Rituals

Benefits

Need for Physical Way to connect with the Divine

“God is formless, why the need for rituals?” Ramakrishna beautifully says “As long as you think you have body, you will be able to relate to the cosmic energy only through another body. Only when you lose your body consciousness, you can see the Divine also as formless.” Till then, you need some reminding rituals. We need a physical way of connecting with God.

Cultivating a Habit

A ritual helps someone have a regular habit of doing it - When Swamiji first introduced “Nithya Dhyaan” meditation - only 20-30% of people continued the meditation continuously for few months. But the moment he added the last section - Guru Puja to it (A Ritual), more than 80% started following it sincerely. A ritual helped them decide to have a regular amount of time allotted for spirituality. Else we just postpone and say “Today my friend is here, tomorrow, I need to go to my cousin’s house, etc.”