A questioner, disturbed by the death of his grandmother and the subsequent rituals followed by his family during the pandemic, seeks clarity from Acharya Prashant. He is shaken by the sight of people adhering to age-old traditions without concern for their lives. Acharya Prashant explains that what the questioner is witnessing is not 'Dharma' (righteousness) but 'Rudhi' (tradition or convention). He identifies the underlying issues as pseudo-religiosity, a lack of faith in science, an unscientific approach to life, and a tendency to believe in rumors. He emphasizes that at the core of Dharma lies knowledge ('gyan') and understanding ('bodh'), not blind adherence to tradition. When asked to elaborate on 'Rudhi', he describes it as customs and traditions that are followed without question simply because they have been passed down through generations. Acharya Prashant clarifies that the scriptures that advocate for such rituals, like shaving one's head or preparing specific foods, are the Puranas. He states that the Puranas are not the center of Sanatana Dharma; the Upanishads and Vedanta are. The Puranas, he explains, were composed much after the Vedic period. They are collections of symbolic stories intended to provide moral guidance to those who could not grasp the profound knowledge of the Vedas directly. Unfortunately, a dangerous situation has arisen where people mistake these Puranic stories for the essence of Dharma, following them literally without understanding their symbolic meaning, which can only be deciphered through the knowledge of Vedanta. He concludes by explaining the fundamental principle of Dharma: the axis, which is Truth, is unchangeable, but everything else in the world is subject to change and must evolve with time. People make the mistake of treating traditions as unchangeable, failing to distinguish between the eternal truths of the Upanishads and transient customs. This foolishness leads them to cling to outdated and irrelevant practices, even at the cost of their well-being.
