When you wipe a tear, when you feed a hungry mouth, and when you forgive instead of retaliate, that is puja, that is pilgrimage, and that is the incense that reaches hm which he enjoys

“Rituals and pilgrimages may soothe your mind but do not please God. God needs no flowers, no chants, no bargains. What please him is your smile as prayer and your joyous living as ritual. He is less concerned with how often you bend before idols and more with how kindly you rise to serve the living. You think you are pleasing God with rituals..?? You are not. You think he bends His will because you walked around a temple a hundred times or broke a coconut at his door..?? He does not. These acts may soothe your restlessness, and may give your mind the illusion of having done something for God, but they do not reach him at all.

What you are failing to understand is, God does not need your flowers, for he made the garden before you were born. He does not need your chants, for he gave you the very breath that utters them. He does not need your bargains, for he has already placed before you what is due. What, then, pleases God..?? Not the sound of your lips, but the fragrance of your life; and not the length of your ritual, but the depth of your joy. Your smile is the prayer he longs for, because it tells him you have understood the rhythm of his design. 

Your joyous living is the ritual he waits for, because it reflects gratitude for what he has already given you. When you laugh with contentment, when you live with dignity, and when you rise each day with thankfulness, you have worshipped God more than a thousand pilgrimages could ever achieve.You bend before idols made of stone, yet rise with arrogance towards people made of flesh. Do you think this pleases God..?? Never. He is less concerned with how often you fall at his statue, and more with how kindly you rise to serve the fellow humans, all children of his creation.  

When you wipe a tear, when you feed a hungry mouth, and when you forgive instead of retaliate, that is puja, that is pilgrimage, and that is the incense that reaches hm which he enjoys.Look at the noble sages and personalities who lived before you. Did the Buddha need garlands to awaken..?? No, he walked among the suffering and became their refuge. Did Jesus measure devotion in offerings of gold..?? No, he washed the feet of the lowly and lifted the broken. True devotion has always been service to life, service to humanity, and service to the least among you.

You may journey a thousand miles to touch the sanctum of a shrine, but if you cannot journey a single step to touch the heart of the suffering, you have not reached God. The temple is only a reminder, but the real sanctum is the heart that beats within you and around you.

So stop bargaining with God and stop drowning Him in your noise. Instead, offer him what he himself gave you; your joy, your kindness, and your humanity. That alone is the prayer that pleases Him the most and not what you have been doing all these years. Shed them, you shall notice peace; persist with them, you live with restlessness.”