“RITUAL SELF: Need for fortifying Hindu Ritual Architecture for Containing Meta-Crisis”, Brhat, March 23, 2026
“The ritual way of life delineated the nature of the sacred cosmos for millennia across cultures. This experience nourished soul and enriched the notion of sacrality. Thus, within us, an ever-nourishing fount of Ritual Self was enshrined, which grew in its strength and influence, thus sheltering civilizations from the vicissitudes of life. Those civilizations’ cultures, which are now reduced to only historical references, stories about their ritual world can at best be inferred from books written by scholars or through relics and artefacts adorning the museums built by colonizers.
One may say with abundant confidence that it is in Bhārata that one witnessed a robust and most comprehensive expression of this Ritual Self. The notion that “ living is a process of enacting sacred ritual” permeated all spheres of life. It is this dictum that made an otherwise mundane life replete with meaning. Thus, conscious enactment of ritual becomes a conduit for meaning and purpose, what Sanātana Dharma usually referred to as Puruṣārtha: Dharma, Artha, Kāma, Mokṣa.
There is no stream of spirituality, adhyātmika cintana, emerging out of Indian soil that doesn’t engage with this central Idea of puruṣārtha. Ritual action not only infuses meaning and purpose through these four motives of life, but it also guards them from ever assailing corrupt forces. It is due to this reason, despite the onslaught of several adversities upon the ritual landscape, India still expresses the stamp of Ritual Self; however, we must admit that attestation of this ritual self doesn’t hold the same vitality anymore, as opposed to its golden dawns of the past…….”
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