Religion: Fragrance of Life

Indeed, religion is a fragrance of life. It adds a plus value to our daily routine, which creates the zeal towards living. As the saying goes, it is not how long you live, but how you live that is important. If we want to learn the art of healthy living, religion can be the easiest way to achieve that goal. To live life at its best, we must understand the value of religion in our life.

But, how can religion be essence of life, when there are so many wars fought in the name of religion? The forces that give rise to riots and communal violence usually have little interest in religion itself. They use religion as a tool to fight their own personal battle of power, pride and money. As a result of these incidences, today the masses have stopped believing in religion all together. People now think that moving away from religion and taking God out of their life would be a better idea to solve problems. Has it solve anything?

The word 'religion' has a root word in Latin "religare", which means to be bound, or re-bound. Religion is a boundary, a set of guidelines within which we all must act. More like a code of conduct, following which can lead to content living. Contrary to the common perception these days, religion may or may not have to do with belief in God.  We may choose not to take sides of religious wars by boycotting the belief that "God is fearful", but we shall not ignore the core idea of religion which is to follow one's duty.

The byproduct of our suspicion in God's existence had us started ignoring and compromising our duties as citizens, family members, teachers, doctors, and students. We have become close minded and self-centered to the point where even if someone has done something good for us, we suspect their intentions. We have simply lost belief that unconditional love or aid exists! We are taught from childhood to focus solely on our self-interest. This is the reality we live in- half the world is ready to die in the name of religion, and the other half has started discarding the name of religion from their life.

The choice is ours: we can eliminate the religion and lose the guidelines to the ultimate happiness or apply the fundamental principles of religion in our life and discover happiness in any given situation. The bound of religion is like holding on to a rope by which we can walk through the darkest tunnel and the trail by which we can find our way in the densest forest. When we hold onto a religion our journey becomes much smoother through sorrow and happiness. Above all, religion provides that perfect attitude towards life which can motivate us to live and to live with pride. Religion is the revised vision: vision of life, society and the future.
____

As published in April 2009 issue of Superior Star Magazine
Written during the final year of undergraduate, University of Toronto.