Sacraments: From Offerings To Rites

We all know that India is a land of Gods and Goddesses. Our religious texts mentioned their presence every time when the good wins over bad.

Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which he may be approached.

We all have a religious belief in our heart. We have certain sentiments which connect us to our religion. Temples, mosques and churches are sacred places to visit for the peace of body and soul of a man. Apart from the spiritual connotations, there are many rituals and rites to be performed. In Hindu tradition, sacrifices and yajnas were to be done to stop all the bad happenings and erase the impact of the sins committed in the earlier phase of their life.

In my opinion, how can one escape from his earlier deeds by taking another creature’s life? It is just like doing wrong to others again. Indian temples are the treasures of money and wasted eatables. Should we offer offerings to God? Where does that material go? Truly not in the womb of a hungry fellow. It gets decayed in drains or blocks the sewage at times. What is the benefit of such acts?

I remember when my mother reads the procedure of any fast she would be going to do, it says to distribute happiness in the form of any materialistic pleasure to the needy ones.

The gods are omnipresent and omnipotent. They are in our heart all the time. It's their fear which stops us from doing wrong to anyone. The gods are presented with luxurious things which they don't respond. If we offer the fourth part to a poor, his life would be better. The beggars sit in front of the temples since people go to temples for accomplishing their wishes. The priests suggest spending some money on the poor.

In this human world, the misery of the humans can only be lifted by the humans, who are courageous and conscientious enough to take real actions, instead of meekly hoping and praying for an illusory divine intervention.

There is no benefit of the following superstitions blindly. People pray to God by luring them donating lavish clothes and ornaments. It is not the way. God is always with the right people no matter they are coming to temples or not. It's conscience that matters. We have to choose between this rat race for no good or doing good for others and attain selfless satisfaction.