|
|
I said yesterday again that I do not follow any
tradition and I do not want to create one. I am not
against any tradition and I am not against rituals
but there are some rituals which I do not
appreciate. You know, there is one ritual in which
people pour milk into the Ganges or the Yamuna. It
is a ritual which is said to be purifying the river
and many people feel that this is a very important
Hindu tradition. However I do not agree with that.
Why do you pour milk into the river which could feed
hungry and thirsty children or people? The richer
the people are, the more milk they use. They spend
money on buying sometimes hundreds of liters of milk
and pour it into the water. For me this is waste. It
hurts my heart to see how so much milk is going
waste while only a few meters away people are
starving! I want to be clear about this: I do not
disapprove of rituals per se. I like the Aarti
ceremony in evenings on the river. It is a fire
ceremony which does not harm anyone and by which
nothing is lost. They feel that the milk is
purifying the Ganges but I think that if they all
stop polluting this great river by throwing all dirt
and garbage into it, it will be much cleaner than by
pouring milk into it! There is another similar
ritual which is performed in a nearby city, in
Goverdhan. They also have a way around the city
called Parikrama that pilgrims like to go. It is
around 21 kilometers long and it takes seven or
eight hours to fully walk it. Many pilgrims carry
with them a pot full with milk which has a small
hole in it so that the milk is dripping constantly
out of the pot and onto the holy way. You can
imagine how many liters of milk are ruined there,
too. Our country needs in this way more awareness.
It would be good to keep only those rituals that you
do from your heart and your love without harming
anyone or wasting something.
 |
