The question related to the existence of God never bothered me.. but the question of which religious practices to follow did. Just to clarify.. I never believed in true goals of any practice like pooja and prayer.. but some practices have become identify due to the way I was brought up. Going to a temple on a birth day has almost nothing to do with my belief in God or all the great good things happen to me but a mere cultural identity.. my mom woke me and put me in front of all the gods including my favs. Ganapathi and Hanuma with Sweets and Akshatalu in the plate.. that was part of my Birth day.
Just because I'm grown up and somehow feel that doing prayers and asking for special goodies to almighty (of whom I can't verify the presence) do I have to leave the cultural identity?
I have to accept, the contagious chantings and mesmerizing atmosphere in Tirupathi balaji temple made me say that I love Venkateswara Swami, Like he is hip icon. I do like to that temple, as a matter of fact any temple.. it is my cultural identity.
Again, I never would have questioned any one of these if not for my marriage. My religion has been my way of life without me realizing. I'm reasonably educated and exposed to different cultures and faiths and I never realized how my regular practices are mixed with my religion..!
For sometime I did seriously think about some moral value that I can attach to all these religious practices and symbols. Like, do we ever realize the story for Tirupathi balaji is interesting love story? No wonder he is fav. god for married couple. Never the less it felt like a justification I never needed for myself.
I do think about a world without religion and a way of teaching a value system without bringing god(s). If they are there, they are doing their job impartially by their own set of rules. But I don't think it is needed..! More importantly, we need to find ways to teach empathy and techniques to identify and fight internal dogmatism..
Just because I'm grown up and somehow feel that doing prayers and asking for special goodies to almighty (of whom I can't verify the presence) do I have to leave the cultural identity?
I have to accept, the contagious chantings and mesmerizing atmosphere in Tirupathi balaji temple made me say that I love Venkateswara Swami, Like he is hip icon. I do like to that temple, as a matter of fact any temple.. it is my cultural identity.
Again, I never would have questioned any one of these if not for my marriage. My religion has been my way of life without me realizing. I'm reasonably educated and exposed to different cultures and faiths and I never realized how my regular practices are mixed with my religion..!
For sometime I did seriously think about some moral value that I can attach to all these religious practices and symbols. Like, do we ever realize the story for Tirupathi balaji is interesting love story? No wonder he is fav. god for married couple. Never the less it felt like a justification I never needed for myself.
I do think about a world without religion and a way of teaching a value system without bringing god(s). If they are there, they are doing their job impartially by their own set of rules. But I don't think it is needed..! More importantly, we need to find ways to teach empathy and techniques to identify and fight internal dogmatism..
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