In spite of my bad memory , some events of my childhood are still very vivid to me and here am going to share one of those flash back .
One of my favourite pass time of my childhood is “ Playing with GOD” . I will spend hours absorbed playing with Him. Thinking back , God has been my biggest pal ! I had shared a most friendly relation with Him , had fought with Him , smiled with Him , talked to Him , got angry with Him but never feared Him .
In our puja room , we had a small idol of Lord Vishnu in Ananda sayanam posture. ( Lord Vishnu reclining on Snake Ananta ) . During holidays , I would be playing with God , I see in this small idol. I would spend hours doing abhishek .. bath the idol , do abhishek with water , milk , honey , panchamirtham , sandal , vibuthi etc .. Then decorate with flowers and do aarthi and finally distribute the prasad to people at home. I would be at peace with myself doing this. Did I thought that Idol is God ? No. Later during course of life , my playing with God stopped . Life took its owns turns and twists and after a long period , I again have this inner feeling to play with God. I no more have the idol I used to play with when I was child. So am looking forward to the Idol that I could play with . I can visualize the idol and one day , hope to find Him and keep Him part of my life again .
Talking about playing with God , the concept of Idol worship is largely misunderstood. Non Hindus Condemn Idol worship as superstitious belief and a pagan belief . I have come across many forums and articles where they decry Idol worship and rubbishes the practice as silly and unworthy and to be condemned.
I feel sorry for all those who condemn Idol worship. One has to be a Hindu to understand what a Hindu feels about Idol worship. I am quiet at ease with the concept of Idol worship and I would like to convey my thoughts on Idol worship.
To begin with , I would like to quote a line from a Tamil song
கல்லை மட்டும் கண்டால் கடவுள் தெரியாது
When translated it means :
“ When you see a stone alone , you will not find God ”
Let me put it also in another perspective
“ When you see God , you will not find stone ”
This two lines sums up the Idol worship for me.
As a Hindu , when I pray before an Idol , I very well know God is not the Idol . I don’t expect the Idol to arise , awake and do miracles for me. Bottom of my heart , I know it is a stone . Interestingly , I worship .. so does millions of other Hindus .. Why ?
The answer lies in a simple fact and practice that can be confusing for non-Hindus to comprehend.
My core belief can be summed as follows :
Hindus do not believe that there is only one God. Hindus believe that God is One, i.e. a unity inclusive of all things, manifest and unmanifest. This is quite different from saying there is only one God. To say that there is only one God is to reduce God to a single unit, to the lowest common denominator. This is what monotheists do. For them God is a unit, not a Unity.
Hindus are not monotheists, and Hindus are not polytheists. Hindus are panentheists, i.e. they believe that God is in all things and that all things are in God: God is everything, God is in everything, and everything is in God only. They believe the whole of creation is the body (actually, the manifestation) of God Who is the One Infinite-Eternal-Existence, and cannot be separated from God
The foundation of my spiritual belief is moulded on the above mentioned definition. My faith in Idol worship also evolves from the same. When I pray an Idol , I feel God in the stone. I don’t think the Idol is God rather I see God in the idol. There is a difference in both. God is everywhere , I am at ease to see God in everything around me and seeing the God in the Idol makes the spiritual life easy. Its like teaching a Kid “ A for Apple ”
Easy to feed faith :
Depending on how deep one dwelves into The Concept of God it can be both simple as well as difficult to comprehend. For ordinary men , Identifying God in an Idol helps in building a bridge between God and oneself easily. Vedas does not mention Idol worship. Vedic scriptures identified the power of Supreme God with nature. It advocates feeling , seeing , identifying the power of God with everything in nature. The invocations we find in the Vedic slokas are basically to find the power of Supreme God with and within nature and oneself. Later as the various yugas (ages of mankind) progressed , the human mind failed to grasp the concept of omnipresent God and the later rishis advocated the concept of Idols to help common man identify with God easily . The Idols are mere tools to identify with God. idols are symbolic representation of various manifestations of God. Though the concept got corrupted down the ages along with various superstitious beliefs.
Easy to concentrate :
For Hindus God, as is, is beyond any attributes of form, color, shapes … That is, God does not have any specific form or name. In this state God is referred to as nirguNa brahman (attributeless god). However God takes forms as perceived by humans and this perceived form is called saguNa brahman (god with (good) attributes). These forms could range from calm to fierce to yogic (1). Each form has its significance. For example when one is depressed and sees the form of God Strong and Powerful, the seeker feels the moral boost that God would definitely be the support for the right thing. Similarly when in an auspicious ceremony would like the God to be the calm provider of boons. In a spiritually elevated state, the choice would be the yogic form of God. The forms provide a basis for the Hindu worshipper to easily pursue the otherwise incomprehensible Supreme. So Hinduism supports both form as well as formless worship of the God. Whether one worships in saguNa or nirguNa way, it is ultimately the same God
The Idol worship or worshiping saguNa brahman way aids in concentration of mind. It helps a human mind to focus one’s mind with the Brahmam ( Supreme God) Human mind is easily prone to be distracted and diverted and so perceiving a God through Idols helps in the concentration of mind to God. It is the first and easy step in the spiritual walk.
