Superstitions Are Deep Rooted and Irrational Beliefs Which Have No Profanity

7/28/2019 Superstitions Are Deep Rooted and Irrational Beliefs Which Have No Profanity

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Superstitions are deep rooted and irrational beliefs which have no

profanity. Superstitions are the legacy of every civilizations and areinherited by the following generations. It was once believed thatsuperstition could be rooted out with the spread of education. Butthese have continued to linger with the generations.

Superstitions are deemed as pertinent in India because these,generally, hint at future occurrences and can be either goodor bad.

Origin and history of Superstitions :

Superstitions originated perhaps, when man was at the mercy of the natural elements. He respected and worshiped the forces of nature like the sun, the moon, water etc. He worshiped firebecause of its destructive ability. When man started falling prey todiseases he started appeasing the gods with offerings, penancesand sacrifices to ward off evil spirits.

All civilizations have their respective superstitions. But some likebeliefs in ghosts, sorcery, witchcraft and spirits are universal. Thewestern civilizations although very progressive have their ownsuperstitions. The number 13 is unlucky in the west because theLast Super Lord Jesus dined with his twelve disciples and later was crucified. Salt was spilled on the table on which they dinedand therefore even now, spilling of salt is considered ominous.

New England in America was infamous for its witches. All womenwho were suspected of practicing witchcraft, were held to the stakeand burnt alive. Later it was realized that such executions were

carried out at the behest of some people who had some selfishmotives.

Superstitions are deep rooted and irrational beliefs which have noprofanity. Superstitions are the legacy of every civilizations and areinherited by the following generations. It was once believed thatsuperstition could be rooted out with the spread of education. Butthese have continued to linger with the generations.

Superstitions originated perhaps, when man was at the mercy of

the natural elements. He respected and worshiped the forces of nature like the sun, the moon, water etc. He worshiped fire



because of its destructive ability. When man started falling prey todiseases he started appeasing the gods with offerings, penancesand sacrifices to ward off evil spirits.

All civilizations have their respective superstitions. But some likebeliefs in ghosts, sorcery, witchcraft and spirits are universal. Thewestern civilizations although very progressive have their ownsuperstitions. The number 13 is unlucky in the west because theLast Super Lord Jesus dined with his twelve disciples and later was crucified. Salt was spilled on the table on which they dinedand therefore even now, spilling of salt is considered ominous.

New England in America was infamous for its witches. All womenwho were suspected of practicing witchcraft, were held to the stake

and burnt alive. Later it was realized that such executions werecarried out at the behest of some people who had some selfishmotives.

In India too, people are confronted by a number of superstitions. Acat crossing one's path, the sight of a Brahmin or a sneeze meansthe purpose of the journey which was being undertaken wouldremain unaccomplished. Hooting of an owl, howling of a dogaugurs an impending death or a doom. Contracting chicken pox is

considered to be wrath of a goddess 'Durga'. So the goddess isappeased with offerings.

Some of the Indian Superstitions and beliefs are :

• A lot of augurs concern on birds and animals. The luckiest augur is to view an elephant while one gets on a journey,as theelephant is a symbol of Hindu god 'Ganesha', the lord of good fortune and the destroyer of troubles.

• The sound of a crow near the surroundings or on somebody's

home forecasts the arriving of guests.

• During a journey, the vision of a peacock is said to be beneficialbut listening its high-pitched call signals looting by thepersons along the path.

• A dog wailing nearby a sick person's region forecasts his deathor poor fate.

• Viewing a cat or the face of a cow early in the dawn imparts

misfortune.



• A sparrow is boosted to construct a nest in a fresh house for fortunate fate.

• A golden or off-white matter fallen on the doorstep by a cowsignals the gain of precious things such as gold or silver.

• Departing for a tour or a journey is a really crucial occasion andcares have to be adopted depending on the grandness of thetravel. The astrologist is referred to decide an lucky time tostart.

• There are a lot of beliefs related with beginning a travel.Sneezing or words of dissuasion suchlike "stop, do not go",or "Why are you going? or "You shouldn't go" used bychance by somebody at this important time are ominousthings and a person should begin once again if this befalls.

• It is believed lucky to witness cow chip, grains, paddy, cottonwool, hay or a fresh married prior to beginning a journey.

• Every day living is also regulated by do's and don’ts for differently for different days in a week. For instance, Mondayisn't a lucky day for trimming and shaving or Tuesday for rinsing hair or Saturday for purchasing oil and beautyproducts.

• Whenever there is itchiness in the palm of the right hand, itsignifies luck and coming of money and the inverse holds for the left hand. This refers simply to the clean (right) and dirty(left) portions of the body.

• Ironically, flipping of the right eye lid is believed to be unfortunateand the blinking of the left eyelid is considered to beprosperous.

• Many individuals are likewise very superstitious about the start of their dawns. It is considered that the entire daytime isimpacted by the morning. Viewing a bride, the memorial of agod, or a Brahmin is believed to be prosperous, while seeingwidow woman, infertile women and unfortunate people isbelieved to be ominous.

To avert the danger of witnessing any awful thing in the morning, alot of individuals see the palms of their hands just after they wakeup in the morning and then they recite this spell: "In the crest of thefingers lives Lakshmi (the Hindu goddess of wealth) ; in the center



lies Sarasvati (the Hindu goddess of Knowledge); in the bottom of the palm rests Govinda (Hindu god of prosperity); viewing myhands, I start my day."

