I do not say all old beliefs are bad

Someone said.. Many of our old beliefs and rituals are foisted on us.. However we are none the poorer for this..

My rejoinder

I do not say all old beliefs are bad. However our elders were conscious enough about the spirit behind such beliefs.

Once we lose grip of the substance and just follow monkey-like, we would become poor indeed.

We become poor or even bankrupt when we try to follow the beliefs and fail to imbibe the spirit behind such values.

That has happened in the past couple of generations. I will cite an example.. Take the case of Namasankeerthanam, Bomma Kolu etc and even festivals in many temples.

The basic idea or spirit behind such activities is to foster faith in God and brotherhood among people.

But such practices have petered down into mere dramatic shows, show offs, competitions and eating sprees and the basic factor of the Divine presence has simply disappeared.

Even in Vaidik rituals, in astrology, everywhere there is such a decadence.

So we are actually so poor for such following.. ( I cannot agree with your statement that we are none the poorer for that..)

When decent life deteriorates to crass exhibitionism, we are not only poor, we just die in spirit