Worship Wisdom

Sometime back, we had a guest family visiting us and somehow we started discussing puja, traditions, and rituals we have in society. It was not that they did not believe in God, but all other vidhi-vidhan was in question.

.. and this is not the 1st time it has come as a topic of discussion. We meet with many such perspectives in our life. I am sure they have a valid point of view but the same can be said about another person who believes in such traditions and follows rituals.

To be honest, I do not know enough to say why a particular “vidhi-vidhan” is needed, and who am I to say what’s right and what’s wrong, but our discussion led to an interesting path. 

I asked him, let’s imagine some scenarios…

Let’s say someone we know casually visiting our home, how would we react?

Would we welcome them? Maybe ask them for tea or some snacks? Yes – No? 

Yes, most likely we will.

But Why? maybe because we “like” them and enjoy their company. 

Yes, that makes sense. I got an acknowledgment for it easily. 

Let’s imagine now, we are inviting someone we like to our home for lunch or dinner then what?

Will we prepare good food? maybe think about what they like and prepare more than what can be consumed.

Yes, that’s reasonable…

But would you do anything else? like we will clean our house, take shower, dress appropriately, arrange things right and put things in order and be ready before they come.

Yes again! and… we do it because whoever we are inviting over is dear and it matters to us. 

So far so good … but so far it’s about friends or people who we like and want to enjoy their company, so maybe that’s why we do things without any problem.

Let’s change it to someone who is not known to us, but is important. maybe someone who holds some power, authority, or is important. Think about the local leader, elected official, boss’s boss… I guess you got the point…

What will you do? can we assume we will do our best to portray our best… maybe put some extra effort to put their best foot forward and showcase our best… most certainly? Correct?

I see the heads nodding with Yes… and mind it this for someone who we don’t necessarily know or like, but feel influenced as they are important…

Now change it to someone very powerful… CEO, President, or Head of Govt. 

We all can imagine all that will be done for such preparation to welcome them… 

Isn’t it the Power of the person, his Position that dictates what we will do for them… and for sure we will do pretty much everything and way more than what we would do for near-dear once… 

So it’s the Love, Affection, Importance, Power of such people who makes us do things that seem out of proportion, 

No one said it’s needed, but we do things just because we feel it justified for the cause. If we realize the importance of a person, event, or cause, a lot of things and preparation find their justification.

So why we can’t apply the same to the original question?

It’s our realization and perspectives toward God that trigger what we do… How do we see his Love, Glory, Power, Important and Influence vs the most important things we know in our life? This clarity alone is sufficient to help us understand why people do such things.

Yes, I agree that unnecessary show-off and waste is absolutely not necessary, and sort of sure that nothing is written in scriptures that dictates such things… but is it not because of human behavior and peer pressure over so many years or centuries that is triggering such behaviors.. and added more than what is needed to such traditions/rituals.

Key thing is to realize how we see his Love, Power, Importance and that realization and truth will help us see his presence everywhere around us. And, I am sure that such clarity and realization will align our efforts and actions to thank him for all his blessings. 

Will close with following lines and wait for corrections and insights from your end.

जब धरती पर, अब नवे शीश
फ़ितरत अपनी भी तौलें हम

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