Written By: Shri Datta Swami
Vivekananda cried loudly facing sky, “Why India, with such rich spiritual knowledge, is suffering with poverty”. Only Lord Datta can give answer to this question. Today, answer is given. Any country means its people & their mentality. Mind decides everything & action follows accordingly.
If mentality is analyzed, the action and its fruit become clear. Almost all foreign countries are blessed with wealth except India. So, mentality of all the people in this universe is different from mentality of Indians. This difference in mentalities is responsible for difference in attitude towards God to bless all countries in the world except India.
Let us compare the rituals, which are considered as worship of God. In every ritual, the essence is to praise the Lord and develop devotion. This brings universal equality in the rituals. Otherwise, if you say that God is worshiped by such and such hymns only, God becomes prejudiced since that hymn is restricted only to that part of the country. When Lord is pleased, He will bless the person performing the ritual. In India, does anyone know that ritual means worship of God? Let us take marriage ceremony as an example. Indians think that once ceremony is performed, couple is bonded. For such a bond, a registrar’s office will do. Then what is the use of ritual performed for so many hours?
Hymns are uttered in Sanskrit and neither the priest nor the couple, know the meaning of the hymn. Priest does not explain meaning of hymns. The meanings have inner meanings, which end in praising Lord only. It is foremost duty of the priest to explain inner meaning of hymns to the people & make them devotees of Lord. This is main aim of ritual. By the time marriage ends, couple should become devotees of Lord. Devotion not only bonds couple but also brings blessings of Lord to them. For a mere marriage, a registrar’s office will do, which can substitute this ritual. Some people think in this way & youngsters follow them.
