I remember one catchy line said by Mithun Chakraborty to Paresh in the film OMG "they are not God loving people , they are God fearing people" as the later tries to fight against "Act of God" .
The above line holds true for most of us. When we were kids we we asked to fold our hands in front of God or else face his wrath. In fear we used to do as was told.
I used to see my grandma being a widow, never used to touch any non veg food which she at one time loved dearly. She used to fast for every "amabasya" and then used to have some non cooked food like fruits etc. She was strict about not touching non veg also. My mother used to cook for us , clean the kitchen and then cook for her separately. All the non veg items should not touch any veg item. The utensils were not even barred.
Now when I was getting married I was asked to fast the whole day. I was made to eat at 5 am in the morning( I was feeling miserable eating at such time) and the remaining day I was made to eat only sweets or lassi. Damm. By the time I reached the mandap in the evening I was starved and feeling less energetic. I begged everyone to bring me some food. My elder brother brought a handful of pakoras and asked me to eat quickly. So I there was eating pakoras like a thief as if I am punished for getting married.
These are very common example that I have stated. We Indians follow loads of them almost everyday. Rituals are part of our lives. There are some rituals which we should follow whereas some are too much for us. Why do we need to fast the whole day twice every month? Just for pujas.What will happen if you do puja at your home? Will God not listen to you? Then why do you feed HIM everyday after bath? Why is a widow punished for someone who is no more? Why cant you live your life as before? As far as marriages are concerned we are told that in order to maintain good health fast that day. Comeon think about the sugar level getting dropped, the hunger pangs we get. How is that worth?
One collegueof mine says "We dont drink coconut water after sunset". Bewildered I asked the reason thinking it must be linked with acidity. But no her answer was something which lacked logic. "I am taught that way and I follow that". I asked her instead "Is ritual for people or people are for rituals". Comeon drinking coconut water has nothing to do with Sun rise or Sun set. The Sun God is busy with other things. He is not perturbed by this. What gets perturbed is your system. It might not take it well as the metabolism slows down at that time.
But alas where there is logic there is no God and subsequently no rituals. So mainly the rituals are too much exaggerated. You follow some and do what you feel comfortable. God surely will not be angry on you. God is not vindictive. Love your God, love your religion but first love yourself. Dont sacrifice your health. Its not doing any good. Think about it. If you still cant get the answer I will utter like Shah rukh Khan "Rehn de..tu nehi samjhega".
The above line holds true for most of us. When we were kids we we asked to fold our hands in front of God or else face his wrath. In fear we used to do as was told.
I used to see my grandma being a widow, never used to touch any non veg food which she at one time loved dearly. She used to fast for every "amabasya" and then used to have some non cooked food like fruits etc. She was strict about not touching non veg also. My mother used to cook for us , clean the kitchen and then cook for her separately. All the non veg items should not touch any veg item. The utensils were not even barred.
Now when I was getting married I was asked to fast the whole day. I was made to eat at 5 am in the morning( I was feeling miserable eating at such time) and the remaining day I was made to eat only sweets or lassi. Damm. By the time I reached the mandap in the evening I was starved and feeling less energetic. I begged everyone to bring me some food. My elder brother brought a handful of pakoras and asked me to eat quickly. So I there was eating pakoras like a thief as if I am punished for getting married.
These are very common example that I have stated. We Indians follow loads of them almost everyday. Rituals are part of our lives. There are some rituals which we should follow whereas some are too much for us. Why do we need to fast the whole day twice every month? Just for pujas.What will happen if you do puja at your home? Will God not listen to you? Then why do you feed HIM everyday after bath? Why is a widow punished for someone who is no more? Why cant you live your life as before? As far as marriages are concerned we are told that in order to maintain good health fast that day. Comeon think about the sugar level getting dropped, the hunger pangs we get. How is that worth?
One collegueof mine says "We dont drink coconut water after sunset". Bewildered I asked the reason thinking it must be linked with acidity. But no her answer was something which lacked logic. "I am taught that way and I follow that". I asked her instead "Is ritual for people or people are for rituals". Comeon drinking coconut water has nothing to do with Sun rise or Sun set. The Sun God is busy with other things. He is not perturbed by this. What gets perturbed is your system. It might not take it well as the metabolism slows down at that time.
But alas where there is logic there is no God and subsequently no rituals. So mainly the rituals are too much exaggerated. You follow some and do what you feel comfortable. God surely will not be angry on you. God is not vindictive. Love your God, love your religion but first love yourself. Dont sacrifice your health. Its not doing any good. Think about it. If you still cant get the answer I will utter like Shah rukh Khan "Rehn de..tu nehi samjhega".
Rituals were made for those in power in order to keep the power.
ReplyDeleteI am not very sure whether this holds true for all the rituals. It certainly is true..
DeleteApprently some of the rituals have scientific/logical explanation; but i am unsure of this fact. Anyways what I feel is that most of the people follow rituals these days mainly driven by social pressure.
ReplyDeleteFor some it is true. But most of them lack logic..Yes we mainly follow them in fear of God or social pressure
DeleteScience is my religion...god is my faith and only ritual I like to follow is talking to god whenever I feel like. Beautifully written post. Thank you for sharing:-)
ReplyDeleteEven I follow the same way but I do follow some rituals which I like to follow. Thanks for reading 😊
DeleteI follow because I was 'taught' that way....that is what rituals are all about!
ReplyDeleteI know and that is instilled in our minds.
DeleteAnushmita, these stupid rituals have nothing to do with God. They are all man made and are followed blindly for generations together. God is the Creator of this universe. God resides in all of us and guides us as our Father. We only need to love Him and feel grateful for all the ways He blesses us. He is not to be feared. Do we fear our parents and think of being harmed by them when we disobey them in any way? I have never followed any ritual. Being a good human is our only religion. For that, we need to keep our conscience wide awake. This conscience I believe is the voice of God. I appreciate your points. Blind obedience to any social, religious or cultural norm or etiquette is to me sheer stupidity. 'Follow what you believe' that should be our motto of life.
ReplyDeleteThank you aunty
ReplyDeleteIt is very much true...we follow these rituals because we were taught since childhood...we were taught to fear God but not to love Him and we followed them blindly and also forcibly pass our thoughts and beliefs to our next generations...we should follow what our heart wants to follow...you have written a beautiful post...keep it up...waiting for some more post from you
ReplyDeleteThanks sayan
DeleteWhat about getting married? That is also a ritual. But I guess there is a fine line between rituals n superstitions. Rituals are obviously the culmination of age old practices n customs. Some are good n some are bad. However, good or bad is only a matter of perception of an individual. After who is more noble ram or ravan?
ReplyDeleteI am not into a debate of who is better Ram or Ravan. Its just that if you follow rituals from urself and is satisfied then its ok. Dont follow it by force. There will not be a consequence. Its again your perception how u see my post.
Delete