Does anyone else struggle with guilt for not following rituals? How do you deal with it?

[Agoodfella]

I'm new here- thanks in advance for giving my thoughts your time.

I practice gratitude , and have small routines through my day to practice what I think is my spirituality- from saying thanks as soon as I wake up for all the blessings I have, meditating , to gratitude practices etc. But very often i find that I'm riddled with guilt that I've not spent time in practicing via ritualistic structure as defined by my religion ( Hinduism). To be fair, my religion doesn't mandate anything or any rituals but it's more of an inner dialogue and struggle where I feel guilty that I haven't sat down at my temple and prayed to the idols or offered flowers etc.

But on the other hand I feel what I'm doing via gratitude, meditation etc is talking to the very same Gods so I shouldn't be feeling guilty about this.

Hope this makes some sense- do any of you go through this? If so how do you deal with it?

 

[ChristineM]

I cant help with your quandary but there are several Hindus who i am sure can help

What i can say is welcome to RF, i hope you enjoy it here and find the answers you seek.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I'm new here- thanks in advance for giving my thoughts your time.

I practice gratitude , and have small routines through my day to practice what I think is my spirituality- from saying thanks as soon as I wake up for all the blessings I have, meditating , to gratitude practices etc. But very often i find that I'm riddled with guilt that I've not spent time in practicing via ritualistic structure as defined by my religion ( Hinduism). To be fair, my religion doesn't mandate anything or any rituals but it's more of an inner dialogue and struggle where I feel guilty that I haven't sat down at my temple and prayed to the idols or offered flowers etc.

But on the other hand I feel what I'm doing via gratitude, meditation etc is talking to the very same Gods so I shouldn't be feeling guilty about this.

Hope this makes some sense- do any of you go through this? If so how do you deal with it?

Namaste @Agoodfella ~

How do I deal with it? I stopped doing rituals.

Seriously, though, the guilt is a product of self-judgment, which is a product of ego.

One of the first steps for me in learning to manage my ego was to eliminate this judge from the equation. I'm a big advocate of the Toltec philosophy of the Four Agreements. One of them is "Always do your best" and is likely the one most relevant to this topic.

Your best will vary from day to day. On your best days, you will likely be able to do your rituals, but on other days, time may get away from you, and you many not accomplish them. Allowing the judge to punish you for not doing them accomplishes little more than self-denigration. The rituals don't magically get done because you chose to judge yourself. What's done is done. Acknowledge that you didn't get them done and set forth a plan for the future to do them.

Celebrate the days you get them done, and do your best each day to recognize what led to that day's success. Recognize what the opportunities were on the days you missed your goal, and do your best to eliminate those opportunities moving forward. But in either case, don't be that judge that brings self-abuse.

Finally, welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your time here.

 

[danieldemol]

I'm new here- thanks in advance for giving my thoughts your time.

I practice gratitude , and have small routines through my day to practice what I think is my spirituality- from saying thanks as soon as I wake up for all the blessings I have, meditating , to gratitude practices etc. But very often i find that I'm riddled with guilt that I've not spent time in practicing via ritualistic structure as defined by my religion ( Hinduism). To be fair, my religion doesn't mandate anything or any rituals but it's more of an inner dialogue and struggle where I feel guilty that I haven't sat down at my temple and prayed to the idols or offered flowers etc.

But on the other hand I feel what I'm doing via gratitude, meditation etc is talking to the very same Gods so I shouldn't be feeling guilty about this.

Hope this makes some sense- do any of you go through this? If so how do you deal with it?

Welcome to RF

I don't really do any rituals and I don't feel guilty about it.

I think guilt can be indoctrinated into us. If we are told we should do a certain unnecessary thing and come to believe it we may feel guilt for as long as we hold onto that belief.

So examine whether rituals are really necessary for you and then decide if you want to hold onto that belief.

 

[Sirona]

I'm new here- thanks in advance for giving my thoughts your time.

I practice gratitude , and have small routines through my day to practice what I think is my spirituality- from saying thanks as soon as I wake up for all the blessings I have, meditating , to gratitude practices etc. But very often i find that I'm riddled with guilt that I've not spent time in practicing via ritualistic structure as defined by my religion ( Hinduism). To be fair, my religion doesn't mandate anything or any rituals but it's more of an inner dialogue and struggle where I feel guilty that I haven't sat down at my temple and prayed to the idols or offered flowers etc.

But on the other hand I feel what I'm doing via gratitude, meditation etc is talking to the very same Gods so I shouldn't be feeling guilty about this.

Hope this makes some sense- do any of you go through this? If so how do you deal with it?

Welcome @Agoodfella

I think it's not so much the "quantity" of your practice but the heartfelt devotion you do it with.

 

[Vinayaka]

I'm new here- thanks in advance for giving my thoughts your time.

I practice gratitude , and have small routines through my day to practice what I think is my spirituality- from saying thanks as soon as I wake up for all the blessings I have, meditating , to gratitude practices etc. But very often i find that I'm riddled with guilt that I've not spent time in practicing via ritualistic structure as defined by my religion ( Hinduism). To be fair, my religion doesn't mandate anything or any rituals but it's more of an inner dialogue and struggle where I feel guilty that I haven't sat down at my temple and prayed to the idols or offered flowers etc.

But on the other hand I feel what I'm doing via gratitude, meditation etc is talking to the very same Gods so I shouldn't be feeling guilty about this.

Hope this makes some sense- do any of you go through this? If so how do you deal with it?

Namaste, fellow Hindu here. People's lives vary. Some folks have far more time for religion that others. Therefore, the time spent at practices, ritual or otherwise, varies, depending on several factors.

I've always viewed guilt as independent of your practice, an emotion on its own, to be dealt with separately from what you're doing. In the grans scheme, on the path to moksha, what's missing a little here or there? It's practically nothing, other than perhaps delaying the inevitable. So there is no rational reason to feel guilty about it. Actions like theft, or neglect of a loved one, or worse, yes, you should feel guilty, but then we have practices (prayaschitta) to rid ourselves of that.

Once you start guilting, it becomes like a roller coaster. You feel guilty about missing one puja, that guilt ovewhelms you, and then you miss another because of that.

My Gurus teach that it's important to so something, anything, be it 5 minutes, whatever.
Best wishes in eliminating guilt from you emotional bag.

Aum Na Ma Si Va Ya