Why do you respect someone?
So why do you respect someone?
It is because there is some level of understanding of what the person does and that is something which you think is beyond your capacity. That is what you want to see in you also.
Sometimes you may meet a person who is from a different field introduced by a friend in similar field. And he will be all in praise for this person. You may fake the respect at that point. But remember you are not arrogant, you are just ignorant.
What causes respect is understanding of the other person’s potentials. The things that are superior to what you are and what you do.
An engineer may not value an artist if he doesn’t relate to what the artist does. But he may start valuing it when he begins his journey as an artist. Then he will develop respect to what the person has achieved. To do those things is no mean feat, will become your thorough understanding and you will want to express that through your words, actions in the form of respect.
So the same applies for the Gods that we pray for. We do not know what they did, how did they help, whom did they help, what avatar they took and how they managed everything.
But when you read about the God, when you read how the same God is worshipped in different parts in different forms in different ways. And you see how global HE is and you learn about it’s magnanimity, you develop respect. It may be gradual but it starts somewhere. Somewhere if you do not light an agarbatti or a diya or visit the temple, you have questions in you. You feel there is no significance. And when you know the significance, you do it with that respect. You do not light the diya because you want a job or a career or relationship. That may happen. But you will learn how beautiful it is to respect out of knowing than out of fear. And that feeling is something that will power you through your up and downs.
So, sometimes ignorance is not bliss, knowing is bliss :)
