Are religious rituals entirely separate from philosophy – why do different religions have different rituals?

The question is that are the religious rituals entirely separate from philosophy and if different people are following different rituals then how do we see that philosophy is that also a part of the question? yes so basically the religious practices whatever they may be they are meant for a purpose that purpose is raising of consciousness so we can envision a mountain and the top of the mountain is spiritual consciousness the bottom of the mountain is material consciousness now from different sides of the mountain there may be different paths some path may be very slippery some path may be very sandy some path may be filled with lot of water which we have to navigate so now based on which path a particular person is climbing up they will need a different set of equipment they will need even a different set of skills although the purpose is the same of rising to the top of the mountain the set of skills and the set of equipment required may be varying depending on the path that they are at similarly one of the great saints in our tradition Bhaktivinoda Thakur he says that the same one absolute truth has provided is understood in different ways by different traditions and that one message is revealed according to people’s culture people’s language people’s mentalities people’s conceptual orientations and then an appropriate method is provided for them to rise up so that because different people are from different backgrounds so the practices that they need for their elevation can vary and not only vary sometimes they can be opposite so for example the principle of offering respect now say in the in the Hindu tradition people may offer respect by holding their hands or if you talk about respecting God in the Muslim tradition we may raise our hands in namaz in the Christian tradition one may do mass the specific gesture may be different but the purpose is the same if you only look at externals you will think this is all different now sometimes the practices can not only be different they can be opposite now consider the traffic system now I come from India and whenever I drive a car or whenever I go with somebody also in a car always when I come from India to America or go from America to India just like you have a jet lag I get a car lag I end up going on the opposite side of the car so if somebody else is driving me in India the driver side is on one side the passenger side is on the other side so what happens is in both cases the purpose is of the traffic rules is the same regulation of traffic ensures that smooth transportation happens but the rule the purpose is the same but the rule is always different it is opposite in one country we travel on the right side in another country we travel on the left side so that is just circumstantial so we have to look beyond the specifics if you only look at the externals this is all opposite but the purpose is the same so similarly there can be specific rituals which may be different some may even be opposite but the purpose is the same now when I say purpose is the same here purpose is not something which is fixed in nature the purpose is something which has to be understood individually that means the practitioners of different religious practices they need to be evolved enough to see the common purpose and pursue that common purpose sometimes what may happen is that I am climbing up this path up the mountain and I see somebody else is climbing up from some other path and then I go down and I go around hey your path is wrong don’t go up and I keep pulling them down from there and I spend my whole life going around the bottom of the path pulling everyone else down what happens I don’t let them go up and I also don’t go up so if there is unnecessary conflict or confrontation where everybody comes to each other in a polemical mood to pull each other down then that doesn’t lead to any growth for anyone so this of course does not mean that all paths are right we want to go up the mountain if somebody is taking the path which is taking them into the forest away from the mountain because that path is going to take them up the mountain so we have to look at the results is there elevation of consciousness are people actually becoming spiritual are people becoming free from lower material cravings are people becoming better human beings so we have to see the transformation that is happening also we can’t become fixated with the rituals and the practices we have to focus on the purpose and see how that purpose is best served with the practices does it answer your question