TODAY'S MESSAGE FROM TRICHY PRASANNAN
Rituals help to achieve this goal.
Rituals have existed since times immemorial not just in India but all over the world. In the ancient world, in Persia, Egypt and Greece, a ritual was considered holy and the primary way that provided communication between humans and 'unseen' powers beyond immediate human existence.
To make the unseen more visible and approachable they created images for veneration and/or worship. The images of the unseen are often placed in a particular site which in time becomes a sacred site where the people may go to perform certain rituals thereby rendering the unseen closer and less remote.
In ancient times, like in India, Chinese people attached great
importance to the worship of the heavenly bodies - the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars, and also the earth.Revolving around the theme of long life, Chinese performed all of the rites related to a birth, from the praying for the inception of a child when a woman is not yet pregnant to the time when the baby has reached the age of one full year. Like observers of other religions, Christians also practice domestic food rituals. Many Christians, for instance, pray before meals, giving thanks to God for their daily bread.
Particularly in the United States, many churches organize informal fellowship meals for their members, designed to strengthen the community within the church.
In many cultures, proposing a toast is a common. It is a well-known ritual in which a drink is taken by a person as an expression of honor or goodwill to others.
When a toast is made, the practice of simultaneously drinking by a gathering of people seems to enhance the communal connection.
Other rituals you may have witnessed amongst Christians are the tolling of church bells and throwing of rice at the couple in weddings.
Even for the most secular among us, life is often guided by rituals. Everyday activities guided by rules and conventions seem to offer us both practical results and a sense of meaning. For the religious person, there seems to be a deep connection between religious practice and the way life is lived.
Religious rituals are not just window-dressing for the core beliefs of a religious tradition; ritual practices form identity and sustain tradition. The value of a ritual comes from "its ability to connect you to a larger context that clarifies your relationship to yourself, others and your place in the universe."
Ritual takes many forms, it may consist of simple routines like bowing to others out of reverence, lighting a lamp, offering prayers or doing Sandhyavandana which an individual submits to on a daily basis or it may be of more complex ceremony as in a birthday, marriage or a funeral.
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Posted by: prasannam n <iampresanam@yahoo.co.in>
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