The viewpoint of Religion to modern man has changed in terms of its need and value in his daily life. How then can he continue to benefit from it? What does he lose if he devalues it?
In the past we find that there was a severe emphasis on being ritualistic if one had to be considered to be a religious person. And if you were a religious person you were respected in society. On the other hand, in today’s world, people prefer to be more moderate towards religion in terms of how much it influences their daily life. The modern Indian society prefers to be more spiritual rather than religious. What do we mean by that?
Understanding Spirituality
My teacher, Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji explained the aspects of Religion (Philosophy and Rituals) very beautifully. He used to say, “True religion possesses two important limbs, namely, its philosophy and its ritualistic injunctions. Mere ritualism, bereft of philosophy is only superstition, while bare philosophy without ritualistic practices tantamounts to sheer madness.”
To me, being spiritual means to understand and more importantly live the spirit behind every ritual while performing it.
So when modern man wants to be spiritual and not religious, he means he wants to be educated and practically live the values of his religion rather than merely perform the external practices that are suggested by its followers. However, since it is so predominant in our culture to perform rituals, one ends up performing a few of them, even though reluctantly and without understanding.
In the Bhagavad Geeta, we hear a wonderful statement of fact, “Yo yat Shraddha sa eva saha”, meaning, as per one’s faith (belief), so one becomes. Our faith in our religion is only seen, when it gives us some tangible benefit. And it apparently does so… look at the number of temples we have, it doesn’t seem to be enough, does it?
We perform these rituals because we want our sufferings to end. Hence, we perform the many poojas, or take on a fast, or do many pilgrimages, follow many superstitions, traditions and customs, (why because so and so said so). Some even would like to go to the astrologer and forecast their future in order to take steps to negate their suffering. But no one asks, did Lord Krishna, Sri Ram, Jesus, and other great beings in human form, who are all worshipped today as God, and who all had the power to see into their future and past, why did they not avoid their quota of suffering while living in this world?
Rituals and its purpose
Hence now, we come to the understanding of these various rituals and its importance. Basically, a ritual has three main purposes. a). It creates a discipline in the mind and strengthen it; b). To acknowledge the many factors which make us capable in achieving our small goals in life; and c). To reminds us of our higher purpose in life and direct us towards it. A ritual should not be done in order to merely fulfill other’s expectations or for some social recognition. If they are done with that spirit, then we have cheated ourselves of their true benefit. Without performing any rituals such as daily prayers, poojas, study of the scriptures, etc. it is easy to become a slave to the world of circumstances and it is much harder to conquer our own inner weaknesses.
Mind you, having stated the importance of performing rituals, we must come to understand that not everyone needs to perform the same rituals either. It all depends on one’s temperament, just as everyone must wear clothes but you can’t have the attitude, ‘One size fits all or one colours suit all’; there needs to be different options which suit every size and shape of wearer. In the same way, for the different shapes and temperaments of mind there are different rituals. Some of us are very focused; others find it hard to sit quietly; and some are very easily affected by their surroundings, etc. It is important that we pick our ritual (daily practice) carefully. It is also important to be respectful towards to form of ritual/worship we undertake; just as one respects the person who sincerely works towards removing our physical ailments.
What do we lose if we do not follow the two limbs of Religion?
If we live an entire life without being spiritual or following any religion but doing noble action alone, it is not that we are bad, or denied access to the next realm, because what happens hereafter is determined by the quality of our actions, but it is just that we would have lived our lives without overcoming some of our core weaknesses which if we had intelligently followed the principles of Religion, we can release ourselves of their shackles here and now. That is how we convert rituals into spiritual… is when we act with a vision greater than what is seen.
Bramhachari Adarsh Chaitanya serves as the Resident Acharya of Chinmaya Mission Auckland and conducts weekly spiritual classes for children, youth and adults. For more information about the Chinmaya Mission and Bramhachari Adarsh Chaitanya please follow this link: www.chinmaya.org.nz or contact him at 2756954