{"id":10062,"date":"2010-09-22T13:41:52","date_gmt":"2010-09-22T13:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/"},"modified":"2010-09-22T13:41:52","modified_gmt":"2010-09-22T13:41:52","slug":"what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com.S3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/sites\/356\/Aum-in-Blue.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image image-_original\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com.S3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/sites\/356\/Aum-in-Blue.jpg\" alt=\"Aum-in-Blue.jpg\"><\/a>Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued.  People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.  Dharma\u2019s root word in Sanskrit (Dhri) is often thought to mean \u201cto hold) or Dharan karna (in Hindi).  However, it does not mean dharan karna or to accept \u2013 as that phrase generally means. Dharma\u2019s main meaning is \u201cthat which sustains or holds\u201d \u2013 Dharti also comes from the same root. So, it is not what YOU hold.. but what HOLDS YOU!<\/p>\n<p>So, there is a foundational discrepancy in the way Dharma is viewed in our society.<\/p>\n<p>And because of how it was conceived, Dharma was known as \u201cSanatan\u201d.. and one that holds even if you never figured it out, or totally refused to accept it. Its the inherent and PRIMAL property of this existence.  It has nothing to do with you accepting, rejecting or abusing it.<\/p>\n<p>Dharma is also <u>not<\/u> about society. It was nothing to do with the societal norms, laws or precepts. Dharma is the primordial sustaining \u201cintelligence\u201d or \u201claw\u201d if you will. Societies disappear and new societies can create their own laws; but Dharma (primordial sustaining law) is not affected and neither cares. One ends up \u201cpersonifying\u201d Dharma as some kind of entity; but that is the limitation of semantics. I have no other way to explain it.<\/p>\n<p>So, One \u2013 Dharma doesn\u2019t care about religions nor does it care about societies; and Two \u2013 it is not \u201cdefined\u201d or affected by humans, aliens \u2013 green or blue ones.. nor does it ever change. It is what it is.<\/p>\n<p>To live in Dharma \u2013 is to recognize that there is an intelligence in the existence. You don\u2019t need to call it \u201cGod\u201d .. although some do. <\/p>\n<p>I feel the best illustration of Dharma and \u201cliving Dharmically\u201d was portrayed in the movie \u201cAvatar\u201d. Where Eywa was the personification of the \u201cprimordial intelligence\u201d as the people of that planet understood. To surrender to Eywa and let her \u201cheal\u201d was their way of living Dharmically. Also, when James Sully prays for help, and Neytri tells him \u201cEywa doesn\u2019t favor anyone. It is for balance\u201d. That was a very profound statement on Dharmic Intelligence that runs in the Existence. Dharma really doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n<p>Now lets go to another concept that people completely misunderstand \u2013 Rituals.<\/p>\n<p>Rituals don\u2019t give shape to Dharma. Nor do they \u201csave\u201d it. Rituals were created \u2013 quite a few of them \u2013 by Yogis who delved deep into the secrets of existence. It was like a process created so even if you didn\u2019t know the subject matter, and just followed a process it will benefit you. In US, there are these lanes created at every place using taped barriers. Now, people know how to stand in a straight line, if they so applied their mind to it. But, the assumption is that they won\u2019t. So, there is a process for that. Now, someone who comes from Bihar to US may think what the F*** is this lane for? How will it improve anything? It hinders his way of life \u2013 which he has been accustomed to. To him, making neat lanes and standing in them was a waste of time. As painful as fasting. But someone who has studied the mathematics of lanes and service management would know that it is the fastest way to serve large number of people.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t matter, whether one \u201crespects\u201d the rituals or doesn\u2019t. It does you or other no good. The person who thinks you are some kind of rebel for not doing some ritual should be as much pitied as you for not doing something because you think it is inconvenient. Because, BOTH, you and her are doing so out of ignorance.<\/p>\n<p>I can break every lane and line that I stand in .. in India, and simultaneously remark that I completely \u201crespect\u201d the lanes that the Americans make.  Well, that \u201crespect\u201d doesn\u2019t help ME! It is a rhetorical statement and one which is pure ignorance and nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>Rituals should not be \u201cfollowed\u201d\u2026 but \u201cused\u201d. People feel that they are slaves of the rituals and that is why they hate it. The reason for that is because they do not have the intelligence enough to \u201cstand in a straight line\u201d themselves.. out of their own will. So, if you knew how to raise you level of existence to a higher level out of AN intelligent application of yourself, then rituals are useless. <\/p>\n<p>Rituals are made for \u201cDummies\u201d; but dumber still are those who neither know what to do and won\u2019t use the rituals either!<\/p>\n<p>So, are the rituals done to \u201cbenefit the humanity\u201d? No. But in some way it helps. Because it makes less stressed people or people who are more in tune with themselves (if they understand why and what they are doing) who are more productive.