SUPERSTITIONs

PUBLIC DISCLAIMER: Amateur writer apologizes in advance if anyone gets offended by the often use of the word "Superstitions" or if hurts someone sentiments. It is first hand account of the personal experiences of the writer and his reactions and evolution. Someone else might have reacted the other way. So please read all this as a story and not as some religious sermon.
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There is a very deep saying of Karl Marx , "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".

Generally We The People tend to see superstitions with low eyes. Mine belief is faith and others belief, mere superstitions. A person is superstitious at some point of one's life and that is my personal experience. The more one evolves, the less skeptical one become or vice-versa. Why some worship some diety and s/he prays that deity not in embrace but as a result of fear that smokes their mind that if they don't follow certain retualistic practice then there will be some form of punishment? Apart from this, further saying that no human got right to declare preponderance of his faith over other, i.e. nor does one call others following just superstitions or unholy. We got to treat our fellow human better, much better the way we do at present. Every person got a universal right to not just live but to live with dignity
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Reason behind my above evaluation is not mere observations but my own experiences. In reel as well as real life too, there is a saying that Person doesn't become good or bad as per choice, it's situations that turns them into . I don't know whether it is just but definitely it got weight in it . Yes the changing scenarios plays quite decisive role in evolving one's thought process . Life is a great teacher but those teaching doesn't get the receipt of being "great" unless We The Students put effort to learn from it.

And being a learner , own philosophy of life has underwent major transition. One such metamorphosis is related to the title of this entry - SUPERSTITION . The experience of mine that a person is superstitious at once in a lifetime has a backing of a story (a subset of my life) .

From childhood i was a very religious , reasons for that might be the environment of the home, village, upbringing and greatest among them was Mother's influence. She is a lady of firm belief. Those TVCs (selling Rudraksha, magical stones,etc) had a huge influence over my FAITH-full mind . I had a huge fantasy of wearing religious threads and stones , not for flashing but that thing works as constant reminder of the God .When i was 3rd or 4th standard , i knew Saraswati Chalisa , Hanuman Chalisa word by word and used to recite them without seeing a single word from the chalisa Handbook.  When i reached 8th i have studied all the 18 adhayas of The Bhagwat Geeta twice , must confess that at that time it was more about passion and excitement rather than gaining knowledge or enlightenment. I can recall when I was student of Spring Dales English School, Kathua , once during a cultural function organised at the school on the eve of culmination of Navaratri, there was a open quiz competition . Questions were related to religious literature, that day i won a candy by answering a question about the number of adhayas contained in The Bhagwat Geeta. Quite an achievement, those days .

Was never a fundamentalist but yes was purely devoted to mine religion with respect for others . God is One which I used to read every school day during prayer time , painted at the first floor railing (जंगला)  . Following a polytheistic religion , that black painted alphabets over light yellow wall used to generate curiousity. Mother's answer ," भगवान एक है, उसके नाम अनेक है" , justified all .

I remember it was during the ending phase of my 9th standard , बाजी (Grandpa) got diagnosed with chest cancer. There comes a time in person's life , a very dark-burdensome time , which agitate one to raise questions to the deity about the reason for sheer miserable life or about the very existence of Him . My Mother's life is full of such times and it was one such time. When everything was felt like becoming normal , it was another blow which could derail the wagon of our family.  And this was the time when my religious beliefs and praying were at peak. I have never been such religious in my life than i was then.  Was just 15 and had a  task to counsel mother so that she could stay away from recurring depression, do everything possible thing to make बाजी believe that he gonna be alright. The un-scientific belief that our home is attacked by demons, meditating/praying while sitting in all four direction so to keep the demons away, praying to every deity whose photograph and statue was lying in the Pooja Case [ We didn't had Pooja Room, had placed all the photos in showcase (showcase - a cavity of rectangular dimension in the wall where painting, toys, family photos, artefacts are kept)] . Even had worshiped their mounts. Many won't believe me but i had worshiped cat also during that phase of life. I have had heard that Cat was very sacred in ancient Egypt. So I took a lead from that hearing and used to go onto the terrace with a small bowl full of milk where a cat had given birth to offsprings. After putting the bowl down in front of them, would pray for the curing of बाजी । At that time I had created one more deity by my own कर्क देवता ( i.e. God Of Cancer) , gonna worship Him also for the betterment of Grandpa's health. When बाजी used to sleep , i would sit on the table beside his bed and meditate by focusing at the left lung where cancer was diagnosed and channelize the whole energy , thinking it might kill the tumor like radiation oncology does. These things might be seeming tattle but ......( no I'll not waste my effort in order to make you believe, you are free to make assumptions).

All the above mentioned the then religious activities of mine , at present seem to me superstitions. But do i consider them as my mistakes , the answer is NO. If someone at that time told me that what i was doing were just superstitions, i would definitely had taken that as a disrespect to my God, for my beliefs. And if my बाजी had got cured then the things which I'm now highlighting as superstitions, might have believed in them for whole life or till Grandpa remained alive. This thing reveal us about the two very integral part of human behaviour, belief and greed . If everything happens as human desire then everything is fine and when something goes against, bargaining happens.

Was I doing all this in their embrace? No, i was doing all this in fear, fear of losing बाजी.  At present I still believe in Supreme and that is not because of some fear but for Hope. The belief provide me Hope, no matter what the situation is I believe that my companion gonna take care of me, my family. I'm more of a spiritual person than a religious one. One should not hurt or get offended by others practices, yes if one is critical of someone's else practice and feel that it is harming society as well as the practitioner , than one should rather directly objecting the practice should persuade the practitioner with strong evidence about the harm and  motivate them to opt the right way which neither cause any harm to themselves nor to the society, but with love and compassion not with hate and violence.

- #RAJJEकराखड़DE