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## Jain Rituals
**267**
**Meaning:** Offering water to the sun, giving charity on the day of a solstice, bathing in rivers like the Ganges, worshipping trees, worshipping lakes - these are considered folk beliefs in the scriptures. Here, the scriptures mention tree worship as a form of darkness, so it should be included in folk beliefs. However, the author writes that performing these worldly rituals does not lead to false beliefs. This suggests that there is some hidden meaning behind them. Just as we bathe in wells and ponds for the purification of the body, bathing in rivers like the Ganges is not a folk belief. But bathing in them with the desire for a boon (desired fruit) is a folk belief. If we bathe at home and do so with the desire that it will lead us to heaven and liberation, this desire is also against the ultimate goal and therefore false. Therefore, one should understand that those who bathe in the Ganges and Yamuna with such intentions should be considered as indulging in folk beliefs, and those who bathe normally, like they do at home, are not indulging in false beliefs. It is not fair to call someone who is bathing in the Ganges according to their daily routine or simply bathing as indulging in false beliefs. Mere words mean nothing, it is the intentions of the person bathing that matter. Offering water to the sun with the desire for heaven and liberation is false. But offering water to the sun according to specific rituals during the installation ceremony is not false, as is well known in all installation scriptures. Giving charity on the day of the solstice with the desire for heaven and liberation is false, but if someone who naturally gives charity every day out of devotion or compassion also gives charity on that day, it is not fair to call them indulging in false beliefs. Worshipping a lake is false, but the worship of a lake during the installation ceremony is not false. Honoring the goddesses Kali, Chandi, and Mundi is false. But honoring them appropriately during the installation ceremony is not false. This will be accepted by those who know the complete installation scriptures. We have nothing to say to those who do not accept any scriptures. But our great scholars and knowledgeable men of religion consider the installation ceremony as evidence and perform installations accordingly. They will surely accept these aforementioned points. This implies that performing these actions for peace without desiring heaven, liberation, etc., in specific rituals is not false. Similarly, worshipping the Bodhi tree with the desire for enlightenment in this specific ritual of the sacred thread ceremony should not be considered false. However, there may be a doubt here: how can enlightenment be attained from that inert substance? The solution is that the inner cause of attaining knowledge is the cessation of its obscurations, and there are many external causes. It is possible that just as knowledge is obscured by the field, it may also be obscured by doing this. The field is also inert. Just as knowledge is obscured by inert substances like books, it may also be obscured by that tree. Inert objects have an effect on the soul. There are many examples of this. It is possible that the soul may also be affected by that tree.