Part 2: You Are Unique
People come to me with their problems and ask me for a solution. I tell them that I will take care and suggest to them to sit for a while under the banyan tree while they are in the ashram. The banyan tree in the ashram is an energy field. But they are not happy with that answer. They ask me what rituals they should do to make things better.
If I tell them that they should go 108 times around the banyan tree, they will be very happy doing it! You see, when you go 108 times around the banyan tree, it becomes ego-fulfilling for you. You then feel that you have worked hard and that you deserve to get the benefit out of it.
Even in religion and rituals, I have seen people compete with each other! If your neighbour has done a particular offering in a particular temple, next you go and do the same offering in that temple. What is the focus on? The deity or the neighbour?
People feel proud in saying that they have visited so many holy shrines all over the world. Immediately, the people who listen to these stories make an effort in surpassing these achievements.
After visiting all these holy shrines, your emotions are still locked! Have you ever thought about that? All these things are done only to progress in the inner world, to be free from comparison, jealousy and similar things, but here also you miss the point. You do things for the sake of the outer world.
I have seen people reading recitations in front of the deity*.* They will read a few lines and then call out to the maid to find out if she has finished the job she was asked to do. Or, they will read a few lines and see how many more pages there are to finish! This is how they relate with God and they feel satisfied at having read the recitation.
And on top of it, they will repeat such recitations for 21 days because they have taken a vow to do so. Then they will proudly go and tell their neighbor or relative that they fulfilled such an arduous vow!
Everything that we do is mostly just to tell people that we did it and sow a seed of comparison in them. If you decide to follow rituals, do it with utmost sincerity, with a feeling of deep connection with Existence. When you do it this way, you won't even talk about it outside.