We can safely say that the whole world can be divided into two categories- the believers & non-believers. Religion is an important pillar of society & serves as a mode of contact with God through all kinds of rituals practiced either at home or in a specific location where all devotees meet regularly for prayers & rituals. But above all, it serves as a guide through life & also as an identification or belonging to a culture & its beliefs. Religion can be both ritualistic & non-ritualistic, depending on the personal beliefs of the individual. It upholds our duties & responsibilities. With each having its corresponding sacred books where the do’s & don’ts of human life are precisely articulated, it would seem that the solutions to all our problems should be found in those sacred books.

Of this, I am 100% sure. But the only thing is that there is a huge gap between the writings & their implementation. The problem lies exactly here- in the implementation. So, religion has evolved in the manner we have shaped it by our whims & mindsets rather than abiding by its original essence. That is the power of the mind which even makes religion adapt to our modernism so that we practice in a minimal mode. So, it boils down to cutting & downsizing, leaving the core behind & unattended. This is the sad truth of religion. All religions claim to advocate love & peace for all. Do you see this in practice all around the world?

Rituals are performed by both pure & impure hearts- that is by good & evil persons. They sit or stand next to each other in the same religious building. The only thing is at that moment, no one is really aware of who is next to him. And it is good for me to mention that any amount of religious practice will fail to transform an individual into a responsible & pure soul. You must become of this. I am not against the practice of religion but you need to see its limitations. There are higher aspects of our potential which can be accessed through other non-religious practices like meditation, yoga, etc.

The main drawback of religion is that it creates a division amongst the human race. And many international organisations are claiming for more unity & cooperation. The thing is that religions create groups which may or may not oppose each other. Comparisons are made to the extent of some people looking for superiority over others. This is dangerous. We are all one big family- the human race. We should stop the analyses of whose God is superior to the other or which religion is more powerful. When we come to this point, then there is no difference between a sports fan & a religious devotee. Fanaticism should not have its place in any religion as it is dangerous & not conducive to a healthy situation.

The best religion is the religion of love & humanity. That is what we should practice. It is better to have people who are good at heart without practicing any religion rather than numerous devotees following a religion with an impure heart. The whole world will benefit from this. And I must state that this world has a very poor habit of knowing more rather than practicing more, in religious terms. The instructions of sacred books must be followed without deviation, without arguing & without selfish interpretation. These phenomena have been happening for many years without anyone being able to prevent the invisible & relentless dilution of the religious factor in our lives. Is religion also suffering from modernisation? Most probably yes.