Hello God! Are You Sick?

Beliefs that are harmful or unfairly restrict sections of the people, or those are out of date, need to be called out, and we have seen that many such practices have ceased to exist. The customs and rituals that you have made fun of in the first post do not fall in these categories. The are fairly harmless rituals or ceremonies that make the followers feel closer to or identify with the Supreme Being. Last July, the Odisha government invoked Lord Jagannath's quarantine example to popularize COVID restrictions. What's wrong with a practice that came useful at times like this to convince the masses about quarantining?

The fever and ceremonial check-up of the idol are symbolic like other rituals and ceremonies we see in any celebration, not just religious celebrations. Be it the cutting of a ribbon at a store opening, the Obamas practicing how to curtsy before the Queen, or my neighborhood folks getting their knickers in a knot because some house is not displaying the American flag properly. Indeed there are elaborate rules on how to raise and lower the flag, how exactly to fold it and how to dispose an tattered flag.

Life would be very boring without rituals, pomp, splendor and beautiful temples, colorful festivals and yatras or parades. Unless a practice is actively harming someone, let it be, let them be.

This is only my opinion. I am not saying this is the only and right take on the Puri temple's rituals. But I have to wonder what do we gain, what does anyone gain by mocking the beliefs of those who participate in such ceremonies.