Reading the context will explain what Jesus was talking about.
The Pharisees in particular had placed rules-legalism- above the more important "weightier" matters of the Law. If you look at verse 23 in that same chapter, you'll see what Jesus was talking about. The Pharisees were observing the rules of the Law by offering the 10% tithe as a sacrifice while at the same time were practicing injustice, being unfaithful and unmerciful. As Jesus said, these things (tithes) were "binding" but not at the disregard of the other things (mercy, faithfulness, justice).
Jesus continually stressed that rules were never more important than showing kindness to others. At Mt. 9:13 he said, "go then, and learn what this means, 'I want mercy and not sacrifice'".
His illustration of breaking the Sabbath Law in order to rescue an animal that falls into a pit is a case in point. Keeping the Sabbath was not as important as saving a life.
You don't have to agree with the edicts of the Law or believe in the Bible; I'm just pointing out what's there.
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To your point: tradition is notnecessarily the same as culture. If a person was born in India, and knows no other way of life, he or she can hardly be faulted for not being a Christian if they've never been exposed to Christianity (or any other religion for that matter). Tradition, in a religious context, is simply adhering to a certain way of doing things, even if you know they are not required or Biblical, in the case of Christianity. For example, The Catholic Church openly admits that many of their "traditions" have no Biblical support, but they do it anyway because it's tradition.
"setting aside the commandments of god": which god? India/Hinduism has thousands of them. In man's history there have been about 30,000 of them. So, which tradition and which god are you setting aside in order to please the next, supposedly better, one? Take your pick- you have a .00003% chance of being right!
