The OP has written what appears to be the typical leftist/materialist viewpoint- looking at it in terms of power and nothing else. The fact of the matter is - a million tonnes of theory does not equal an ounce of practice. So what do you mean by rituals ? From a dharmic view point, you may mean nitya karma- which does not need any purohita- not for anyone who has got the yajnopaveeta. Naimittika karma may or may not need a purohita. So I am not sure what you mean by 'power' here.
Does the OP actually believe in the existence of anything beyond the material world ? If not, the rest of this post, as far as the OP is concerned- would be a waste of my time and words.
One who does not have a regular practice will not be able to understand the subtleties of the nitya/naimittika karma and sadhana and will be trapped and his knowledge restricted to books of people who people who themselves have never understood. Marx for example never understood Sanatana Dharma and wrote all his theory based on his knowledge of the Christian Church in Europe. Naturally, his predictions and theories have not amounted to much so far. They were based on a very limited understanding of history and an even more limited understanding of religion in general and human nature.
Our 'priests' are only required for helping or interceding with certain ceremonies. So for your daily sandhya vandanam, bali/vaishvadaivam, they are not needed. They are only needed for doing say a Ganapathy homa, where even a priest would need others to come and act as purohita when doing it at home. Alternatively, you can do the tantrika homa ( if you have the diksha) without the purohita.You can do a manasika homa/puja without any material or purohita at all..
If you lack the ability to concentrate or spend time on these things, you can give the "power of attorney" to a purohita to do japa, homa, deva-tarpana etc for you. They also help as acharya when you do not know how to do some things.
Our purohita are not the same as the mulla or the catholic priests or even a witch doctor. So a comparison just reveals a lack of proper understanding of our dharma. Our is an experiential dharma. Without the discipline and practice, one must rely entirely on krupa and purva janma punya for this.
Our dharma does not declare that anyone who does not approach our priest is doomed to eternal suffering or snything of the sort.
Posts like this reveal the reason that upanayana and spiritual practice was started at a very young age in our traditions. The body and mind were trained to be aware of more subtle things than that are seen in the material world by the physical senses. For one who has experienced, these questions/doubts/thoughts would not arise.
Does the OP actually believe in the existence of anything beyond the material world ? If not, the rest of this post, as far as the OP is concerned- would be a waste of my time and words.
One who does not have a regular practice will not be able to understand the subtleties of the nitya/naimittika karma and sadhana and will be trapped and his knowledge restricted to books of people who people who themselves have never understood. Marx for example never understood Sanatana Dharma and wrote all his theory based on his knowledge of the Christian Church in Europe. Naturally, his predictions and theories have not amounted to much so far. They were based on a very limited understanding of history and an even more limited understanding of religion in general and human nature.
Our 'priests' are only required for helping or interceding with certain ceremonies. So for your daily sandhya vandanam, bali/vaishvadaivam, they are not needed. They are only needed for doing say a Ganapathy homa, where even a priest would need others to come and act as purohita when doing it at home. Alternatively, you can do the tantrika homa ( if you have the diksha) without the purohita.You can do a manasika homa/puja without any material or purohita at all..
If you lack the ability to concentrate or spend time on these things, you can give the "power of attorney" to a purohita to do japa, homa, deva-tarpana etc for you. They also help as acharya when you do not know how to do some things.
Our purohita are not the same as the mulla or the catholic priests or even a witch doctor. So a comparison just reveals a lack of proper understanding of our dharma. Our is an experiential dharma. Without the discipline and practice, one must rely entirely on krupa and purva janma punya for this.
Our dharma does not declare that anyone who does not approach our priest is doomed to eternal suffering or snything of the sort.
Posts like this reveal the reason that upanayana and spiritual practice was started at a very young age in our traditions. The body and mind were trained to be aware of more subtle things than that are seen in the material world by the physical senses. For one who has experienced, these questions/doubts/thoughts would not arise.
