What is the Connection between Religion and Dieting?

The maintenance of weight to obtain health and fitness is today a trillion dollar industry worldwide. According the Media Awareness Network, "It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth $100 billion a year." The greater problem in the people of developed world is not malnutrition but obesity, which is affecting not only their health but also their personality. Who wish to be fat? People are willing to do anything even undergoing ‘bariatric surgery’ involving risk of life to reduce weight and look smart.

We know quite well that the ideal weight of healthy body means neither being underweight, nor being overweight, but maintain a weight somewhere between of the two extremes as shown in the Figure. 

Have you ever thought this stupidly of man to spend money first to buy food and then spend money on reducing weight, which can be done free of cost.

The main reason for obesity is consumption of high calorie diet, overeating and lack of physical activity. You can, therefore, reduce your weigh simply by:-

•  Reducing  the consumption of high calorie/junk food,
•   Reducing quantity of your food intake
•  Doing more physical work

We can do all three above without spending a single penny, if we have control of mind to avoid instant pleasure of high-calorie food and develop a healthy lifestyle. The high calorie/junk food is always costlier than the low calorie simple food and hence it would save money to eat simpler food. When you eat less, again you save money. Finally, the activities of walking, jogging, exercising, yoga, meditation or doing your job is completely free and cost you nothing.

Yet most people can’t reduce the weight voluntarily but would do so only when advised by a dietician or fitness expert—after paying them their heard earned money. Yet the reality is before our eyes. Most people fail to maintain the right weight even when they spend lots of money on dieting and torture their body, mind and soul.

Now come to think of religion, which has become a matter of great controversy in the present world. The rationalist and intellectual people think that religious people are fanatic and it is stupid to believe n God and be religious. They often claim that religion is the opium of masses because it intoxicates people and keep them poor.

Let us imagine a world without religion—a world of atheists and rationalists.

What would be the purpose of life in such people?

In absence of any spiritual purpose of life, people tend to become materialistic and live to make more money, enjoy more pleasures and/or to become more powerful. However, this is a mindless chase because there is no limit to either of the three. According to Forbes list of 2014, the ranks of the world’s billionaires have swelled to a record 1,645 including 268 newcomers—with an aggregate net worth of $6.4 trillion, up from $5.4 trillion a year ago. Yet these rich people are not happy since they still have small wealth as compared to Bill Gates whose wealth surpasses $75 Billion. Who is more powerful than the President of United States of America, but still, he can’t get his way through and prevent an American citizen being killed by ISIS. He would surely like to have more power. There is also no end of pleasure seeking as the more you satisfy your senses, they more desire is born in your heart.

Have you ever thought--

• Why do you need so much money, when you can manage with much lesser money?
• Why do you need so much power, when power always gives you greater responsibility and invite hatred from people against whom you use power?
• Why do you run after pleasure, which can never be satisfied?

Most people are unhappy because of the lack of the fulfillment of these three desires. Hence, people are slogging day and night to fulfill these desires, till their last day of life. People don’t ask the question as to why they need so much. It is mad rush of material goals which has become the purpose of life for civilized and rationalist people. They have to win the race by becoming rich, powerful and get more pleasure in life.

However, just like the food, without which we can’t even survive, become harmful, when consumed in excess, the mindless fulfillment of these material desires harm the mind, body and soul of the person. It is impossible for everyone to become the richest, most powerful and also have the ability to enjoy pleasures of life. When you get one, you often lose other. Hence, it is impossible to achieve happiness by following material pursuits.

The mindless chase of materialism is checked by religion, whose tenets are just the opposite. Instead of worshiping wealth, power and pleasure, all religions teach people to shun them as Jesus said—‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God’. When the world teaches us that might is right, Jesus advices people to be meek—‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth’. He said emphatically —‘"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money’.

All religions provide a simple way to live life. You can see the same truth in Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Instead of earning, religions ask people to give. Instead of acquiring power, religions ask people to serve.

Religions, thus, provides hope to people who are not winners. Since there are always more losers than winners, religions shall be needed by the society. Yet religion alone can’t bring happiness, because you have to earn before you can give. You have to engage with the world to earn reasonable wealth to make your living. A man with blind faith without reason is similar to an underweight person. A fanatic is as unhappy as an atheist as shown in Figure below.

