RITUALS A KEY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES

Rituals a key aspect of our lives

Food is an important aspect of our lives. In a ritual context it is an expression of love, sorrow, life, and happiness as it reflects our rituals and cultures philosophies. Rituals refer to special religious practices influenced by food choices, different occasions guide food choices as food choices are related to gods, and are decided by value systems.

From our childhood we see lot of ritual practices followed by our parents, family members and in society. we are encouraged and introduced to follow various rules, rites, rituals, and religious practices that seem to be a part of our religious ceremonies. More often we blindly followed our rituals because our elders have been observing them and we are told that we must follow them too. We conveniently refer such rituals as superstitions because we lack the necessary understanding about them, unaware of our ignorance. There are logical explanations for all don’t and do’s but most of us are unaware of the science behind the rites we perform. Our parents and the pundits themselves are usually unaware of the truth. Therefore, it is a necessity that we need to research and understand the reasoning that guides the rituals and rites.

We follow specific food intakes on certain rituals to make our life meaningful. Hindus honour their departed relatives and remember their ancestors during the Shradh, a sort of karmic debt owed to our ancestors. During this period, they prefer to eat exclusively vegetarian food and also no meat, poultry, eggs, or stale or rotten fruits or grains are served as an offering in pooja. Have we ever wondered why so?

Indian customs and rituals not only add value to life but also are essential tools to connect to the Self. These rituals and customs have their foundation in scientific spirituality. The use of scientific knowledge for solving problems in our lives and the use of spiritual knowledge for attaining 'Moksha' (Liberation) through positive philosophy has been advised in our scriptures.

Rituals have been intended to fulfill man's desires to help him live in synchronization with his physical environment and spiritual world by paying homage to his departed ancestors and pacifying god through his deeds for his final spiritual ascension. An equilibrium between the mind, body and soul along with society and family is very much important to sustain the spiritual life.