A Brief Description of Popular Hinduism

The essence of popular
Hinduism is encapsulated in
one of the verses of Gita,
one of the most sacred
scriptures of Hinduism. The
scripture is about Krishna,
the divine personality, telling
humanity through his
disciple Arjun on what
needs to be done to win
the final salvation for the
human soul. In the verse
12.0.9 of the scripture,
Krishna tells Arjun the
following words:
“If you are unable to focus
your mind steadily on Me,
then long to attain Me by
practice of any other
spiritual discipline, such as a
ritual, or deity worship that
suits you.”(gita-society.com)
The above words succinctly
summarize what popular
Hinduism is all about.
Worship rituals are the most
popular way of life in
Hinduism. Hinduism does
not prohibit other ways for
attaining self-realization and
salvation. If the person is
intellectual enough, he or
she can follow other modes
of enlightenment such as
meditating and fixing the
mind on the absolute; or
follow such other forms as
Karma Yoga, Gnana Yoga,
for attaining God. However,
most common people find
such methodologies of
attaining God to be beyond
them. So they follow the
simpler ritualistic
methodology for attaining
the Supreme Being.
Ritualistic worship sits at the
heart of the popular
Hinduism. Instead of sitting
motionless in front of God’s
idol for about an hour and
try to fix the mind on God, a
devotee engages himself
into various worship rituals.
Place a glass of water in
front of the idol, sanctify it
with hymns or chantings of
the names of God for a few
minutes, and then sip some
of that holy water. Place a
few flowers in front of God’s
idols or make an elaborate
decoration of the idols with
garlanded flowers. Sanctify
the idols with kunkum
powder and smear some of
that powder on one’s
forehead. Pour some oil into
a couple of lamps, light
them, and keep them in
front of the idols. On
important occasions, replace
the usage of oil with
compounds like Ghee,
which are costlier than oil.
Light a couple of incense
sticks and place them in
front of the idols. The
smoke that comes out from
these incense sticks fills up
the room with pleasant
smell. Place a couple of
fruits in front of idols,
sanctify the fruits with
hymns, and then eat some
of that fruit as a blessing
from God. These are some
of the common tasks done
by an average Hindu almost
everyday. The devout
perform these tasks twice a
day; they need to perform
these tasks only after taking
bath.
It is not that rituals are not
present in other religions,
but in Hinduism, these
rituals take on much more
elaborate proportions.
Especially, when done in
temples, these rituals are
done for hours together.
Ritualism sits at the heart of
common Hinduism, which is
why Hinduism is sometimes
termed as a way of life.
Many common Hindus are
not much aware of Vedas,
Puranas, Tantras, and such
other Hindu scriptures. What
they do have is a
knowledge of large number
of rituals performed at every
junction of one’s life, which
is what day-to-day Hinduism
is all about.