Hinduism: My Religion.

I’m Hindu by religion and grown up reading stories of Rama, Krishna, and Ganesh. As a kid, I used to visit temple with my Mom, had to fast on Mahashivratri, decorated temple on Janamashtmi to have a daity glimpse of God and had a deep rooted fear that If I did something wrong than Lord Kali would punish me. Spending my childhood in Rishikesh, Religion always fascinates me. But, till date all my attempts to understand my religion leads me to nowhere. I used to call myself Hindu but none of my religious book have a mention of the word “Hindu”. Infact, earlier I don’t know that Hinduism is not a religion, it’s a tradition. Its been a derivative of Sanatan Dharam.

The thing that confound me most about my religion is that I have to worship a pantheon of Gods. Every day of week is devoted to a single God and every God is unique in himself. If you like idealism, pray lord Rama, If you are notorious and contumacious, pray lord Krishna and if you want to success in career and studies, pray lord Saraswati. The religion itself is very flexible, there are no strict rules and guidelines which need to be followed. There is no one single religious book, There is no center body defining rules. Unlike Islam and Christianity where maulvi and Priest are shepherds, The Hindu priest is a man acting as a link between ourselves and our God. Our Gods are not divine creatures, though they have superficial powers, but we can follow them in our lifestyle.

The best thing about Hindu religion is manifestations, unlike Islam we need not to visit mosque five times a day or visit church on every Sunday, Hindu faith will manifest itself into his daily chores, We worship cows that stand in front of our house, We worship Stone, We worship river, We worship mountains and everything that surrounds us is God in one or another form.

But in recent past years, the religion has took a drastic change, Its been molded by our bloody politicians and other people so as to take benefit from it. Respect for nature has made Hindu non-violent by blood. But we have Mosque demolition and Gujarat riots which showcased the darker side religion. No religion can teach violence, In fact, love for mankind is the common thing on which all religions reside. But the lust of power and corruption has deteriorated mankind to such an extent, that it can’t even hesitate in using God. Casteism, the bitterest aspect of Hinduism, evolved during the period when Aryans visited india, was evolved for some good cause but since then it’s a game played by people to gain power.

There are things which should be kept away from deterioration and should be preserved and our religion is one of them. Moreover, Hinduism is not only a religion it’s tradition, philosophy and it’s a way of living. The things that governed us and benefit us till date, should continue govern us in the same way. So, its our moral duty to preserve our religion.