Symbolism in the Worship of God

[Guest guest]

All religions including Hinduism emphasizes that as humans, we cannot

comprehend the image of God! But human mind does have the capacity to

build a mental image of God and create that image in physical form.

The Tamil expression, `muppaththu mukkodi devas' represents millions

of such representations of the mental image of Nirguna Brahman. In

mathematics also, the non-comprehensible infinity has been

conceptualized in infinite ways! It is a fundamental fact, that which

can't be comprehended are represented by a symbol. In Hinduism, the

symbol of OM represents the Brahman. The religious symbolism is

further expanded in other fields: A country is symbolized by a flag,

love for a country is expressed by the national anthem etc.

 

The physical images of Parvathi, Saraswati, Lakshimi, Ganesa,

Karthikeya, Shiva, Vishnu and others help us focus and concentrate our

mind on the Nirguna Brahman during meditation or prayer. Worships and

Prayers are impossible without a ` mental image' of the

noncomprehensible Brahman. The question: whether a physical image

(idol) is necessary for prayer can never be resolved because the very

question goes beyond human perception. Any form of worship implies

some mental comprehension of God. Such comprehension could come

either from physical image of God or other symbolic expressions of God

such as the Bible (Cross) or Qu'an or other such symbols. Muslims

believe (rightly) that God has written Qur'an and for them Qur'an

implicitly represents the God. Similarly the Christians believe that

the words of the Bible represents the expressions of God. This may

explain why the Hindu implicitly worships the God while chanting the

Vedas. The reading of Qur'an or Bible are also forms of mental

worship of God using the physical means.

 

warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran