Should we follow rituals or abandon them altogether?

Have you ever wondered as to what does अ/அ signify? 

The first thirukural starts as agaramudhala ezhuthellam ...

Not just that many Sanskrit Granthas start the treatise with अ as the first letter of the 1st shloka of the mangalacharan (verse invoking divinity to ensure successful completion of the text and accomplishment of the purpose of writing such a text in the first place)

Even the pranavam is not Om it is in fact AUM. 

So what is A? 

For that we need to understand what is ओम्। Seemingly it is ओ+म् but ओ is actually the combination of अ and उ which implies that om is अ + उ+ म्

अकारो विष्णुरुद्दिष्ट उकारस्तु महेश्वरः। मकारस्तु स्मृतो ब्रह्मा प्रणवस्तु त्रयात्मकः।।

As you see अ/a/அ =Vishnu and the role that he plays is protection and nourishment. So the texts start with अ.

What impresses me is that everything is so well thought of with deep and enriching meanings that it hurts when we attach importance to rituals without understanding the meaning or context in which a certain thing is to be done. 

Like understanding the purpose of doing them.

People keep talking about doing certain rituals or some tradition and to back up their arguments they tend to cite ancient texts. Our dharmashastras don't say "blindly follow us" instead they recommend that we follow the yuga Dharma and choose the right measure according to the situation. 

I am not saying that we abandon our traditions..I merely call for understanding the purpose so that the participation is not forced. 

My idea is that people must understand what they are doing and why they are doing certain things especially in the name of religion, tradition, culture or custom.

To illustrate my point let me tell you a story. 

Once upon a household there lived a cat which pranced about merrily. She was afraid of none. The house also housed a old wise woman who was the matriarch of the house.

One day there was a pondugal ceremony at their home. Now this cat being used to merry prancing kept disturbing them. So the matriarch ordered the cat to be tied to the pillar. And then the event concluded successfully.

A new daughter in law came to the household. Again when the ceremony was conducted the same procedure was followed but with no questions being asked.

Days roll into months and months into years. Both the matriarch and the cat are now no more. Once more a new daughter in law comes home. And when it is time for the pondugal the hunt for a cat to tie to the pillar begins

We therefore must ask questions understand the whys, whats, wheres, how's etc before we proceed further. 

Let our future generations not be blind followers. 

By Uma Sundar