Hence, we must understand that the need of religion has arisen due to the values of our civilization which has created differentiation between people and engaged them in the mad race of worldly pursuits. The true happiness lies in the balance of your rational and spiritual mind just like your good health is the result of balancing the body weight between the two extremes—which is scientific fact.   

No wonder dieting is part of every religion—‘believers’ call it fasting.

A world without religion or a world without science

I recently came across an interesting discussion on Goodreads: ‘Would you rather live in a world without religion…or a world without science?’

The popular view of the participants is that religion is a greater evil than science and the world would be better off without religion. In any case, no one can argue today that it is possible to live without science as our life depends so much on the scientific inventions and technological development.

The question is thus— Is it possible to live without religion?

Religion seems to be a source of conflict in the world nowadays. The brutal killings by ISIS militants in Arab world, in the name of Islam, have shaken the conscious of world. The terrorist activities in the name of religion like 9/11, has led many people to believe that the world would be better without religion. Atheists and rationalists often find the faith in God absurd and the stories of the Scriptures and Mythologies nothing but figment of imagination.

Yet the truth is that more than 90% of the people in the world believe in God and follow their religion.

Atheists deny the existence of God because there is no proof of God. They, therefore, refuse to follow any religion.  It is important to understand that religion is more than God. Every religion creates a culture which is based on a set of values (in the name of God) that helps people live with each other and cope with the problems of life.  There is a natural bonding between people who have similar belief—be it religion or integrity, love, compassion etc. There is also a bonding between evil people as an old proverb in India says—all thieves are like cousins (Chor chor mausere bhai).

Religion created many institutions like marriage which binds men and women with each other for life faithfully, thus giving stability and security to the young children. The countries which have discarded religion are finding it difficult to convince the couples to remain married and be faithful to each other. Many human values like nonviolence, faithfulness, respect to elders, equality of all human beings or justice find their roots in religion. Some religions prohibit the use of alcohol, smoking, meat-eating which helps people to live healthy and peaceful life. Religions are our legacy and societies have developed around religion. While atheists discard God and religion, they fail to provide a positive set of values for the world to follow and hence atheism can never be a substitute for religion.

While it is easy to blame religion for terrorism and senseless killing by some fundamentalists but it is factually incorrect to say that only religion is responsible for homicides. Even in Iraq, majority of the people killed are Muslims only and it is evident that religion is used as an excuse to further the objective of militant to achieve their goal of establishing rule over Iraq.  Clever people can use any excuse to kill the weak as this story of Aesop’s fable teaches us-

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside, when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down. "There's my supper," thought he, "if only I can find some excuse to seize it." Then he called out to the Lamb, "How dare you muddle the water from which I am drinking?"

"Nay, master, nay," said Lambikin; "if the water be muddy up there, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs down from you to me."

"Well, then," said the Wolf, "why did you call me bad names this time last year?"

"That cannot be," said the Lamb; "I am only six months old."

"I don't care," snarled the Wolf; "if it was not you it was your father;" and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and ate her all up. But before she died she gasped out: "Any excuse will serve a tyrant."

It is unfair to blame religion for the ills of the society and the cause of all conflicts in the world.  Every year, hundreds of thousand people are murdered and mostly in the places where religion fanatics is not there. For example, the highest rate of homicide per 100,000 people took place in America and lowest is Asia as per the latest UNODC statistics.

The people who are hungry of power can use any excuse to rule over others. The two World Wars were fought not on the issue of religion as almost all participants were Christians. The issue was Imperialism, Nazism and Fascism in the world wars and not religion. The half a century cold war between America and Russia also has nothing to do with religion.  

Let us not blame religion for the problems, if it is used by the power hungry people to serve their own interest. Science, which deals only with facts, cannot replace religion, which governs the moral behaviour of men. Religion deals with heart while science deals with head—and you must have both to live your life.  Einstein said wisely: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind”.

Science and religion must stay together in this world like left and right side of human brain. They are not opposite to each other but they complement each other.

Reference:

1.       The Wolf and the Lamb URL: http://www.taleswithmorals.com/aesop-fable-the-wolf-and-the-lamb.htm

Whether Religion is Always a Source of Conflict?

