Religion represents Joy. People always say have the utmost respect for your country. But just put your hand on your heart and ask for which day you are more excited " For an August 15 or for a Diwali? For a Jan 26 or for a Holi?". Religion is excitement. You just don't slap anybody like this, just say some bad words like this, just don't go on a rampage and hit others like this, don't go and commit a crime. Although there is law that prevents us doing any crime, still we think twice before slapping a person, scolding anybody, speak harshly on elders. What's that? Religion represents fear. After everybody fails you the only hope you keep is, well atheists say not God, but on whatever you keep your faith, that person is the one who is your hope. Religion is hope. And please don't say you are so strong that you never cared for this, then it's like you are so lucky that you never get into that situation rather than boasting yourself as a mentally strong guy. There are numerous festivals or Pujas that vary from state to state, we find many of these pujas like Karwa Chauth, Sabitri, Bhaiduj, Rakha Bandhan etc, are more or less are just designed to keep your relatives close and have a strong bonding with them. Religion is an attachment. So you are relinquishing your religion means what the hell you are left with?? Don't you have any feelings in you? You better not to be called as human.
Now comes the question, how come God is related to religion?? How come believing or not believing the God relates to religion. Well everything that you feel is a belief. Just sit for a moment and think. You will get to know that whatever you believe you gonna feel it to believe it. And that belief is on some anonymous some unknown that's called GOD. There are many other ways to describe more spirituality, but I am not a big fan of spirituality but a fan of Politics. Now let's analyze the political aspects of Religion.
Religion being a feeling also contains the feeling of pride. You feel proud of your religion just like you feel proud of your country, your parents and your teachers or whatever it is and Why you should not be?? Anything that affects your pride you have to vanish it by hook or by crook. You can't deny that fact. It's a natural tendency of human and much-required one for maintaining the balance. You don't tolerate if somebody attacks your country or your mother by saying that there should not be any land boundary of countries, No countries should exist, no mother should exist, Sounds idiotic, right. Your country is unique to you, your mother is unique to you so as your religion. There must be some faces to represent your religion as humans attach themselves better with tangible and visible things. Ram, Krishna, Durga, Hanuman, Bhagwad Gita, Ramayan, Puran all these are those essentials that keep the feeling intact in us. These are the things that make us express ourselves that keep us behaving like a human. We need to respect them, not necessarily follow them blindly but at least we can't discard them.
Finally, how this anti-religion propaganda machine works. It comes with different levels. I will Explain in descending order
Level 5- These kind of guys are anti-nationals. They will say filthy words to Gods. Will put slippers on God's image. Scold them and raise questions on the dignity of our Women Gods like Durga, Saraswati etc. They only target Hindu Gods.
Level 4- This kind of guys are use and throw guys. They will use your caste, gender, region, color, language to keep you away from religion. Just like Men worship Ram, Ram tortured Sita, Women should not worship Ram. Ram is north Indian, Ravan is south Indian; Hence Ramayan is an oppression of North guys on South. Durga is fair in complexion and Mahisasur is black, Hinduism says fair is god and black is evil etc.
Level 3- These guys are most dumb ones. They are called Neither Nor guys. They will paint everything in emptiness. Just like, Na Hindu Na Islam, Humanity is the greatest religion. LOL, Humanity is humanity, not religion. Similarly, Na mandir Na masjid, let's make a hospital. You say that when a goon destroys your house and tell him neither yours nor mine we will build a hospital here. Similarly Na Hindu Na Muslim be an Indian, Hum log apne religion column me INDIAN likhte hain. With no disrespect you are mentally unstable, there is always a column for nationality and you should feel that there.
Level 2- These guys are still in the era of pre independence. Hum mandir bhi jaate hain hum masjid bhi. Hum hindu bhi he aur hum musalman bhi. Well then you will be called a Bahurupiya with no identity of yourself. Another sect still follows the Gandhian dialouge of " Hindu Muslim Bhai Bhai".Need less to shout like this, religion should not be criteriea for choosing firends or brotherely friends. You will never find visionaries like Bhagat Singh , Subash Bose etc giving this irritating Naras. If you are identifyig yourself with multiple identities then you don't have any identity. You are atheist.
Level 1- These guys just love to be called as atheists. It's strange but it's a mentality to do what the majority don't. If these people go to China then they will undoubtedly say we are highly religious. Just for the sake of doing the opposite, they will do.
So beware of this kind of propaganda.
There is a popular saying in India " Aap Kahin bhi Jate ho, Apna kismat saath leke chalte ho". Religion is similar to this. You take your religion with you whatever you do and wherever you go.
Jai Shri Ram
