Absence of sacredness is a precursor to self-destruction.
Applies to individuals, families and communities.
First, how does an object or a process acquire sacredness?
At an individual level, one treats something as sacred because of an inner experience. At a higher state of consciousness, when it transcends time, one discovers that an object or a process means much more than its physical state. Since this discovery happened when time was not a factor, he believes the physical entity or process would continue to give that experience. So, he begins treating it sacred. It doesn't do anything special other than its intended purpose, but by treating it as holy, man can experience uplifting emotions. It does, by coming to his aid by comforting him through the ups and downs of his life.
Good habits, value systems, and rituals with their sacredness passed on across generations help keep families together. Physical objects like portraits of deities, elders, and objects passed on for generations evoke an emotion that makes people value the institution called family. They evoke emotions that are valuable for the family. The same can be extended to the societies as well. There, the scale of sacred things changes as societies are made of families.
Religion is vital in keeping them together with its sacred icons and systems. The sense of sacredness arises at a higher consciousness and religions do make use of them at a practical level. Then sacred things and religions enrich each other.
To a Hindu, there are innumerable sacred things, from cows to rituals to symbols, books, and tools. For example, with a sense of gratitude towards the cow, a Hindu venerates it. It is not that someone declares that the cow is holy; instead, individuals experience gratitude toward the cow and then it is treated as holy. A society that doesn't have such noble experiences would have fewer sacred things. Camels in Arabia are almost as useful as the cows in India, but camels are not treated as holy.
What happens when there is an absence of sacredness?
The two materialistic ideologies of communism and capitalism have no room for holiness. We have seen how they destroyed the environment, families, societies, and individuals. We can simply look around to see the effects of this profanity. Look at the conditions of families in irreligious societies. And look at the lives of people in prisons and mental asylums.
Religions and sacred things enrich each other. But in Islam, there are very few sacred items - like the Quran, Mecca, the pilgrimage, and the act of prayer. It does not allow designating anything else as sacred. That makes them treat everything else as unholy and gives them the license to destroy them. On the contrary, a Hindu with his innumerable sacred things attempts to give the same kind of respect to other religions' sacred icons. You can't find a Hindu celebrating the burning of the Quran; because to him, every book is sacred.
Where are we heading?
Due to wokeism or plain laziness, we, the midde-upper-middle-class Hindus are losing the sense of sacredness. Weddings and other rituals are treated as just events to celebrate and photo ops. There is hardly any respect for sacredness in the way rituals are done. Temples are considered places of tourism; we don't even want to follow the rules prescribed for each temple. Religious marks like Bindi, Namam, and Vibhuthi are becoming rare. Most Jathis have abandoned their sacred threads; more married women feel liberated without their mangal sutra. So, at an individual and family level, we are heading towards destruction. The society will follow.
A Tirtha yatra is supposed to connect people as the pilgrim travels the lengths and breadths of this country. With the Tirthas destroyed and temples becoming tourist places, what remains of these pilgrimages? In the guise of development, water bodies and forests which were considered sacred by the ancients are being developed into concrete structures. There is nothing wrong with development if it benefits people in the material world, but losing sacred things will destroy the binding forces in society.
If that's what we want, that's what we will get.
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