Rituals, Prayers, Attitude.

There is nothing wrong with rituals.
In fact the rituals make this Dharma great. So do prayers.
Just take the example of penicillin. If you have a headache and you take
penicillin, it is overkill. You have to take specific medicines for specific ailments.
Like that, you have specific prayers for specific occasions. If you have an eye
problem, I can invoke Ishwara as a Devata presiding over eyes.

There is only Ishwara but there are different manifestations. It also depends on
how we see them. There are eyes your eyes, my eyes, eyes of owl, lizard etc.
Not all see it the same way.

That is why Indian rituals are the greatest. The Vedic rituals are not ordinary.
Everything is a form, your language is a form,
namaste is a form, your dress is a form.

Attitudes.

We need to have healthy attitudes. Attitudes really help us. You know 90% of
our problems can be attributed to improper attitudes. Because when I have to
put up with situations that are unpleasant, I murmur, I become violent, angry,
sad. But we have to face it calmly, dispassionately. We require composure and
self-respect that can accommodate human limitations and address them.
Accommodation does not mean you do not respect, accommodation is you
don't condemn the people, at the same time you address the limitations of the
people, correct them, help them, you correct yourself, learning from situations.
So, this is what is required: Attitude.

Attitude comes from understanding. Like your attitude towards money is to
understand what exactly is money. For us money is Lakshmi - without looking
down upon it. And we don't look at Her as everything. There is also Saraswathi.
She is playing veena. She does not care whether you come to her or not. But
she knows that Lakshmi won't do much to you, unless you have Saraswathi.

So, healthy attitudes will help us. That's what spirituality is.
That means we have to understand Ishwara.
We have to understand 'Karma' and 'Karma Phala'.

Swami Dayanda Saraswati, ArshaVidya