• There are likewise a lot of superstitious beliefs associated withdeath. The most crucial between them is that food is notprepared in a household where death of somebody hashappened. At this time, all the family members of such familyare believed to be impure and so they are not allowed to goin the kitchen. Neighbors and other persons are asked tomake and send eating items for them. This superstitionprobably is the outcome of the reality that when a deathhappens in a household, then the relatives of the died do nothave the desire and nor the time to make food. This belief

likewise reinforces the sense of community during the timesof difficulties.

• It is also believed that eating such a unit of fruit or vegetablewhich contains 2 units of the fruit or vegetable joint together is harmful

• Dirty period : In a few regions of India, an adult female isbelieved to be unclean during the postpartum time intervaland during the days of the menstruation. They are averted

from entering any ceremonial occasion and even notpermitted to go in to the kitchen as the food she will touchwill become impure. Although a few observations supportsthis thing, e.g. if a women is menstruating and she touchesthe pot or box of pickles then it gets spoiled

• Whenever an individual hiccups, it's believed that somebody isdiscussing or thinking about him or missing him. If this reallyhappens, then I am astonished on thinking about famouspersonalities and celebrities around the world. May god save

them!!! :)

• The falling down of a lizard on a person is considered extremelybad and harmful unlucky for the person on which it falls. Andfurther ill predictions are made based on the part of the bodyon which the lizard falls.

Tying lemon along with chillies on anything saves it from threatsand evil eyes of bad people.

My Views on Superstitious beliefs :



In today's scientific world, it is necessary that we do not blindlyfollow all the superstitions that were handed over to us by our ancestors. We are modern, both in our outlook and the age we arein. Therefore we should have a judicious look for some logical

reason behind every superstition before accepting it. We wouldthen be able to give up those superstitions which have norationality and applications in today's life. It is only in this way thatwe can lead or normal lives. Experiments are on to find out thatman has the soul which leaves the man when he dies. People aresaid to have confirmed ghosts and premonitions at several places.But it remains to be proved that ghosts do exists and posses thepower they are supposed to exhibit. Dogs are very sensitive tochanges around them, they become sexless before the onset of a

natural calamity and wait to inform their masters of the impendingdoom. So, one can not just simply reject this superstition. In southIndia people bath early in the morning and apply sandalwood ontheir forehead. People have now realized that sandalwood keepsthe forehead cool and soothes the brain and hence the practicehas been there since time immemorial.

I personally believe that some of the superstitions are importantand necessary but a majority of them are unwanted and are basedon useless stuffs. But this 'superstitions' topic also has two parts.

There are some things in this world which are unexplained, evenscience doesn't have enough capabilities to find the answers for them, so we must not completely deny any belief by saying that itis a non-sense stuff. Science has already proved the existence of paranormal forces like evil spirits, ghosts by using proper devicesand experiments. So, there is no doubt in accepting this fact. And if all the superstitious beliefs are false then the activities of exorcismand other ghost hunting activities would not have been effective(as I saw it in the 'Haunting' of Discovery channel and also from

my personal experiences). However we should use our ownsenses and logical abilities before merely following anysuperstition. Though we should believe and practice superstitionsbut excess of anything is harmful. Most of the time we adopt anysuperstitious belief by seeing its prosperous effects on a personwho adopted it. We don't search for the logical reason in this, we just blindly follow that superstition. For instance, in India, eatingcurd before giving any examination is considered lucky. Let's go tothe origin of this belief, in past somebody would have worked hardfor his exams and would have eaten curd in his meal before hisexam. It is obvious that he will get good results since he has



worked hard. But all the credit was given to the 'curd' he ate beforehis exam. And since then it is believed that eating curd before anyexam brings success. Now it is worth thinking that how could 'curd'bring success in an examination? Suppose I don't study for any

exam and I just eat curd before the exam then will I getsuccessful??? No!!!. People should use their logical abilities toavoid many of the useless superstitions. But, being a selfish andgreedy social being, humans are unable to avoid these, thoughthey know that majority of these are useless beliefs but theymerely practice them by thinking, “it won't affect me even if if i door practice it, there is nothing bad in trying may be it'll come outfruitful later".

Demoralizing Effects :

Superstitions have a demoralizing effect on our life. It ends our self confidence. We can not think in a reasonable way. All our thinkingand working power gets paralyzed under the influence of unknownfears. We consult priests, pandits, astrologers and others for making our life 'lucky'. We often use other 'mantras' and spells toward off evil forces. We are disturbed because of the unknown.We may not do all this unknowingly. The unknown fear hangs over

us and we can not get rid of it easily.

No doubt, superstitions are an undesirable part of our life. Ignorantpeople have faith in something unseen. Even educated people aredoing the same thing. We have got all this from our evolution fromdark ages. The only cure for unnecessary superstitions iseducation and awareness. We should develop our reasoningpower. We must have a scientific mind, we should try to analyzethe things in logical way. Only then we may be free fromunnecessary superstitions of mind.

Are you superstiticious ?Superstitions can make people do wacky things sometimes. If youbelieve in too many superstitions, you can find yourself in some serioustrouble!

Some "common" superstitions involve black cats, broken mirrors,walking under ladders and more. And some people even believe that

Friday the 13th is a whole DAY of bad luck.

So we want to know, Healthkickers...



Are you superstitious? Or do you think superstitions are silly?

Superstitions Are Deep Rooted and Irrational Beliefs Which Have No Profanity

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