The new Religion

I often wonder do we ,the humans i.e. GOD's greatest creation , understand the real meaning of a very commonly used word "Religion" .When I was a child , religion to me was a symbol of cohesion , love and bond which bound human beings to the greatest power , the Almighty. As I grew, my understanding also broadened .I learnt that religion was also an expression of one's inner feelings towards the outer world. It was a belief in one’s values .Religion was also a bridge which connected one individual to another through the feeling of oneness and the sense of belongingness.

But, after having seen 24 springs, all these verbose definitions do not make much sense to me any longer. I pity how immature I was to have totally confused religion with something it never had any relationship whatsoever. I really doubt my intelligence of not getting the real gist of the word. But as the cliché goes, it's better to be late than never, finally I have understood that religion is a symbol not of love but of power which empowers one individual to look down upon other individuals. I have understood that religion is a tool to vent one's inner feeling of animosity towards the outer world. I have understood that religion is a medium which allows communities to transfer tools of protest and violence, to sow seeds of hatred and to kill other existing religions. At least, this is what it seems from what is happening in the world that we live in.

VHP activists killing Christians in Orissa in the name of religion to take revenge for the death of their leader, separatists demanding the freedom of Kashmir again in the name of religion, Maoists and Naxalities killing and injuring scores of people across the country (Need I state the reason ?) and the list goes on and on.

So much violence because I am a Hindu, because you are a Muslim, because he is a Christian, because they are Sikhs............ If my understanding still holds good, I guess as per the Constitution, India deemed itself to be secular country where each religion is respected and welcomed. And indeed we greet each religion each day with blood and cries. What else could have been the better option to grant such a WARM welcome? We, Indians, are regarded as one of the better hosts to disparate and diverse cultures and practices. But with our PPRACTICES we have redefined our own culture.

Can't we, the citizens of this country, have a right to live in peace? Can't we see a day when there is no religion-based bloodbath on the streets? I can only hope and dream of a day when there will be harmony, feeling to share and an urge to not be barricaded within the realms of RELIGION among the citizens in this country. Till then, I want to relegate to my childhood days thinking of religion as the way it should be.