Diety Worship Verses Idol Worship

July 30, 2006

Provided by: Jayasri Radha

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Contributed by: Jayasri Radha on 7/28/2006

Deity Worship Verses Idol Worship

The Vedic Viewpoint and Other Spiritual Perspectives

There is much confusion on the understanding of Deity worship in many religions. When Lord Jesus said that one should not worship false Idols, he meant false. In other words one should not worship anything or anyone by putting them higher than the Supreme God. As far as worshiping a statue or Deity, it should be constructed according to scripture and worshiped with love and devotion, not for material gain. The pure representative of God is speaking for the general mass of people at the time, place, and circumstance. At the time of Christ, the people where worshiping falsely constructed idol to attain material wealth and power--- this is idol worship.

God is a person and He has a Supreme form which is unlimited and completely spiritual.

God can appear anywhere and everywhere because His diverse energies are distributed everywhere like sunshine. To say He can not appear in the form of the Deity is limiting His power. The Deity form constructed according to scripture, out of clay, metal, stone, wood, or in a picture is non different from God Himself, according to the Vedic Scriptures. It is His mercy to appear before us in this way because our eyes are not pure enough to see Him everywhere. God is in everything including the heart of every living entity and every atom, so why not the Deity? Though the form may be constructed out of material elements these elements are His energies and the energies are never separate from the energetic, just like the sun and the sunshine.

Even the Impersonalists Sankaracarya recommended the worship of the five forms known as pancopasan, which include Lord Vishnu. Vaisnavas worship the forms of Lord Vishnu in his varied manifestations, such as Radha-Krsna, Laksmi-Narayan, Sita-Rama and Rukmini-Krsna. Mayavadis admit that worship of the Lord's form is required in the beginning, but they think that in the end everything is impersonal. Therefore, since they are ultimately against worship of the Lord's form, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has described them as offenders. (CC Adi LiLa 1-7 Text 226 Srila Prabhupada Purport)

It has become a fashion to have different demigod idols such as Lord Shiva, Durgha also known as Shakti or Maya, Genesha, and many others.

One should only worship demigods to get pure love for the Supreme Lord known as (Krishna, Vishnu, Allah, Jehovah, etc.) Demigods are empowered servants of God and should not be taken as the Supreme Controller, though they should be given all respect. (Read my article on yourhub.com- "Is there only one God") Those who try to lump Vishnu or Krishna in the same category as the demigods are considered less intelligent according to the Gita. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita, "Those who worship the demigods only worship Me, but they do so in a wrong way." Ultimately the demigods get their power from Krishna so one should worship Him.

It is also recommended to worship the form of the pure representative of the Supreme Lord such as Jesus Christ, Mother Mary, St. Francis, Srila Prabhupada or any of the pure saints. Not as God but as the pure messengers of God. This is not considered idol worship in the negative sense. God is actually more pleased when one worships His pure Son or daughter rather than Himself, because of their sacrifice to spread His glories. Again this worship should be done to attain pure love for God not for material wealth or power. The pure representative of God is dearer to Him than Himself and should be worshiped as good as God but not as God.

According to the Vedic Texts one should not criticize anyone who worships the Deity form of the Lord this is considered blasphemy. To worship the Deity form of God gives us the opportunity to offer items to Him such as; food, clothes, jewelry, flowers, incense, oils, and many other services which if one did not have a Deity would not be able to benefit in this way. God does not need anything being the creator and owner of everything. He accepts our love and devotion through the offerings. This worship should be taken seriously and that one is worshiping the Supreme Lord directly. If one does Deity worship under the guidance of a pure devotee while chanting the Holy names of God with love and faith, at the end of ones life they can return to the Eternal Supreme Abode.

By Jayasri Radha

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