The Lure of Superstition

Often, in the face of that which makes me weak, I look to support my crumbling faith with props. Many a time, I find that I seek correlation between unrelated things, and I try to think back and find linkages to events, that would explain the turn of events in a way I understand. Perhaps find a way to allocate 'blame' for something that has gone wrong in my life, or figure out something that seems horribly unfair.

Looking into all the traditions and rituals of our rich and varied Indian culture, I find innumerable such instances whereby I succumb to the lure of superstition. How much of our worship is truly a submission of our mind to meditation on the Divine and how much of it is empty ritual. Yet, I do so try to be perfect in my practice!!

So much of our day to day living and speaking is a submission to the lure as well. Trying to deflect the 'evil eye' from our blessings, especially children, trying to distract attention from something beautiful by oainting horrible monster faces onto it, the lemon and chilli burning, all of that ultimately is an illogical admission of our helplessness in the hands of 'evil' forces, of 'fate' as we understand it.

The lure of astrology as is practiced across our country and indeed the world is also no less a lure of superstition. Although the study of the stars themselves are based on a bodyof study that cannot be thrown away as baseless, and neither need it be so, the supplication we make before it in our consultations and quest for 'correction' of a faulty positioning of stars inone's chart, shows how incredibly dependent we are upon the extension of the hope that if we do 'this' or 'that' we will remedy the ills of our lives.

To have the strength to say 'no' to it all, is a draw upon our deepest core of strength indeed. For it is to say that 'I do not care if I am tempting the Fates to bring their worst on all I hold dear'. A mean feat indeed.

But it also means I supplicate to the will of a Force which I can neither control, not comprehend, but which I believe is inherently Good, and which wants the best for me. To take the reigns of 'control' away from a sphere which I understand and can manoeuver in, to one in which I have no clue as to the lay of the land, but in which I can see the beacon of faith guiding me.

What then shall be greater? The lure of my Faith, or the lure of Superstition. As I oscillate between one and the other, I hope to find the answer in the Middle Path. A little of both my friend, a little of both.