The Hindu Ritual - Geography

This time of the year somehow makes me question a lot of the rituals and age-old traditions.

As I was growing up and as my questions to every religious ritual were answered, I came to an understanding that Hindu rituals involve natural elements found in that particular location, as a way to express gratitude to nature. Our deities are mostly representations of that which is found in nature and deeper thought how this “srishti” came into being.

Therefore, in India today, although the philosophy of the religion basically stays the same the rites and rituals vary according what region you belong. Deities have been traditionally presented with veg or non-veg “prasadam” depending on the peculiarities and characteristics of the life-style of that particular region.

Although, I was always brought up to believe that there are various ways of understanding God, and rites and rituals is only one of them -- I urge the Hindus who live outside of India and who believe in rites and rituals to include the flora and fauna and vegetation from the country they now belong . This will mean that you are grateful to the natural resources of that particular country as well.

Example, in Canada we can use maple leaves and local fruits and even make sweets of maple syrup etc… In Canada we need to utter the names of rivers and lakes existing here rather than in India, because the whole world needs to be grateful to Canada for being the largest fresh water resource.

I would even go so far as to ask to change the festivals according to the relevant season/climate of that country. Because I have been told that we eat what we eat during the festivals is because that particular food is abundant in that region during that particular season and therefore healthy.

Increasing globalization calls of localization of Hindu ritual. :)

According to the Hindu view, revelations are not limited to any individual, time or place. Just as there have been revelations in the past, they can occur at present or in future also. (http://www.hindubooks.org/wehwk/chapter3/page1.htm)

Continuing the above thought, I think that the pandits need to add to the knowledge of Vedas rather than blindly following them. I appeal to the Sanskrit pandits to modify the shlokas in “fill in the blanks” sort of way, so that people from any country can see God in their local natural resources.

If they are already doing so, it has certainly not made its way to the common man.

Undercover Marketing

I heard a very interesting discussion about undercover marketing on TV the other day and couldn't help but think: I knew somehow that it existed but it was more on the lines of: "They must get paid for saying it... oh come on!.. really? nooo? who gets paid for saying things like that about a product! I am just getting ahead of myself."

But it seems to be a marketing strategy applied by many. It may be a colleague or a relative bragging about a product that they recently started using, or some people (actors) on the street talking about some cool new gadget.

An example of this type of marketing they showed on TV was:
A door man standing at the door with a whole bunch of boxes that appear to be delivered for some people in the building from a company. A man leaves the building early in the morning, greets the doorman and thinks: "Looks like a lot of people order from this company. I should give it a try."
Meanwhile the company has paid the doorman to stand there with those "empty" boxes.

I guess it is a harmless strategy of marketing if the product is good. But something to keep in mind regardless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercover_marketing