Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 6

Significance of idol worship

 

Swami writes,

"A tree’s value is estimated with reference to its fruits. Take idol worship, for example. Moralists, metaphysicians, philosophers, adherents of the path of devotion, and the foremost among the virtuous in all parts of the world have all agreed that idol worship is highly beneficial. 

As long as attachment to the material body and possessions persists, worship of a material symbol is necessary. It is but a means, but many decry it as a superstition. This is not correct. It is not the right approach. Such an attitude is just an outburst of foolishness.

Is it not a fact that the belief in one’s being the body is a superstition? Can the body last forever? Is it not a skin doll with nine apertures, in which life is so perilously existent that a sneeze may cause collapse? 

Again, should we not characterize the life people lead, believing in the reality of this world, as another superstition? Isn’t all the self-importance assumed by people who have positions of power and a great quantity of riches another foolish pose?

But acts done on the basis of faith in the Atma, the Reality within, can’t be dubbed as superstitious or foolish. For every opinion one expresses, if proper reasons are given, all will rejoice. But to declare as superstitious all that one doesn’t like is a sign of frenzy, foolishness, or egotism.

We will find it impossible to love God or adore Him unless we meditate on some form; this is as essential as breathing is for sheer living. This is a necessary stage in the process of living. One has to accept it as such. 

Childhood is the father of old age. Can old age condemn childhood or teenage as evil? To experience the divine Principle, idol worship is and has been a great help to many. 

How then can the aspirant and the practitioner of spiritual disciplines condemn idol worship after passing through that stage and deriving benefits from it? That would indeed be very wrong and inappropriate.

The Indian (Bharathiya) march toward the Supreme Reality is not from untruth to truth. It is from truth to truth, from incomplete truth to complete truth, from a partial truth to full truth. 

For what are spiritual exercises? Every effort made by people, from remote forest dwellers and unsophisticated tribals who adore the gross forms of Divinity to highly evolved seekers who adore the Full and the Absolute, is a spiritual exercise. Each such effort will take one a step forward in progress.

Each individual soul (jivi) is comparable to a bird; by longer and higher flights, it can rise up into the sky. And a stage may finally be gained when it can fly right up to the full splendored orb of the sun."

 

Introspection

 

Instantly, whatever the author had read on the subject, written by Swami Sivananda, comes to his mind.

Swami ji writes,

“Idol or Murthy (Vigraha), Sun, Fire, Water, Ganga, Saligram, Linga are all symbols or Prateekas of God which help the aspirants to attain one-pointedness of mind and purity of heart. A symbol is absolutely indispensable for fixing the mind. The Christians also have got the symbol 'cross'. 

A gross mind needs a concrete symbol as a prop or Alambana; a subtle mind requires an abstract symbol. Even a Vedantin has the symbol of OM for fixing the wandering mind. In the beginning concentration or meditation is not possible without a symbol.

The devotee superimposes on the concrete idol the Lord and His attributes. He does Shodasopachara for the idol, the sixteen kinds of paying respects or service to the Lord such as Padyam (water for washing feet), Arghyam, Asana (seat), Snana (bathing), offering clothes, Achamana (water for sipping), applying sandal paste, offering flowers (Archana), burning incense, waving of lights and camphor; Maha Naivedyam, etc. 

The wandering mind is fixed now in this form of worship. The aspirant gradually feels the nearness of the Lord. He attains purity of heart and slowly annihilates his egoism.

For a Bhakta or a sage, there is no such thing as Jada or insentient matter. Everything is Vasudeva or Chaitanya-vasudevah sarvam iti. The devotee beholds actually the Lord in the idol. 

How sublime is Hindu philosophy and Hindu mode of worship! It does not stop or end with worship of idol alone. The Sadhaka is taken step by step to higher stages of devotion and Samadhi or communion through the worship of the idol. Though he worships the idol, he has to keep before his mental eye the all-pervading Lord. 

A piece of ordinary white paper or coloured paper has no value. You throw it away. But if there is stamp or picture of the King or Emperor on the paper (currency notes), you keep it safe in your money purse or trunk. Even so, an ordinary piece of stone has no value for you. You throw it away. 

But if you behold the stone Murti of Lord Krishna at Pandarpur or any other Murti in shrines, you bow your head with folded hands, because there is the stamp of the Lord on the stone. The devotee superimposes on the stone Murti his own Beloved and all the attributes of the Lord. Image worship is very necessary for beginners.

Even by worshipping a Pratima (idol) Ishvara is very much pleased. The Pratima is made up of five elements. Five elements constitute the body of the Lord. The idol remains as an idol. But the worship goes to the Lord. There is nothing wrong in worshipping an idol in the beginning. You must superimpose God and His attributes on the idol. You must think of the Antar-Atma that is hidden in the idol.

Hear the divine whisper in silence. Realise the power of faith. Feel God's sustaining Grace. Know the way of escape. Build the shrine of love or the temple of devotion in your heart. Enter the silence. Enjoy the life transcendent."

Swami’s writing and Sivananda ji’s writing on “Significance of Idol worship” is so complete in itself that there is nothing to elaborate on the same.

As long as one is having one’s own body identification, He can imagine, visualize and worship God only with form. Hence, Idol worship is important for him.

As he evolves in his devotion, as his devotion evolves into supreme love for God, he loses his body identification in the ocean of love that he exists as. 

Only when he loses his body identification, the form of God is also transcended and the bhakta reaches the state of Samadhi and abides in SELF.

 

Love.