and i thought…

thinking and behavioural pattern of an individual solely depend on the surrounding that they grew. decision making, conversational skills, religious belief, manners and etiquettes are closely bounded to upbringing of their parents/guardian and also linked to the growing environment.

thinking as such, living in the computer era certainly brings in some modern changes in life style and thinking. fast trains, hi-tech phones, cutting edge technology in nearly everything, simplified and computerized lifestyle and fast mode of transportation tele-ports our current pace to whole new level. imagine, we are talking about NEW ERA, NEW LEVEL..

AND I THOUGHT, so do the people around me and everywhere. i thought these fast moving world changed the orthodox practices and beliefs amongst us (referring to Indians). rituals and taboos that are created for some specific purposes back then still being followed ‘blindly’/’sincerely’ by some people.

i am specifically talking about exorcism practises and  transcendental beliefs among the indians. we believe that God as well as devils/ghost have the power to possess human for some purposes (or mights be trivial too). we also believe in some rituals and practices that can ward off evil spirits from disturbing us. not only Indian but most cultures have this beliefs that being spread from generation to generation. i discovered some fascinating outcomes from my Cultural Anthropology project last semester. my group and i did a small poll and research on the rituals and perspective on the title: “TRANSCENDENTAL AND SPIRITUAL ENTITIES ACCORDING TO HINDUISM AND INDIAN PRACTICES”

those finding really opened my eyes where people still depend on some alternative/traditional rituals for medicinal purposes, exorcism, soothsaying and so on. to some extremes, people depend on their life in black magic and evil deeds.

some of our findings through online survey:

*non-uniform sizing. sorry!

the survey was conducted online where most of the respondents are Indian teenagers (online users/surfers). that clearly shows the mind set of nowadays people who still have undivided believes in some customs and beliefs that post some effects in our daily life. most belief that spiritual entities (good or bad) do exist and it aids us to some aforementioned purposes (blackmagic removal etc.). that also clearly shows that, younger generation do abide some regulations/taboos that are told verbally by our ancestors/elderly mastermind.

nothing to be commented on the rationality of the belief as it deals with self assessment on the spiritual and mystical entities that paranormally exist. but what shocks me is some trivial practices that does not make sense to my conscious thinking. practices like animal slaughtering, offerings, existence of entities, nailing pins on tree, on-fire-walking, body piercing, and so on. some do have their meaning and it is expected for the persona to know the meaning of each ritual. but it is now transformed into whole new different understanding that degrades the social respect and status among the community.

confused? to cut in short, this is my view on rituals and practices of any sort : question each practice that your elderly ask to do. in my opinion, each has a reason that worth to be known.