Silent communication :
In the beginning of this post when I narrated my childhood pastime of “Playing with God” , In true essence it was actually a silent communication with God. I was on my own , undistracted for hours , silently in communication with God. The immense satisfaction , pleasure , solace , positivity it gave can only be felt and not explained in words. Though outwardly , it seems a one way communication with God , down my heat I could feel the two way communication , otherwise I would have not played with God like that for countless times and still have the urge now to restart the communication. In H
indu temples and puja rooms of faithful Hindu household , one could witness the silent communication of the Human and God before Idols. The communication is not between the mere idol and Human but the Soul and Super Soul perceived through the Idol.
As one elevates in his spiritual quest , One may see the God within Himself. The body becomes the Idol – Aham Brahmasmi – I am Brahman . Its the highest elevation of the spiritual plane where one sees God within himself and no longer requires an Idol to feel the God. The concentration goes within Oneness and realization of God goes deep into one’s own Soul .
Will talk about my understanding of Jeevatma ( soul) and Paramatma ( Super soul) in another post soon.
Aham Brahmasmi !
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Very good revealing points and perspectives there on God, ideals and idols.
Fortunately or unfortunately we the mass of people throughout of life remain playing with, as rightly put it there: “ A for Apple ” . We never know further, we never move on further.
I dont need to see the air to breath
And I can feel the wind but dont see it, all I can see is the actions of it.
God is one and I can feel the energy and pray without looking for a piece of hood.
If someone that love you to much needed a piece of wood in front to speak with you, How did you feel??
Is just my understanding because I respect every religions, As a matter of fact I dont have a religion and I pray and also speak to God several times a day (But I dont need to seat in front of a teadybear pretending I dont no what!
@ Sulocanosho
Very true .. unfortunately ,most of us don’t make the next step towards the realization..
@ Gold touch
Good to know that you have that level of realization but having said that , not everyone is like you nor you like others .. each one has their own level of understanding and for some God has to be visualized for easy understanding .. You have missed out certain essence of what i meant by idol worship ..please go through the article again .. it is not pretending to see God as u mentioned..
god…yes GOD…is the force that drives me…I am in continuous conversation with HIM….sometime I sit in the mandir in home, once a week I go with my family to a temple. the spiritual force guides me in times of crisis….reduces my suffering , gives me solace…..and now….instead of Gun for my son as toy…I will search a Lord Vishnu…..
Idol worship is much more than worshiping a stone idol . It also refers to idolising someone so much that u let him control ur actions and thoughts.
Very good article. But I am afraid people still will misunderstand what you wanted to say as did “God touch” [:D]
As we progress we tend to subscribe to western values to feel progressed. There is nothing wrong in going to west way but what I feel is people blindly accept the “west way” instead of trying to understand what our culture actually means and doing a thorough analysis.
Its not that hindus need idol to worship, its only that it helps in connecting with god. its like keeping photos of loved ones in house.
@ Om sherry
Ya , any time a God as toy wud be better than Gun
@ Johnny
Thanks !
ha ha ya some people still wud misunderstand without having the patience to go through the full article
can\’t help it !
Things are much clearer now. A good post.
The core belief as you have mentioned was taken from a book written by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, right? A typically advaita based rendition of the vedic philosophy is what the swami subscribes to.
Replace the word ‘idol’ with ‘deity’ or ‘Archa-vigraha’ and look up some literature on deity worship. May be it will help have a better understanding.
Hi Ambi,
I have not read much into Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Will definitely read his philosophies.
Thannks for the information!
You misunderstood.
What I meant was that the text you have quoted under “My core belief can be summed as follows :” is taken from his book.
Oh ok , I did not know it was from his book but I had learnt it from a website on hinduism while browsing randomly. Now that I know its from Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s book , gives me extra reason to study the swamiji’s philosophy
I would ask that you do your research on ‘deity worship’ too. It will be interesting.
@LR
Swamy Dayananda Saraswathy is an outstanding teacher of Vedanta and an eminent scholar of Sanskrit.He has established three institutions of learning: two in India and one in the USA. He hws written a number of books.You can visit the website:www.arshavidya.org
organized religions like islam and christianity cannot understand what Hinduism really is! Hindu belief is God’s Thejus(Light) gets inscribed on the Idol followers worships. But ,again Islam is about Pagan Moon God faithfreedom(dot)org elaborates on it.
nice thoughts.. Informative.. At this point, I recall my father’s words ” See god as a friend, a brother or anything close to you!”. I couldn’t understand him. Today, after seeing your post, I realise it was one way of seeing ourselves!
aham brahmasmi
what do you mean by “It also refers to idolising someone so much that u let him control ur actions and thoughts” ??
it depends on the person how much he lets others control himself. It is not related to idol worshipping but any worshipping…!
Sambi ,
There is a difference in idol worship and idolising someone . My topic is about Idol worship in Hinduism and ya for your atheist leanings i kno the topic may not interest u