RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

Why Should One Perform Rituals?

Whatever action we do repeatedly is a kind of ritual and becomes very powerful in shaping our lives. If we jog every day or watch a certain television program every week then these things gain a certain force in our lives. Any routine or discipline is a kind of ritual. Religious rituals are special actions with spiritual meaning that we repeat in order to set in motion a higher power in our lives.

Hinduism has many such rituals which employ all the essences of creation - flowers, fragrances, fruits, incense, lamps, and artistic forms - to help create a favorable environment to bring down spiritual vibrations into the world.

Yet when a religious ritual is done without knowledge or devotion, or when there is an intention to control others or further some vested interest through them, such rituals become negative. They become forms of hypnosis or black magic and can generate negative forces.

It is important only to do rituals that are formulated to bring peace and understanding, which link us with the whole of life, and not merely place us with a particular community which may be opposed to others. Ritual, moreover, should be creative. It should not be standardized or stereotyped, though it does have its laws and processes that reflect the great creative forces of life.

Ritual is necessary for everyone. It purifies the mind and brings benefic forces into society. It changes our psychic field so that we become receptive to higher forces. We must also remember that the most important ritual or regular action we should do is meditation, which is the great ritual of awareness, offering the seen into the seer for the beauty of Reality.

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