Is diety worship Idolatry?

Narayanidd · May 5, 2003

My dear vaisnavas,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Some wonderful, logical explanations on the difference by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur.

"Some are startled at the idea of worshipping the diety(sri murti). They say, 'It is idolatey to worship the diety, which is an idol made by an artist and introduced by Beelzebub himself. Worshipping such an object would arouse the jealousy of God and limit His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.'

We reply to them in the following way: "Brothers! Candidly understand the subject and do not allow yourselves to be misled by sectarian dogma. God is not jealous-He is without a second. Beelzebub or Satan is only an imaginary figure or a being used in allegory. An allegorical or imaginary person sould not be allowed to act as an obstacle to bhakti. Those who believe God is impersonal simply identify Him with some power or quality of nature. In fact He is above nature, her laws, and her rules. His holy wish is law, and it is sacrilege to confine His unlimited excellence by identifying Him with such attributes as omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience-attributes which may exist in created objects, such as time and space. His excellence is such that He has mutually contradicting powers and qualities which are ruled by His supernatural Self. He is identicle with His all-beautiful person, and His powers of omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence cannot be found elsewhere. His holy and perfect person exists eternally in the spiritual world and is simultaneously existing in every created object and place in full. This understanding excels all other ideas about the deity.

"Mahaprabhu also ejected idolatry, but considered diety worship to be the only unexceptionable means of spiritual culture. It has been shown that God is personal and all-beautiful. Vyasa and other sages have been seenGod's beauty with their souls' eyes. They have left us descriptions. Of course, words carry the grossness of matter, but truth is perceivable in those descriptions. According to those descriptions one delineates a diety and sees the Supreme Lord of one's heart with intense pleasure. Brothers! Is that wrong or sinful? Those who say that God has no form either material or spiritual and then imagine a false form of worship are idolatrous. But those who see the spiritual form of the deity in their souls' eyes carry that impression as far as possible to the mind and then frame an emblem for the satisfaction of the material eye and for the continual study of higher feelings. They are by means idolatrous.

"When you see a deity, do not even see the image itself; see the spiritual form of the image. Then you are a pure theist. Idolatry and deity worship are two different things. But my brothers, you simply confound one with the other in hastiness. To tell you the truth, deity worship is the only true form of worship of the Lord, without which you cannot sufficiently cultivate your religious feelings. The world attracts you through your senses, and as long as you do not see God in the object of your senses, you live in an awkward position, which scarcely helps you secure your spiritual elevation.

"Place a deity in your house. Consider God gaurdian of the house and the food that you take His prasadam. The flowers and scents are also His prasada. The eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, and the sense of tough can be spiritually satisfied. Worship God with a holy heart. God will know and judge you by your sincerity. In this way, Satan and Beelzebub will have nothing to do with you.

"All sorts of worship are based on the principle of deity worship. Look into the history of religion and you will understand this noble truth. The Semitic idea of a patriarchal God, both in the pre-Christian period of Judaism and post-Christian period of Christianity and Mohammedanism, is nothing but a limited idea of deity worship. The monarchic idea of Jupiter among the Romans and Indra among the Aryan karma-kandis is also based on the same principle. The idea of a force and Jyotirmaya Brahma of the meditators and a formless energy of the Shaktas is also a very faint view of the deity. In fact, the deity is the Truth differently exhibited by different people according to their beliefs. Even Jaimini and Compte, who were not prepared to accept a creating God, have prescribed certain forms of deity worship, simply because they were impelled by the soul. And we meet people who have adopted the cross, the salagrama-sila, the lingam, and such emblems as the indicators of the God within.

"Furthermore, if divine love, justice, and compassion can be portrayed by teh pencil and expressed by the chisel, why shouldn't the personal beauty of the deity (embracing all other qualities) be portrayed in poetry and in pictures, and carved by the chisel for the benefit of man? If a work proves thought, a watch indicates time, and a sign tells us of history, why shouldn't a picture or a deity bring higher thoughts of and feelings for the transcendental beauty of the Divine Person?"

A beautiful explaination. Srila Bhaktivinode Ki Jai!\

Your servant,

Naryani d.d.

gHari · May 6, 2003

After reviewing all the references to idols in the Bible, it is very clear that the Bible was describing the idols of the Egyptians, the Moabs, the Canaanites, and the Amalekites, as characterized in these three quotations:<blockquote>Numbers 33

50 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the LORD said to Moses, 51 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. 53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.

55 " 'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. 56 And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.' "

Deuteronomy 29

9 Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. 10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God-your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11 together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, 13 to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14 I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you

15 who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.

16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17 You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. 18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.

Deuteronomy 12

29 The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, 30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." 31 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

32 See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

</blockquote>

This last quote tells God's chosen not to add anything to the words here. Those who would violate the arca-vigraha forms of Sri Krsna in Bharata clearly do not heed this instruction.

gHari