Guest guest Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 "The Lord's worshipable form (arca-vigraha), which is installed in temples by authorized acharyas who have realized the Lord in terms of Mantra Seven, is nondifferent from the original form of the Lord. The Lord's original form is that of Sri Krsna, and Sri Krsna expands Himself into an unlimited number of forms, such as Baladeva, Rama, Nrsimha and Varaha. All of these forms are one and the same Personality of Godhead. Similarly, the arcä-vigraha worshiped in temples is also an expanded form of the Lord. By worshiping the arcä-vigraha, one can at once approach the Lord, who accepts the service of a devotee by His omnipotent energy. The arca-vigraha of the Lord descends at the request of the acharyas, the holy teachers, and works exactly in the original way of the Lord by virtue of the Lord's omnipotence. Foolish people who have no knowledge of Sri Isopanishad or any of the other Sruti-mantras consider the arca-vigraha, which is worshiped by pure devotees, to be made of material elements. This form may be seen as material by the imperfect eyes of foolish people or kanishtha-adhikaris, but such people do not know that the Lord, being omnipotent and omniscient, *can transform matter into spirit and spirit into matter, as He desires*" [Emphasis mine] -Sri Isopanishad, Purport, Mantra 8 Aravind Mohanram Ph.D. Candidate Dept. of Mat Sci and Engg., Penn State University, University Park, PA 16801 www.personal.psu.edu/aum105 Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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