Why do different religions have different rituals? (PK answered 9)

Answer Podcast:

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna question why do different religions have different rituals answer every spiritual tradition has an exoteric and an esoteric side exoteric is the external esoteric is the internal so the exoteric will vary according to time, place, circumstance and esoteric is the internal purpose that is what we should focus on so just like we have traffic rules now in India when we are travelling we travel from a particular side the traffic has to say, in some countries it has to say on the left side, in other countries it has to say on the right side now we say the rules seem to be exactly the opposite but the purpose is common the purpose is what? regulation of traffic so that people can move along smoothly so similarly there can be rituals which may be different but the purpose is the same so for example all religions talk about respecting God now Hindus may fold their hands and respect God Christians may offer mass and Muslims may raise their hands forward in namaz so now if we just get caught in the externals, see only the exoteric, then we don’t have much depth of intelligence we should go beyond the surface so if somebody just goes from India to America all traffic is going in the wrong direction no we shouldn’t get just caught in the externals whether people are going on the left or the right we should focus on the principle that traffic is regulated so like that basically the regulation of the traffic of human emotion when it moves towards God that is the essential principle while doing rituals so just as the road rules provide a means by which the traffic can move smoothly similarly the various rituals provide a means by which our emotions of say respect can be expressed towards God so in some religions in some traditions it may say fast on one day in other religions it may say fast on another day the point here is that we regulate we perform some austerity by which we rise from our bodily level to a spiritual level so that principle of tapasya is important which day it is, that is not very important in terms of ultimate purpose but if one is joining a particular tradition, one doesn’t just flout the difference, so if somebody says oh the traffic rule in America and traffic rule in India is different, not just different it’s opposite, therefore I will not follow any traffic rule no, then that person will meet the accident or will be caught by the police, so where we are, we have to follow the rules over there, but we have to understand the purpose is so that there is smooth movement along the roads, similarly if a person is belonging to a particular tradition, then that person can follow the rules of that tradition and express one’s devotion to God through that particular tradition but the important point is to know that just because rituals are different does not mean that the rituals are irrelevant the rituals are unimportant rather the rituals, they may be different because different people come from different social, cultural, intellectual religious backgrounds and accordingly how they may express their devotion to God can vary, so that the expression varies doesn’t mean that the essence is varying the essence is the same but the expression can vary just as people can in some places people will shake hands to greet each other other people, people may hug each other some other people may rub their noses some other people may just bow their head, others may just nod now depending on the culture the way the greeting is done is different but the principle is that the greeting is done and if we go to a particular culture we will express our greeting accordingly and if people are in that culture they will express their greeting accordingly and so the rituals they may be different but that does not mean that they are irrelevant, they are varying because they have emerged from particular cultures but they are all having a common essential purpose of expressing the essential devotion of the heart towards God Thank you. Hare Krishna