Swami's words on 'Iold Worship'

August 9, 2005

Some further extracts of Swami's quotations on 'IDOL WORSHIP'

With love & light,

Madhvi

Why worship idols?

If a girl before her marriage is asked to describe her future husband, how can

she do it? She can describe the husband only after the marriage. Likewise,

after worshipping an idol and gaining experience of divinity by such worship,

one would be able to describe one's experience of God.

Before worshipping God and gaining spiritual experience, how can anyone say

anything about the nature of Divine? Hence, it is necessary to develop faith in

idol worship. It should be realised that every object is a manifestation of God.

Every atom is divine

SSS 28 -04

The worship of forms or idols

Every atom has a form. There is no object in the universe without a form. The

form is Vigraha (an expression of the Divine Idol). Members of other faiths

considered idol worship as irrational. They ridiculed idol worship as a form of

superstition, but they made no attempt to explain the worship of the formless.

Every person begins to learn about all objects only in relation to their forms.

People could not conceive of God as omnipresent, who is in every object and in

every individual. Some were able to conceive that the atom is present in every,

object and everywhere.

But it was only in the seventeenth century that atomic physics came into

existence. But long before this, the child I point my finger at the mike and

tell you: "This is a mike." After you have seen the mike, you don't need the

finger to point it out. I point to a flower and say: "This is a flower." After

you have seen the flower, there is no need for the finger to point it.

Likewise, idols were used to point out God. Until God-realisation comes, idols

are essential. After God-realisation there is no need for idols.

Some people ask whether it is not foolish to worship an inanimate inconscient

figure as God. This question is born of ignorance

Significance of idol worship

Idol worship should not be regarded as a meaningless exercise. It is a good

practice because on the basis of the idol the higher consciousness is attained.

In a home, there are pictures of grandparents and great-grandparents. The

present generation has not seen them. But they offer garlands to the pictures

and revere the ancestors. Is there life in the pictures? Do they exhibit any

love? Do the pictures by themselves reveal any relationship? Not at all.

But the pictures are revered out of the feeling that they represent one's

ancestors. If such a loving feeling did not exist, the pictures will not be

kept in the house. Likewise it is the attachment for an object that inspires

respect and reverence. This is termed devotion. This devotion should be shown

towards all objects because the Divine is in everything, in every atom. It may

be difficult to cultivate such devotion. But once its rationale is properly

understood, the practice of devotion will become easy.

There have been controversies and doubts about this in the past. For instance, a

school of philosophers known as Chaarvaakas used to deride idol worship. But

later on, they also recognised its value. They realised that everything in the

world has a form, from the atom onwards, and that everything with a form was

Vigraham (an idol) fit for worship. What is the form of water? Here in this

tumbler is some water and its form is derived from the tumbler.

Likewise air acquires the form of the balloon in which it is confined. Similarly

when the body is filled with Divine energy, the Divine acquires the human form.

The all-pervading Divine thus acquires the form in which it manifests itself.

Perform your worship to the Divine with awareness of the truth that the Divine

is omnipresent and is therefore in the idol that is worshipped. And then you

are bound to have a vision of the Divine.

The truth about the omnipresence of the Divine was evident to the Gopikas who

sang in praise of Krishna:

O Krishna! How can anyone know your mystery?

You are subtler than the atom and vaster than the vastest thing in the world!

You are present in myriads of beings in this vast universe in innumerable forms.

How can we ever know you?

"You are a thief among thieves, a good man among the good. You manifest the

qualities of the object in which you dwell. You are everything."

Infinite forms of the Lord

Those who have studied the Vibhuti Yoga in the Bhagavat Geeta will know the

infinity of forms which the Lord assumes. All forms are His. If one has faith

that the lord is present in the atom, one will have a vision of the Lord even

in the atom. But if you make a distinction between different objects, treat

some as pure and others as impure, you will not get that vision.

Till the realisation that everything is permeated by God comes to one, he must

worship an idol as a sacred symbol. A sculptor creates an idol out of a rock.

Because of the form given to it, it is installed in a temple and worshipped. In

fashioning the idol, the sculptor chisels away many chips of stone. The chips

may proclaim verily their kinship with the idol worshipped in the temple. They

may say: "You and we are one. The only difference is, you have a form and we

have none."

Thus, the Divine exists both in the form and in the "formless". It is because

this concept of the Universe is not understood that faith has declined.

With regard to divinity, there is no meaning in making a distinction between the

Divine with form and the formless divinity. How can you conceive of the Formless

Divine? You cannot avoid idol worship until you have experience of the Divine

within you.

Raamakrishna Paramahamsa once told a disciple - who asked why he (the disciple)

was not able to see God whether he yearned for God with the same intensity with

which he sought many worldly things. If he did so, he would certainly have a

vision of God. When a similar question was put to Buddha, he said that without

indulging in speculation about God if one practised truth, righteousness and

non-violence he would have the highest experience.

Do the pictures by themselves reveal any relationship? Not at all. But the

pictures are revered out of the feeling that they represent one's ancestors. If

such a loving feeling did not exist, the pictures will not be kept in the house.

Likewise it is the attachment for an object that inspires respect and reverence.

This is termed devotion. This devotion should be shown towards all objects

because the Divine is in everything, in every atom. It may be difficult to

cultivate such devotion. But once its rationale is properly understood, the

practice of devotion will become easy.