Dharma Journal - June 20th, 2007

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Dharma Journal

Authentic Dharma for Today's World

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June 20th, 2007 - Founded in 1998

 

 

 

 

The Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita

 

 

DANGERS OF UNRESTRAINED SENSES

 

Restless senses, O Arjuna, forcibly carry away the mind of even a

wise person striving for perfection. (2.60)

 

One should fix one's mind on God with loving contemplation after

bringing the senses under control. One's intellect becomes steady

when one's senses are under complete control. (2.61)

 

One develops attachment to sense objects by thinking about sense

objects. Desire for sense objects comes from attachment to sense

objects, and anger comes from unfulfilled desires. (2.62)

 

Delusion or wild idea arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by

delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One

falls down from the right path when reasoning is destroyed. (2.63)

 

 

 

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Are Hindus Idol Worshipers?

 

by Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D.

(Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya)

 

From the very earliest dawn of religious consciousness in human

beings, people have attempted to approach and know the Divine by the

use of various intermediary devices. Such vehicles of worship and

meditation have included divine images, sacred relics of saints, and

hallowed objects of many descriptions. The use of images as a path

through which finite humanity can approach the Infinite has been

found in every traditional culture, religion, and nation on earth.

The use of images as a way to know the Divine has been the

overwhelming norm ? and not the exception ? in the history of the

world's many religions.

 

The almost sole exception to this means of approaching God has

occurred in the relatively recent religions of the Western world.

For the majority of adherents of the Abrahamic sects (Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam), the use of images as tools for meditation

and prayer has been looked upon as a taboo religious activity. Many

Western religions consequently oppose the practice of what they

term " idol " worship. The leaders of these Abrahamic sects have

repeatedly condemned worshipers who employ images of divine figures

as " Devil worshipers " , " idolaters " , " heathens " and " infidels " , among

other uncharitable descriptions. Those who use icons as a means of

worship have faced persecution, denunciation, and even death at the

hands of such " idol " smashers. But is the conscious use of sacred

imagery in worship and meditation really to be considered " idol

worship " and consequently condemned? Followers of Sanatana Dharma

are known to use sacred images as focal points for meditation and

worship, and have suffered significant persecution as a result. Are

Hindus actually idol worshipers?

 

The concept of an " idol " does not refer merely to any iconographic

image that is used in worship. Rather the term " idol " refers

specifically to an image that is made up, concocted in the mind of

its maker, and then claimed to be a divinity. An idol in the proper

sense of the term refers to something that one worships as a result

of his or her own whim, and not as a result of the teachings of

sacred scriptures.

 

This, however, is not what Hindus are doing when we venerate sacred

images. Hindus are not idol worshipers because the images that we

employ in worship are not contrived by humans.

 

Rather than " idols " , Hindus worship what are properly

called " Murtis " . Murti worship is a divine science revealed to

humanity in order to facilitate our closeness to God. Sacred Hindu

images are not the fanciful creations of the human imagination.

Rather, such sacred images were revealed to Hindu worshipers by sages

(Rishis) who have directly experienced the nature of the Divine. To

use objects as a focus for devotional prayer and contemplation is

perfectly fine, as long as these images are God-revealed.

 

The science of employing divine imagery is found in sacred revealed

texts known as the Agamas and Pancaratras. In these texts, the

entire science of image veneration is laid out in a logical and

reasonable manner. For example there are very exacting

specifications for precisely how such images must be created,

including the exact dimensions of the images, the rituals necessary

to create them, and what sacred mantras must be recited during the

process. Indeed, even the exact size of every toe has to be

according to certain strict specifications. Only when these images

are in accord with these exact specifications do they then become

vehicles of the Divine, and proper objects of veneration and

meditation.

 

In following these exact requirements of the sacred texts of Sanatana

Dharma the worshiper is performing a very special sacred process

known as Murti worship, which is categorically distinct from " idol "

worship.

 

The term " idol " is a clearly derogatory term used by unthinking

followers of anti-Hindu religions to persecute and revile the

profound spiritual tradition of Sanatana Dharma. In the same way

that other derogatory terms have been removed from civilized human

discourse, the term " idol " must never be used again by either Hindus

or non-Hindus to refer to the sublime science of Murti worship.

 

Indeed, even Hindus themselves have often been guilty of using the

term " idol " in ignorance of the nature of their own religion.

Whether the term is used by either Hindus or non-Hindus, the use of

the term " idol " to refer to our sacred imagery must be immediately

stopped. Rather we must begin to use such proper Sanskrit terms as

Murti, Archa, etc. when referring to our sacred imagery.

 

Our own ignorance of our own religion is just as inexcusable as is a

non-Hindu's ignorance of our religion. Let us take pride in the

divine gift that the Rishis have bestowed upon us in the form of

Murti worship.