Why we have so many rituals to worship god ? When God's love is unconditional.

Chapter 4. Text 11

ye yatha mam prapadyante
tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante
manusyah partha sarvasah

All of them--as they surrender unto Me--I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha.

When I was kid my parents regularly used to take us to temple with them. I have seen my mother, grandmother and maternal mother giving ample of time sitting in front of GOD idol for prayers, daily. I was also asked to pray for blessings of god on regular basis.

Now being a mother, I too ask my kids to believe in god and say pray daily, but in return I am questioned by my kids as WHY ?? Why we need to worship ? Why we should go to temple ? Why we use agarbattis, tika, arti etc to please GOD ? Why GOD want us to worship them or please them ? Why GOD's love and blessings are not unconditional ?

And I realized that the question " WHY "was also hidden somewhere inside me, under the sheet of fear. The fear of remaining unblessed if I ask such questions. Means, even after praying for years, I was doubting on the unconditional love of god. But I decided to know him and his love.

The search of knowing him made me to trust that the God love is really unconditional. As he never asks us or force us to pray him but requests us for it. He too wants our unconditional love in return in form of prayers and worship.

Still, If GOD wants our worship or bhakti or unconditional love or Prem then how can his love be unconditional for us. Its because he wants this for us. Every religion says that he knows he is powerful and his children can get his blessings, so the heaven by being in touch with him. He is our parent and wants us to respond him by establishing this relationship. He wants our love too like any parents expect from their Children. He wants our connection by getting thanks and respect which he deserves and is worthy of.   
                                                                                

The word 'worship' in English is taken from worth-ship means the worth or worthiness of someone to be honored. The word for 'worship' in Hebrew is shachah which means to bow down, display reverence, prostrate oneself before. And in Greek the 'worship' is proskuneo, represents stronger in its emphasis on humility and submission.

Worship to God expands and develops your spirit to take control over your soul and its selfish desires. It is man's way of saying thanks to a benevolent creator. It is God loves, in the natural order of the world, you love somebody when they love you back. It is a bond of love, a reciprocating love.

Here is why we worship and why GOD wants us to worship. Then what about other rituals that the Hindu religion follows. Why we need them to be followed ? See, GOD never asked us to follow those rituals all he wants us to rember and establish relation with him. But to establish the relation with GOD we have created these rituals, with our knowledge on holy books, to bring ourselves closer to GOD.

Every rituals have meaning and power to strong our relation with GOD:

1. Washing hands / legs and entering barefoot before entering temple - No matter how rich or poor are we, all enter barefoot in temple which means we remove the negativity outside the sacred premises and also accept the vulnerability and the smallness of our being and existence in front of the Lord. Washing the feet and hands before entering the premises is recommended to wash away the negativity the we may have accumulated.

2. Ringing the bells - By ringing bells we announce our presence and make the God aware of same. Its sound removes all negativity and impurities from environment and brings positivity. It produces the sound OM which also fears the dark forces in surroundings.

3. Lightning diya and burning incense or camphor - Arti being performed by using camphor Diya or incense has spiritual meaning. The smoke rings that produces from them while burning carries devotees prayer higher to the supreme. Their fragrance purifies the enviroents by removing the bad odor and gives us the feeling of peace and happiness. 

Lighting of lamps with a cotton wick  helps to  maintain harmony in the family and is very auspicious. The wick in the traditional oil lamp symbolizes ego and the oil or ghee used symbolizes our negative tendencies. When we are lit by self knowledge, the negative tendencies (oil) melt away and finally the ego (wick) perishes. 

At the end of the aarti we place the hands over the flame and touch our eyes and top of the head. It means that may the light that illumined the Lord light up my vision, may my thoughts be pure and beautiful.

4. Worshiping banyan and pipal trees - Lakshmi resides at the base of the Pipal tree and Lord Narayana/Vishnu in a banyan tree, lighting a diya(earthen lamp) at the base of the tree pleases the Lord.

5. Prasad and flowers offering - Offering prasad coconut and flowers is actually our humble way of acknowledging that he is ONE among us and like any other person likes food and offerings. We count His presence among our family members, distribute the prasad in the temple, distribute a part of our everyday food and include Him as a member of our family. 

6. Parikrama - By going round the idol or the sactorum from left to right as in a parikrama, the positive energies that surround it, is distributed to the devotee and he is immersed in the positive vibes and goes home a refreshed person.

7. Mantra Jaap and chanting of Prayers - Mantras and Prayers are personal invocations to the God asking for help, assistance and thanking Him for his benevolence. 

8. Tika , Vibhuti and Kumkum - It is believed that the tika, the vibhuti and the Kumkum that is distributed in temples is blessed with positive energy for the well being and the prosperity for the individual and the society as a while. 

9. Bowing down and doing Namaskaram - Bowing down and touching the ground while paying our respects to God is another way of submitting to His glory and accepting His Supremacy . 

All the rituals that we performing to please the god is actually benefiting us only. Its we receiving positive energies and peace in the name of establishing relationship with GOD. Even by requesting us to worship him, the god is helping and protecting us from darkness, hard life and negativity. 

Hence GOD's love is unconditional and rituals bring us closer to our God..