re Arca murti, from SB 8.3.2 ppt

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Arcye visnau sila-dhih: everyone knows that the Deity in the temple is made

of stone, but to think that the Deity is merely stone is an offense.

Similarly, to think that the body of the spiritual master consists of

material ingredients is offensive. Atheists think that devotees foolishly

worship a stone statue as God and an ordinary man as the guru. The fact is,

however, that by the grace of Krsna's omnipotence, the so-called stone

statue of the Deity is directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the

body of the spiritual master is directly spiritual.