In times of immense financial/familial problems, I observed how my parents’ dependency on religion and astrologers steadily increased. My younger self has had mostly condescending and aggressive arguments on the irrationality of their beliefs but later I tried to understand why people, even those with the privilege of scientific education believe in malefic state of ‘shani’ as the sole reason for problems, not starting new ventures during Mercury’s retrograde or in Brahma as the creator of the Universe.

Religious dogmas are deeply ingrained inside us, particularly during childhood hence rarely dislodge. Moreover, in our society, such enquiries are often considered blasphemous; and questioning beliefs, a sacrilege. It is true that any strong belief system, provides and satiates certain psychological needs/advantages which are difficult to meet in other ways. Faith based practices such as praying and its impact on mental well-being is undeniable. But it does not prove that the God (any) who people are praying exists but just that praying or meditation is beneficial. Millennials and their need to look for substitutes for religion, have sought to horoscopes and crystals while apparently even ISRO scientists break coconuts before a launch. To look down into such belief systems as unscientific and primitive would be a gross oversimplification on our part.

Our lifestyles, riddled with ambitions and frustrations have paved way for this dependence on gurus/astrologers as props to further our belief that life is out of our hands. Psychology attempts to explain some aspects of this through what is referred as Confirmation bias and propounding an illusion of control, in some cases even mental manipulation in the form of partial hypnosis. Faith has been proven, univocally to be effective and it is not ‘just’ a placebo effect. It is in itself a miraculous phenomenon, how a thought (or belief) can impact something material like our psyche and even body. Negatively it can also cause mass hysteria or belief that something is causing immense pain/sickness with no medical explanation. Stories where gurus have cured diseases or research where doctors have treated using fake pills both show that be it the white coat or a white robe, it is one’s belief that is most powerful.

Unfortunately, faith healing is often a double-edged sword. I am still unable to find any logical explanation on why my mother was suggested to fast on Fridays to improve financial situation or how my signature analysis concluded that I will give more importance to money than family in the future. It is further deeply concerning how religious gurus or healers who lack education or any certification as mental health practitioners are preferred to treat mental illnesses. It won’t harm medical professionals to thus have socially competent education and then perform a culturally-sensitive risk benefit analysis. Both, outright rejection or unquestioning acceptance can be detrimental to the patient. Our privilege tilts us towards high-handedness but the answers we seek might lie in open (albeit critical) and balanced considerations.

(The views expressed, should be read as personal observations/opinions in layman’s understanding than scientific research. Religion, astrology, graphology are extremely different entities that I have clubbed for the sake of argument)