About Practices and Rituals

 

Practices commonly known to be Traditions or Rituals plays an important and significant role throughout the life of a person,a community and even the whole country.

Rituals and practices as per my own understanding are those things which were followed from a long period of time, even generations, cultivated gradually throughout the lifetime. Sometimes it's better to keep them 'as it is' like a protocol to preserve and carry it's essence.

Practices and rituals are often rejected or termed down as 'Old fashioned' or 'It made sense only at certain point of time' or 'It has become obsolete'.etc. Even I agree with critics and questioning. But anything more than needed will eventually lead to destruction and depletion of the very essence and eventually the following generations. The effects although cannot be seen right directly through our eyes, but will have a major significant impact on mental and spiritual setup. We have been witnessing recently that how criticizing, modernizing and becoming globally accepted slowly reducing the 'Traditionally preserved' reserves. Few examples are Yoga, Meditation and the likes.

You all may be aware of the fact that in the earlier times the Vedas were preserved from generations to generations in oral format rather than any written format or documentation. This helped all generations to keep the TONE of the Vedas in it's true revealed form and it was never subjected to variations. There is nothing wrong about documentation but preservarion in it's true form was more important. Let's have a look at the situation of the current most growing language  'English'. Different kinds of people pronounce several English words in their own different way. There are various Standardized formats like British English,American English and so on. Guess what happens if Vedas were documented and everyone interpreting and pronouncing all the Shlokas in their own way. Where will it lead? Simply to the destruction of profoundness and essence of Vedas.
So, to preserve anything, the exact practices and rituals or in simple words the "Host Culture" should continue without even slightest variations.

There are people who will question everything from celebrating Deepavali, Holi upto Traditions followed at certain places like Shabarimalai. But these half educated ones don't possess even the basic understanding of Practices and Rituals. The problem with most people in the present modern generation is that, they only see what is infront of them, they don't try to look beyond their sight. Women not allowed= discrimination. This is their equation. They don't go beyond like, the Mystical surroundings of Kshethras or the Divine places, the Traditions followed and it's scientific effects etc,. Turning everything into globally acceptable, something similar like 'secular' will deplete and destroy the uniqueness which the traditions and rituals possess.

Let me prove my point with an example.., Your yoga teacher might say that ' You just do the asanas of Surya namaskar chronologically without chanting any mantra as there is no need of it. He may be a very well-known Yoga Master. He may be 'accepted globally'. But still he's wrong on this point. Because, Surya Namaskar basically means Salute to Lord Suryadev or "The giver of Light" or "The remover of Darkness". worshipping Suryadev will promote good health not only physically but also psychologically and spiritually. As there is a saying "AAROGYAM BHASKARAATH ICCHETH". It should be perfomed by chanting the Mantras and feeling the power of divinity in it. Without proper chanting, the gain from Surya Namaskar will be reduced only to physical aspects. There should be an "Attitude of Gratitude" towards Lord Suryadev, who sustains life on earth. Without chanting of mantras there will be no Gratitude but only Attitude grows. effects or outcomes will turnout to be effective only at the physical level. You may appear fit and still be idle wherever you are intellectually. The effects like these cannot be seen through our eyes. But as the days,weeks,months and years pass by, you will notice a difference between those who chanted the mantras and those who did it as a workout. You can distinguish between FIT and HEALTHY.
So, why this distinction comes into picture? Because there lies the defect in following the "Host Culture" as I said earlier.

In conclusion I want to convey that
"Keep the Practices alive, Keep the Rituals alive, Keep the Traditions alive, Keep that "Host Culture" alive. So that, it will lead to The Prosperity and Preservation of Dharma.

Jai Shree Krishna.
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama
Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare.