Superstition means belief in omens, and augurs an
unreasonable fear of the unknown. They are rituals based on such beliefs and
fears. Man in ancient times was ignorant. He was afraid of almost everything
around him. Then he did not understand the earth and heavens. So he connected
all sorts of events with his misfortunes and had superstitious beliefs. Those
beliefs in their turn gave rise to strange and often horrible practices such as
the human and animal sacrifices. Ages passed, and man emerged from his
intellectual darkness. Science came into being. It conquered superstitious in
general.
But the primitive fear of the unknown is still lingering. Ignorance
persists. Many people are still superstitious. They feel that evil will befall
them if they have bad dreams early in the morning, if they spill salt, if they
defy the number thirteen, if a black cat crosses their path, if they pass under
a ladder, if someone sneezes at the time of their departure and so on. Our newspapers
and magazines are full of astrological predictions. Fortune-tellers are
carrying on a lucrative business.
All such things weaken the minds of people and make them
more credulous and miserable. However the fact remains that most of us are superstitious.
Even the highest qualified people perform some pooja( a ritual in honor of the gods, performed either at home or in the temple) at the time of beginning
any new work. This is nothing, but superstition. All the same, superstitious
are bad. They deprive us of courage, self-confidence and self-control. We should
do our best to guard ourselves against them
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