Is Religion Merely Superstition?

Questioner: I had been introduced to a fire ritual. It’s agnihotram, which is performed during every sunrise and sunset. In this ritual, we use ghee, cow dung and everything. Once I got to know that the use of ghee is there in this, I am using the cow dung, I am not willing to continue this any further. In English, they had translated it as ‘fire sacrifice’. I did not get the actual meaning of that word.

Acharya Prashant: Let’s say your son is in Class X. He would be one day. He comes to you with his Board Exam results, and he has flunked in Science- 15 out of 100. You ask him, “How come. How did you manage this?” And he says, “But I did study Science. I invested so much time in studying Science.” You say, “Okay, let me see. Show me your books.” And he brings the books to you, and the books appear so very untouched. They look brand new, virgin. Even the pages are smelling as if they are freshly out of the printer’s shop. So, you ask him, “Son, it is very clear that you never even once opened your science books and you are lying to me stating that you have been diligent with your Science studies.” He says, “No, I have been studying Science.” You ask him, “From whom?” And he says, “That Panditji, He is my science teacher. That mohalla temple is there and that Panditji is there. And he knows all the sciences in the world. And he has been my science teacher." I used to go to him to understand Newton, Pascal, Bernoulli, Kepler and he used to tell me, he used to perform all kinds of sacrifices and tell me, "See, this is how you have to understand Archimedes.”