Religion vs. Faith

Religion is so keen to help educate the children of this world, they know that between the ages of five and fifteen, people develop the beliefs and philosophies that will accompany them all through life. And these influences that we come across under at this age will invariably shape our faith to "some extent". So in a way religion and faith go hand in hand. I have learnt to stop for a minute and remember the Almighty before anything that is painted orange or red under a tree, I may continue doing that till my last breath. I am in a habit of tying a sacred thread around my wrists, to ward off all evil spirits, I earnestly look to change that thread, whenever it is worn out. And I never question - why am I doing this? what is the essence of this? what will I gain from it? Is it religion or is it faith?
In one of my evening outings to know my infamous neighbourhood a little better, I walked into the lanes and bylanes of Jakasandra...it was largely dilapidated, there were small makeshift huts on both sides of the roads, half naked children playing at glee, the speeding two wheelers stopping diligently for the flock of hen to cross the lane, a herd of cows looked at me as if they had seen something strange, one of them was so displeased by my sight that it came running after me (thankfully it was tied-up)...it seemed to me that I was walking in some place which was a little better than a village, in no way could I make myself believe that I was in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. After 15 to 20 mins of my aimless but interesting stroll, I came across a big playground and I observed that there was a temple at one corner..my curiosity got the better of me, in addition my quest to know the Dravidian Gods, i decided to cross over.
I entered the temple from the backside, the courtyard was kind of neat and freshly painted, I glanced through the various shapes of deities carved on the temple wall. Soon I was at the entrance of the temple, which was quite crowded with people concentrating hard to make their prayers heard. I noticed a stone bench at some distance where I could pull out my sneakers. I approached the area, a pungent smell welcomed me. There was a concrete pedestal at the middle and there were some 4 -5 odd shapped rock slabs placed vertically above the pedestal. Each stone was garlanded and smeared with vermillion. People were offering a mixture of curd and rice to each of the rocks and bathing them with lemon juice & curd, the whole pedestal had become a slippery mess, people falling over it and a combination of that rice, curd & lemon juice emitted a foul smell that I could not even stand there for few minutes. I also noticed some dirty cows and oxen standing nearby. I pulled my sneakers and hurried into the temple..my escape from that stink.
Honestly, I could not make much sense of what was happening around, neither could I precisely understand, which God was this temple dedicated to (perhaps some form of Parvati), all the customs & rituals seemed completely alien to me. Each person folded his hands offering his reverence, then all of a sudden started vigourously slapping himself, and after this was done, he would rapidly circle around standing at that position. I must admit, I could not offer a word of prayer, I was so involved observing the people and the Gods...not happy with myself, I stepped out of the temple.
I had to walk towards that stinking place...but what I saw left me dumbfounded, I could not believe my eyes..the pedestal did not have a single two legged human being, it was occupied by four -legged creatures - cows, oxen, goats and stray dogs who merrily licked the stone slabs and the pedestal. And there were some roadside pigs also competing their way to the pedestal. "What on the earth was this?" I tried asking some people, who hardly understood what i said. All I could gather that this is what they believe in! I felt disgusted and seriously felt sorry for the Gods.

God or any scripture or any religion may not be able to explain what was happening there..as I briskly walked away, my mind was full of questions. Does religion preach us to do all this? Why is it that our blind faith gets the better of us and God becomes obscure? I am an ardent follower of the Vedanta way of life, Ramakrishna in his preachings has always mentioned, if you are not in alignment, never question about anything related to faith, but I could not stop myself..is this blind faith or is this religion..Isn't the place where you worship, a place of cleanliness? Did those people actually know what God stood for? Is God really pleased and happy in such a manner? Or is it blind faith that is imbibed in us as a child..do this and God will be happy?