As soon as we forget the meaning of something, some action that we are doing, this action becomes a ritual. Even if it’s the best ritual, nothing good will come of it. Nothing good.
Anthony Sourozhsky writes a thought that struck me. He writes that when the Lord, meaning Jesus Christ, came here, He did not bring any religion with Him, He brought the whole universe with Him. The people who entered His world, who joined Him. They felt that they were not members of some sect, not people who needed to perform some rituals that were related to this and needed to wake up in the morning, open their eyes and do “brum-brum-brum”.
They felt that they had received the whole world together with God. He says, “What have we done? We have made the church very small. In the beginning, the church was great, it was not a sect, it contained the whole world. We’ve made the church small, and we’re starting to judge who’s going in and who’s not, and we’re trying to get everyone into this little church. She’s small.”
Why is this happening? He gave an amazing example, listen to him. He says that when we come and have a very beautiful ceremony, we see the crucified Christ. Beautiful singing is heard, some kind of music, we must pray at this moment.
But instead of feeling what is happening at this moment, instead of feeling that a young man, a young man of thirty-three, is being crucified on a cross for nothing, for preaching love for God, and that he is suffering, crucified on a cross, nailed to this cross for no reason, and that the crowd around him is hooting and shouting, “That’s what he needs, the impostor!” and that His blood is dripping from His forehead because he is wearing a crown of thorns instead of feeling it, we are touched by the beauty of the ritual, we see some kind of symbol, and we enjoy it all, forgetting about the essence.
The same thing, to the same extent, applies to you and me. We come and enjoy the beauty of the ritual: “Oh, what a kirtan! Tuff! Tuff! Tuf!” But kirtan is kirtan! Kirtan is when we sing about Krishna and when we remember Krishna, when our words remember Krishna, when our heart remembers Krishna, our mind remembers Krishna, and not just a beautiful ritual. Even if it’s a good ritual….
E.S. Bhakti Vigyana Goswami.