Religion is nowadays quite often associated with conflicts and intolerance. The war between Israel and Philistine and extreme violence exhibited by ISIS militants against other religions and even against some sects of Muslims are drawing the attention of the world towards the negative side of religion.

Recently, Mr. Ram Gopal Verma, the Film Producer of Bollywood, created sensation as he tweeted about Lord Ganesha: ‘The guy who couldn't save his own head from being cut , how he will save others heads is my question? But Happy Ganpathi day to morons!’

His remark has evoked expected reactions from people cutting across all political affiliations. While Shaina of the BJP called it "blasphemous and insensitive", Congress' former MP from Mumbai Sanjay Nirupam demanded police action against him for violating the law of the land and hurting the sentiments of Hindus. If he is still not behind bars, it is because he is a Hindu and he has criticized his own God.

Can you imagine the reaction of people, if he would have been a Muslim or Christian?

Such extreme reactions of people in the matter of religion often make some people ask, ‘if the world would be better without religion?’ Can we not live by scientific truths rather than believing on something which is devoid of any scientific evidence?

I think that science and religion has to coexist together even though they seem contradictory to each other. Science tells us only the facts-- 'what it is', while religions and other ideologies tell us about our desires and aspirations--'what it should be'. Science tells us where we are but only religion or ideology can tell us where we should go in our life. If there is no religion or ideology, men would not know where to go and that would lead to chaos and conflict of different kind –between individuals.

The common theme of all religion is to create a society that follows a value system which can serve the interest of the group of the followers of the religion. Religions unite people under one roof just like the concept of nation unites people within a geographical area.

No religion is universal as it is created for the purpose of forming a group within a larger group. It usually has double standards:  one set of values for the members of their group and different (often opposite) for the rest (nonbelievers). All religions do not subscribe to the same set of values. That is why conflicts between different religions and often within same religion between different sects.

The same double standards are followed by modern secularists and atheists when they define believe in other man-made ideals like "nationalism" --where people justifies all actions in the national interest while the same actions are criticized when followed by others. As an example, if few thousand (innocent) people are killed in 9/11, Islamic countries and ideologies are blamed, but when the Allied forces killed many times more (innocent) people in Islamic countries, it was considered to be logical and justified. The fact is that in both cases many innocents died.

Can You Live Without Faith?
Man is a social animal and he wishes to live in groups. When you join a group, you have to adopt the values of the group (religion, nationalism, communism etc.). Religious values are often inculcated in our mind since your childhood and these thoughts go into our subconscious mind as we grow. Hence even when you are grown up, such thoughts become your personality and identity. You can't challenge them as they have become part of you. Hence anyone who questions that faith, you get angry and agitated.

While it is easy for the secular people to get agitated for the irrational behaviour of religious people, they also do the same when it comes to their beliefs about the sanctity of their –isms. We have seen tremendous hostile reaction when Saina Mirza chose to marry an Pakistani man of the same religion by the ‘nationalists’.

All –ISMS unite people under one umbrella but also segregate them from other people. Thus all faiths one side provide us protection and security, they also make us vulnerable to other – isms. Thus the good and evil of religion and faith can’t be separated. When you choose one end, you also choose the other end.   Only when you follow no –ism, you become universal. However, that is always a personal choice as you have to in turn sacrifice the security of the group.

Our Relationship with God

The question of relationship occurs when there is a distance or space between the two entities.  You have relationship with other individuals who are different than you but you can’t have relationship with yourself. There is no difference between God and us as we are all part of God and God too is part of us. The example that can be taken to explain this relationship is that of the drop in an ocean and the ocean itself. Where is the difference between the two? Ocean is same as drop and the drop too is part of ocean. Hence it is said, “I am God” (Aham Brahmashmi).

However, the problem is that we do not identify ourselves with God and do not see ourselves as God. It is like a mirror that is covered with lots of dirt as we have never cleaned the dirt on it and hence we are unable to see our image in the mirror. The dirt that covers our vision to see God is made of our evil acts, our desires for pleasure and material achievements. So we have to clean our heart and make it pure and change our actions in a way that we shun all evil actions. This will gradually make us realize God within our own heart and we shall become part of God in truest sense.