Dharma Vahini - Post 23

Dear All,

To compliment / add to Swami's gospel on Temple worship, it is only appropriate to go through extract from an article on Idol worship by Swami Sivananda.

Swami Sivananda explains:

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.

Even in worshipping a small idol, he has to repeat the Purusha Sukta and to think of the Virat Purusha with countless heads, countless eyes, countless hands, who extends beyond the universe and of the Lord or Atman who dwells in the hearts of all beings.

Narsi Mehta was put to test by a Raja. The Raja said: "O Narsi, if you are a sincere devotee of Lord Krishna, if as you say the idol is Lord Krishna Himself, let this idol move." 

According to the prayer of Narsi Mehta, the idol moved. 

The sacred Bull Nandi before Siva's idol took the food offered by Tulsidas. 

The Murti played with Mira Bai. It was full of life and Chaitanya for her.

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. He has to feel His Presence in His heart and all objects. 

Devotees of Lord Krishna should feel that every form is the

form of Lord Krishna. They should not change this Bhava or mental attitude, even if a murderer appears before them to kill them. If they are established in this Bhava, the nature of the murderer will be changed or some other man will kill the murderer. If the Bhava changes, they should cultivate it again and again.

Feel His Presence always. Recognise His presence everywhere. Carry His presence wherever you walk. Remember Him always. Live in Him.


Do not bother yourself if you are not able to have perfect visualization of the picture of the Lord with the closed eyes. Continue your practice vigorously and regularly. You will succeed. What is wanted is Prema for the Lord. Cultivate this more and more. Let it flow unceasingly, spontaneously. This is more important than visualization.

Hear the divine whisper in silence. Realize 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.

Forget the universe, forget the body and forget everything. Meditate on the glory of His Name. Be fixed in His Name. Merge yourself in His Name.

God deprives one of his wealth, wife, son, etc., if He wants to take him to His Lotus-Feet. Do not grumble, my dear Prem! Say with boldness: "Thy will be done, O Lord!" and rejoice. Have perfect trust in Him. Exert sincerely and leave the rest to God.

The lane of love is extremely narrow indeed. It cannot contain two. Where there is 'I', the Lord is not. Where there is the Lord, this 'I' ceases to be.

Love.

PS- In the next 2 posts, Author would post the 2 articles which came from within, which were included in a booklet distributed in Sai Sadan, Muscat, titled "Journey Within", which is the same essence with which this blog name was also concluded.

The 2 articles are:-

- From Form to Form less

- Worshipping God with Form after Self Realization

Love.

Dharma Vahini - Post 22

TEMPLE WORSHIP

Arousing feelings during worship

Some very important points brought about by Swami related to Temple worship are highlighted below:-

• Feelings aroused by and during worship must be sweet and melodious and must, imperceptibly, transform the low desires and cravings of matter-bound people; they must not awaken  the latent animal instincts of people. 
• Take this example: Thyagaraja forgot that he should go to bed in his enthusiasm to see that Rama was put to bed. Here, you should infer not that Thyagaraja made Rama sleep in a swing but that Rama seated Thyagaraja on the swing of devotion and gently swung him to sleep (or the forgetfulness of all things material).
• Instead of remembering your child in its cradle when you swing your chosen Lord (Ishta-devatha) in the silver or golden cradle, you must cultivate the attitude of seeing your chosen deity, Rama or Krishna, in the cradle when you swing your own child in it. 
• So too, when you stand before the installed God, you must get confirmed in the installation of Brahman in your own heart as the real base of your existence, knowledge, and bliss. It is to instill this feeling that the rites and ceremonies of temple worship have been organized.

Swami continues....

So, do not take the divine couples Sita-Rama, Radha-

Krishna, Lakshmi-Narayana, and Parvathi-Parameswara in the temple as “pitiable couples” in a miserable existence in the cramped sanctorum, subsisting on food given by the worshipper and slaking thirst with the drinks that the worshipper offers. 

• Thus, The worshippers and the carping unbelievers are both ignorant of the real principles of temple-worship. That is the reason for their conduct. You should be cultured enough to avoid the lower worldly path.

• The temple should not be valued on secular principles at all; only the attitude of devotion can  beautify feelings that drag you down to the lower worldly path.

It all depends on the progress of your mental faculties! They must reach the supreme level. The Lord is immanent everywhere; He is capable of everything; He is the Universal Witness; there is nothing He does not know. These truths must be taken as axiomatic, and all rituals and disciplines (sadhanas) must be arranged and interpreted in conformity with those truths. 

Love.

Continued.......

Dharma Vahini - Post 21

Dharma related to Temple

In this chapter, Swami beautifully explains about a devotee's dharma when he visits a temple.

Functions of the temple

"Think deeply over the functions of the temple. Temples are centers of discipline, where the aspirant is guided step by step to attain a vision of the truth. They are schools for the training of the spirit, academies for the promotion of scriptural studies, institutes of super-science, and laboratories for the testing of the values of life. 

They are hospitals for the treatment and cure not only of the “birth-death disease”, which has persisted in the individual for ages, but even the much more patent “mental disorders” that trouble those who do not know the secret of acquiring peace. Temples are gymnasia where people are reconditioned and their hesitant faith, waning conviction, and up-surging egotism are all cured. Temples are mirrors that reflect aesthetic standards and achievements.

The purpose of the temple is to awaken the Divinity in humanity (Madhavathwa in manavathwa), inducing people to believe that the physical frames in which they live are themselves houses of God. Therefore, all the formalities, rites, and rituals of the temple emphasize and cultivate the spiritual truth (Brahmajnana) that the individual (jivi) is just a mighty ocean of God.

Devotion is the queen

The scriptures teach that all actions and activities must lead ultimately to non-attachment, for this is the best qualification for the development of knowledge of Brahman. Of the three, devotion, wisdom, and renunciation (bhakthi, Jnana and vairagya), devotion is the queen. 

The rules and rites are the maids-in-waiting; the queen treats her maids with kind consideration and favour, no doubt, but if the ceremonies, which are only “servants” and “aides”, disregard the queen, they should be mercilessly dismissed. 

Devotion helps the attainment of the bliss of merger

with the basic Brahman most easily by channelizing towards the Lord the mental agitations, the sensory reaching-out, and the emotional urges of people. It is in this direction that all the details of the worship of the Lord in temples took shape. 

In the temple, all the various ceremonies, from the “awakening of God in the early dawn” to the “laying in bed” late at night, are intended to heighten and promote the devotional trends of the mind. 

In turn, each incident helps the sublimation of the appropriate emotion, in a peculiarly charming manner. In the sublimity of that experience, the agitation of the lower emotions declines and disappears. The vulgar feelings of ordinary life become elevated to the status of worship and dedication to the Almighty Presence.

Continued.......

Love.