Impact of Religion in Indian Society


What is Religion?

In India, this Religion word plays a significant role because India is a diversified country where we respect all Religion. India is the only country in this world where different religious people are staying together. It is a social institution, it is linked to cultural Religion confides the faith, believes, worship, and spiritual practices. As we know our Indian society consists of unity and diversity, along with this different caste, creed, religion, a race they belong from different backgrounds and live together. In our Indian society, there are many religions where people visit and worship God. There is a saying  humanity is the one religion”...  As per the Constitutional gazette anyone belongs from any religion could enter into other religious place and he/she should not be discriminated towards people.

The term religion carries a different meaning for different people. “The English the word “Religion” has a Latin root, Religare‟ meaning, „to bind together‟”, the first being the „states of opinion‟ in the representation of the mind; the second „determined modes of action‟ which is the practical side of life”

Article 9- Freedom of Thought, Belief, and Religion

It speaks, Protection of rights to thought, belief, and religion into action. This could include your right to wear religious clothes, the right to talk about your beliefs or take part in a religious place during worship.  Public authorities cannot stop people who practice their own religion. Public authorities cannot interfere with people’s right to hold or change their beliefs, but there are some situations, in which public authorities can interfere with their rights to show thoughts, beliefs, and religion. This is only allowed where the authority can show that its action is lawful, necessary in order to protect the Religion.

How Religion influence in Society

Judaism, Christianity, Amish, Buddhism, Hinduism, atheism, etc., religion seems to shape minds and have a part of every society. A lot of our religious backgrounds depends on geographic location or are past from our ancestors and what their beliefs were. Although, I do know a few people that have changed their beliefs to another. The biggest aspects of culture involve language, tradition, and religion. Religion hasn’t always been the controversial subject as today. The society around us is under constant change and how we see the world will always change, meaning that the definition of religion can also change. Religion is a positive element of society, as it unites people, helps maintain social balance and prevents disorder. Religion helps individuals to define their role in society, giving them the feeling of safety and familiarity with other individuals in a certain group. Religion creates an outline of appropriate behavior and incorporates it into people’s minds. Participation in religious ceremonies is a way to confirm the correctness of one’s course and to reinforce one’s beliefs, but also a means of imposing certain symbols. This is because individuals are able to understand and read into the actions of others, which are perceived as symbols of religion, very useful in this instance, as it proposed consolation in the form of life after death.

Nature of Religion:

In sociology, the word religion is used in a wider sense than that used in religious books. A common characteristic found among all religions is that they represent a complex of emotional feelings and attitudes towards mysterious and perplexities of life.

According to Radin it consists of two parts:

(a) Physiological - The physiological part expresses itself in such acts as kneeling, closing the eyes, touching the feet.

 (b) Psychological - The psychological part consists of supernormal sensitivity to certain traditions and beliefs. While belief in supernatural powers may be considered basic to all religion, equally fundamental is the presence of a deeply emotional feeling which Golden Weiber called the “religion thrill”.

If we analyses the great religions of the world, we shall find that each of them contains, five basic elements:

a)      Belief in supernatural powers.

b)      Belief in the holy,.

c)      Ritual.

d)      Some method of salvation.

1. Belief in Supernatural Powers:

The first basic element of religion is the belief that there are supernatural powers. These powers are believed to influence human life and control all natural calamities and situations. Some call these supernatural forces, other call them Gods. There are even others who do not call them by any name. Thus, belief is the non-sensory, super-empirical world is the first element of religion.

2. Belief in the Holy:

There are certain holy or sacred elements of religion. It is the heart of religion. There are certain things which are regarded as holy or sacred. But the, thing is holy or sacred not because of a peculiar quality of thing are symbols. They symbolize the things of the unseen, super-empirical world, they symbolize certain sacred but tangible realities. When a Hindu worships a cow, he worships it not because of the kind of animal the cow is, but because of a host of super-empirical characteristics which this animal is imagined to represent. 

3. Ritual:

Religious ritual is “the active side of religion. It includes any kind of behavior (such as the wearing of special clothing and the immersion in certain rivers, in the Ganga for instance), prayers, hymns, creedal recitations, and other forms of reverence, usually performed with other people and in public. It can include singing, dancing, weeping, crawling, starving, feasting, etc. Failure to perform these acts is considered a sin. There 2 kind of rituals birth or many good festive rituals and another one is death or sad rituals.

4. Some Method of Salvation:

A method of salvation is the fourth basic element of religion. Man needs some method by which he can regain harmony with the Gods through removal of guilt. In Hindu religion Moksha or Salvation represents the end of life, the realisation of an inner spirituality in man. The Hindu seeks release from the bondage of Karma, the ultimate end of life is to attain  Moksha. The Buddhist hopes to attain Salvation by being absorbed in the Godhead and entering Nirvana. The Christian has a redeemer in Christ who gave his life for man’s sins.

In short, religion is the institutionalised set of beliefs men hold about supernatural powers. It is more or less coherent system of beliefs and practices concerning a supernatural order of beings, forces, places or other entities.

Conclusion-

Indian society is pluralistic from religious point of view. Here, we have the followers of all the great religious systems. In Indian society the hold of religion on the people has been very strong and still continues to be so. Hinduism is the ancient-most religion of India, and for that matter that of the whole world. The 246 Hindus have the Vedas and Sastras on the one hand and Ramayana and Mahabharta on the other as their religious books. Every Muslim must have faith in God and Hazaral Mohammad. Quran is the holy book of Islam and no Muslims should in any way doubt what has been written in it. The Koran and the literature connected with it afford information regarding a Semitic religion, the doctrines of Mohammed. The Islam in our country is very much Indian in many of its features. Christianity is still another important religion of India. Christianity has a long standing in this country. Portuguese made it a compelling religion in Goa. During the eighteenth century the Christian missionaries with the political backing of their respective territorial companies, the British and the French carried out large scale conversions. Buddhism was in the past a very popular religion in India and still is quite popular in some parts of the country and abroad. The Buddhists believe in the equality of men and are thus opposed to castism. They also have faith in religious toleration. Sikhism is an important religion of India. The Sikhs prefer to worship in the Gurudwaras. Moksha is the aim of Sikhism. They also believe in the philosophy of karma and the transmigration of the soul. 247 The Jainas do not believe in God. They adore the Tirthankaras or the founders of the faith. These are the liberated souls who were once in bondage, but became, through their own efforts, free, perfect, omniscient, omnipotent and allblissful. There are less than a million followers of Zoroastrianism in India, they are an urban middle class-highly literate professionally distinguished, economically well-to-do community.

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