India: Superstition in the Age of Silicon
Education and superstition coexisted in unsettling ways, often with perverse consequences. At my elite engineering college, many students began flocking to temples as examinations approached—sometimes even traveling long distances. Others sought comfort in the growing number of cults that had mushroomed across the country, each tailored to soothe a particular anxiety or offer an escape from pressure.
Yet they were not seeking peace, harmony, or spiritual insight—none of which Indian religions, focused on idolatry and ritual worship rather than virtues or commandments, are structured to provide. Instead, they gave monetary donations or undertook rituals of self-denial to appease their chosen deity. The choice of god was entirely pragmatic: whichever one was reputed to deliver the desired outcome—most often passing exams or securing a US visa.
What united all these acts was their intensely transactional nature. It was a marketplace—not of ideas, but of divine favors—where gods and gurus were “bought” with offerings, rituals, or suffering—ironically and hypocritically—in exchange for worldly rewards. The appeal lay not in introspection, personal growth, or moral elevation—none of which found any place in the collective consciousness—but in outsourcing accountability to a higher power. This ethos of divine negotiation—rooted not in faith but in fear and convenience—mirrored the larger moral and institutional disorder surrounding us.
These students could easily solve complex differential equations, yet they irrationally believed that bribing gods could boost their grades. Their scientific education had failed to instill objectivity or critical self-reflection. Despite years of rigorous training, their “mental operating systems” remained irrational, unscientific, and superstitious. This wasn’t an individual failing—it was institutional. Professors tolerated it, families encouraged it, and elite graduates carried it abroad, repackaging superstition as “tradition” or “cultural identity.”
They proudly displayed talismans and charms collected from temples, mistaking external tokens for inner strength. But this confidence—rooted in external authority rather than self-knowledge—was fragile. It led to severe mood swings and, all too often, culminated in existential crises.
The same superstitious approach to religion—in which the follower depends on divine whims—permeated daily life, professional ethics, and social interactions. Personal responsibility was easily abdicated; blame was assigned to fate, astrological misalignment, or divine displeasure when outcomes fell short. This mindset shaped how they led teams, voted, and raised children—placing faith in luck and hierarchy over foresight, integrity, or reason. Whether in governance or personal ambition, long-term planning gave way to short-term maneuvering, quick fixes, and ritualistic appeasements.
This deep-rooted aversion to responsibility and reason did not remain confined to religion—it shaped the very fabric of Indian institutions, from governance to education. A materialistic approach to religion precludes the possibility of spirituality. A psyche incapable of introspection or transcendence becomes grounded in unrestrained materialism and base, animalistic impulses. In such an environment, truth and integrity lose all value; expediency and convenience prevail. Appeals to authority figures—whether gods, bureaucrats, or foreign powers—abound, revealing a deep-seated dependency.
This fostered a subservient mindset, always looking outward for rescue or validation. The result is a population that remains sheepish, beset by identity crises, and psychologically reduced to a posture of mental beggary—an outlook fundamentally incompatible with true spirituality.
India serves as a tragic laboratory: a place where the mental and moral devastation wrought by paganism, idolatry, and polytheism can be observed even among the otherwise intellectually capable. With so many gods to choose from, students frequently switched allegiances—engaging in a vernacular version of Pascal’s Wager, hedging their bets across multiple d
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