THE LANGUAGE OF RITUAL

I HAVE thought a lot about this, having grown up in a climate of disdain for Indian rituals, discarded because they were tiring and expensive.

- RENUKA NARAYANAN

Also, many rituals were blindly followed with nobody knowing why they were performed. Many sampradayas added to the confusion. Fair enough. I, too, fell for catchphrases like “I’m spiritual, not religious”, which seemed so cool at first.

But when I thought it over, such declarations seemed empty. What did “spiritual” actually mean in this vast world with its many ways of addressing the unseen? Who were we supposed to talk to without our particular gods? Whisper into the void? There were many new-age fads speaking pretty words, to investigate and invariably lose interest in, because they lacked solidity and substance.

Whereas, I realised Sanatana Dharma teaches in layers. It first gives us beautiful forms to address, then symbols to contemplate, then philosophies to understand, and along the way, it bestows anubhuti—an experience of the divine. The deity remains the deity. It is we who change in understanding and attitude as our journey intensifies.

I saw that ritual is a language of communication between us and the deity we address, a language rooted in love for God and respect for Nature, including formal rituals for a country’s prosperity and general well-being—“sarva bhaumaya mangalam”. Those are a qualified purohit’s larger job, to ceremonially ask on our collective behalf.