Procedures for Effective Ritual Worship

The yajnas and other modes of worship described in the karma-kanda section of Vedic Scriptures are not mere routine rituals. They are extraordinarily potent means of producing creative and occult energies of deeper and higher realms of subtle and invisible dimensions of consciousness. They are a culmination of long and deep research done by Indian Rishis. They provide an audio-visual structure to the human endeavour of realising the divine consciousness within themselves by the practice of the subtle yoga-sadhana.

The unseen powers that lie hidden within us are awakened and given an organised direction by these rituals. Even medicinal qualities can be produced in ordinary substances by applying various ritualistic means to the procedures of making medicines. A very definite role is played by ritual worship in the awakening of illumined thoughts, positive inclinations and right values. Therefore ritual worship should not be ignored, nor should it be practised only as a means of getting cheap and easy worldly gains. It is dangerous both to look upon rituals as being the beginning and end of all worship as well as to treat them as meaningless. Their limitations must be properly understood without forgetting their inherent value. Ritual worship may be simplified and shortened but its influence can only become powerful enough to achieve the desired goal if it is performed with a heart full of unflinching faith.