<\/p>\n<p>Now, to someone Shiva lingam may seem like a \u201cstupid idea\u201d. But to a Yogi it was the BEST way to hold and conserve energy from meditation.<\/p>\n<p>Is that important and scientific or just \u201cmumbo-jumbo\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Well, according to strong empirical evidence gathered by Dr. Tiller at Stanford Material Science labs; when Monks were asked to \u201cput intention\u201d into a \u201cdevice\u201d to reduce pH value of water and \u201cshut\u201d the intention in it.. and these devices nicely placed in \u201cFaraday\u2019s cage (elliptical shape)\u201d were Fedex\u2019d to Canada and Europe, they found that indeed the pH value of water put in the cage decreased.<\/p>\n<p>Now, why is this signifcant? Because it showed that something as intangible as MENTAL INTENTION overrode the need for Chemical intervention.. or actually reproduced a Chemical (physical) process WITHOUT any such intervention\u2026 just by power of Mind and Intention\u2026 done by someone who had honed his \u201cSelf\u201d using meditative processes.<\/p>\n<p>Here is <a href=\"http:\/\/drishtikone.com\/blog\/intention-consciousness-and-new-science\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">a post<\/a> with the video of the what was done in that experiment.<\/p>\n<p>Does this put Shiva Lingam \u2013 PROPERLY consecrated by a Siddha Yogi \u2013 in a better light?<\/p>\n<p>Does it make you see why one could benefit if one were in the proximity of such a structure?<\/p>\n<p>Would it take you to Nirvana? Probably no. But if it helps you better manage your life around you, because you are at a \u201chigher state of being\u201d, then would you have the urge to look \u201cbeyond\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Probably.<\/p>\n<p>And that is all it takes. The urge to look beyond the obvious.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued.  People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1517,"featured_media":11445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued. People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued. People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Drishtikone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-22T13:41:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Desh Kapoor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Desh Kapoor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/\",\"name\":\"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-22T13:41:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-22T13:41:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#\/schema\/person\/e24bcebf9da3425dd595b71543245311\"},\"description\":\"Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued. People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/\",\"name\":\"Drishtikone\",\"description\":\"Perspective on Life and World from Hindu and Indian standpoints\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#\/schema\/person\/e24bcebf9da3425dd595b71543245311\",\"name\":\"Desh Kapoor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc132f0b1d11236e6dc28b12e598a23?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc132f0b1d11236e6dc28b12e598a23?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Desh Kapoor\"},\"description\":\"Making sense of the world via the perspective of Dharma and Hinduism. Drishtikone literally means \\\"View from an Angle\\\" in Hindi. It is a word used for \\\"Perspective\\\" in Hindi conversations.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/author\/drishtikone\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals","description":"Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued. People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals","og_description":"Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued. People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/","og_site_name":"Drishtikone","article_published_time":"2010-09-22T13:41:52+00:00","author":"Desh Kapoor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Desh Kapoor","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/","name":"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-22T13:41:52+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-22T13:41:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#\/schema\/person\/e24bcebf9da3425dd595b71543245311"},"description":"Dharma, as it has been conceived in the Indian spiritual traditions, has been totally misconstrued. People have often equated it to religion, which is nonsensical and out of ignorance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2010\/09\/what-dharma-and-relevance-rituals\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is Dharma and relevance of Rituals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/","name":"Drishtikone","description":"Perspective on Life and World from Hindu and Indian standpoints","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#\/schema\/person\/e24bcebf9da3425dd595b71543245311","name":"Desh Kapoor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc132f0b1d11236e6dc28b12e598a23?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cc132f0b1d11236e6dc28b12e598a23?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Desh Kapoor"},"description":"Making sense of the world via the perspective of Dharma and Hinduism. Drishtikone literally means \"View from an Angle\" in Hindi. It is a word used for \"Perspective\" in Hindi conversations.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/author\/drishtikone\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}