Idol Worship or idle worship? beyond names and forms?

[Guest guest]

when i was growing up, i always used to see my most beloved mom

taking a spoonful of turmeric powder and she used to mix the turmeric

powder with some water and fashion the lump into some sort of a shape

(like a mound) and place it on the altar before commencing any

alborate pooja... i found this very intriguing ! one day, i ventured

to ask my mom what that 'lump' represented? my mom cooly replied

that 'lump' represented 'pillaiyar' or lord ganesha, son of parvati-

(pillai means son -yar is a term of respect) ! my mother further

explained to me that the deity can be invoked in almost any object by

invocation or chanting of mantras or prayers or slokas ! "o Lord

ganesha! please make your presence manifest in this image (in this

case a lump of turmeric." well, this may sound very silly or absurd

to those who are not on the bhakti path but to the bhaktas or

bhaktins this makes perfect sense.

 

But, there are lot of differences between a lump of turmeric or a

temple Murthis (idols in the temple) ...

 

the turmeric lump is symbolic and the devotee prays to god to

manifest himself in that lump but the temple murthis are not just

blocks of stone or white marble. they are divine manifestations of

god/GODDESS!!!!

.

in fact, in some temples, gods are self

manifested-for example, in the tirupthi temple in andhra

pradesh, india- in the srirangam temple in madras etc

also, here in venketeshwara temple in pittsburgh,

u.s.a. in fact, even in grand canyon, arizona, i saw a

small statue of vishnu in the canyon-no wonder it is so

grand!

 

"Even for images sculpted by human hands, as are

present in most temples, once the "netrotsava" ("opening"

of the eyes of the image)is performed, there is

no essential difference between the image itself and

the Supreme Divinity, assuming one is a believer in

the age-old tradtions of temple worship.

 

"thus when you see the temple deity you feel you are in

the presence of god himself- you experience the

divinity in the physical form- for such a devotee God is

in reality there, residing in the temple,

ever-accessible, readily gracing us and willing to receive our

service."

 

To many hindus, such idoL worship is the best

form of worship-by offering flowers, fruit, incence

etc the devotees feel they are serving the divine.

 

of course, to christians, this seems like "idle" worship not

for catholics though-catholics too worship mother

mary.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED.....