The Journey from Faith to Freedom
I grew up in a Hindu family where the idea of thirty-three crore gods was just part of life. Rituals and prayers were woven into my everyday routine, with the understanding that if I did my part, the gods would take care of the rest. As a kid, this was comforting. It felt like a safety net, something I never really questioned.
Going to the temple became a habit. I would close my eyes, fold my hands, and pray with all my heart, believing that the universe would respond. But as I got older, little doubts started to creep in. I was around eleven when I first began to question the stories and rituals that I had always accepted as true.
One particular moment sticks out in my mind. It was during a Ramayana Parayana session, where the epic of Ramayana is recited in full during the Ramayana month. The priest mentioned that King Dasharatha had lived for 60,000 years. I remember being puzzled — how could this be? From what I had learned, the Ramayana took place around 5000 BC, so how could a king have lived for tens of thousands of years before that? It did not add up, and that small seed of doubt started to grow.
That moment led me down a path of exploration. I started reading everything I could find. The more I learned, the more my scepticism grew. By the time I was in university, my faith had faded significantly, and about eight years ago, I came to the conclusion that the concept of a higher power just did not resonate with me anymore.
But instead of feeling lost, I felt liberated. It was like a weight had been lifted. I stopped attributing my actions and their outcomes to a deity and started holding myself accountable. It was empowering to take responsibility for my life without feeling the need to seek approval from something beyond myself.
Reading was key to this transformation. It helped me figure out what felt right and true for me. Every book, article, and essay I read helped me build a new understanding of the world — one that wasn’t limited by religious dogma or ancient texts.
I am proud of the person I have become. I have learned to question things, think critically, and live in a way that feels authentic to me. To some, I might be a monster for abandoning faith, but to others, I am a fellow traveller on the road to self-discovery. My journey from faith to atheism is not just about rejecting belief; it is about embracing a new way of seeing the world, one where I am trying to be fully in control of my life.
