04 Aug 2012
[Evening Discourse] You think that a ritual should be performed with a specific procedure and specific materials involving the recitation of the specific Vedic hymns, which alone becomes fruitful. You think that the specific procedure and specific hymns alone can protect you, giving the desired results. People fear that the specific rituals should be strictly performed involving the recitation of specific hymns using specific materials in a specific procedure. The priest takes lot of unnecessary advantage about this concept and earns huge money and respect and due to this, sometimes poor people suffer. The fear existing in the heart about the negative results in the absence of such ritual is tremendous and hence, the innocent people suffer a lot.
The main objection to this concept is about the universality of rituals performed in various countries. The procedures of the rituals and the involved recitation of hymns and usage of the materials differ from religion to religion all over the world. In such case, God becomes partial to a specific region of the world in which only the so called correct hymns, procedures and materials are given by God. If you say that the ritual of a specific religion practiced in a specific region only is correct, God becomes partial in giving the correct hymns, procedure and materials to a specific region only. The partiality of God is not justified since He is the divine Father of the entire humanity. If you observe the essence of all these rituals performed in various religions, you can easily understand that the basic essence consists of two points only in the rituals of every religion:
Since the ritual of every religion performed in any region satisfies these two essential points, no favour is done to any specific religion existing in any specific region. Hence, God becomes impartial Divine Father of the entire humanity. Unfortunately, the only religion that misses this essence is Hinduism! In ancient India, these essential points were fully satisfied and by way of the depth of the spiritual knowledge of the scripture, Hinduism was considered to be the greatest religion in the world. Today, the same religion has come to the lowest level due to the missing essence. The hymns are recited in Sanskrit and nobody including the priest knows the meaning of even a single word of recitation. Due to the absence of the knowledge of the prayer, the devotion exists neither in the priest nor in others. By this, the priest becomes the most undeserving fellow. Donation to such priests is not only waste but actually a sin. In ancient India, this problem was not there because Sanskrit was the mother tongue in that time. Therefore, [you] should either recite the prayers in your mother tongue or at least, the priest should explain the Sanskrit hymns to others. Alternatively, every Hindu should learn the Sanskrit language. In such case, the priest becomes a real devotee and the donation to the deserving priest becomes fruitful. Then only, the Hindu religion will rise from the present lowest level to the highest level, which existed once upon a time in ancient India. Fortunately, other religions do not have this problem because even today, the hymns recited from their scriptures, are in their mother tongues only.
While serving the food, you should request the guests to observe the served items before they start eating so that if any item is allergic, it can be removed from the plate. Nobody should leave any food item after eating, which is greatest sin. The cook should prepare the food in a careful way so that the items are properly prepared. After cooking or during the process of cooking, a spoon of the item can be removed separately and tasted for addition of anything deficient. Tasting the food in this way is not wrong since there is no contamination with the hand that touches the mouth during tasting. If the food is not properly prepared and is thrown away by the people, the sin goes to the cook. Anyway, utmost care should be taken in not wasting the food.
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