Is it right to perform rituals with the help of a tape recorder?

Swami replied:- From one angle it is right, because a priest is just like a tape recorder, since he simply utters the sacred Vedic hymns without knowing their meaning and without preaching it to the people. Suppose you ask whether you can use a tape recorder in which the hymns are recorded along their meanings. Actually, even then it is not correct from the real angle. The main aim of doing the rituals is not only to know the Vedic knowledge but also to do the sacrifice of the fruit of your work (money) to a deserving person. When you use a tape recorder, the real aim of the ritual is not satisfied because the tape recorder cannot accept your Guru Dakshina. Whether you use a tape recorder or a priest, you must know that burning substances like ghee or oil in the lamp, fume sticks, camphor etc., are not mentioned in the Vedas and are unnecessary. You must also know that the statues or pictures worshipped in the rituals indicate the human form of the Lord to whom alone you have to perform all the sixteen modes of worship called ‘upacharas’. This is the real sacrifice.