Why do people worship idol?
How can one worship stone, wood and metal? Aren’t people in illusion and just wasting time? Is Idol worship required? Understand the logic
Humans have 4 ways to allude(निक्षेप) to a concept:
- Name(Naam/नाम): For example, when you say the word “Mahatma Gandhi”, you immediately recall the person by name Mahatma Gandhi and also remember the notable things about him immediately — for example that he played a significant role in popularising the concept of Ahimsa in the 20th century.
- Symbols(Sthapna/स्थापना): For example, when you see this icon 🚻, you immediately know that it refers to Restroom, that the door or passage would open to a restroom. An idol or an image or a photo-frame or a statue or a traffic signal or a milestone or a tombstone or a cross or a swastik or an illustration or a caricature are all different forms of Sthapna(स्थापना)
- Past & Future States(Dravya/द्रव्य): A retired sports-person is still called as a sportsperson even though he may have not played the sports in a long time now. In the current state, he may be retired or even be dead.
- Current State(Bhaav/भाव): For example: A sitting Prime Minister(Head of a State)
The Placeholders evoke Emotions
A person who has a connection with the concept will have similar emotions to the manifestations of the concepts — Naam(नाम), Sthapna(स्थापना), Dravya(द्रव्य)or Bhaav(भाव). If this was untrue, if these manifestations didn’t evoke any emotions then:
- Why do people garland the photographs of their departed parents and other elders? Why do they bow before the photographs?
- Why do people pin up their favourite icon’s photograph / poster on their bed-room wall?
- Why do pictures of Gandhiji or Shahid Bhagat Singh or Subhash Chandra Bose or Nehruji are kept in Courts or other government offices or schools etc.? Why do people install the statues of such heroes at various places?
- Why do people burn the effigy of Ravana on Dassera Day?
- Why do protestors who have suffered injustice and inequality topple the statues of people of the oppressors?
A few years ago somebody had put a garland of chappals on the statue of Baba Saheb Ambedkar somewhere in Suburban Mumbai. As a result, there were riots and there was Mumbai Bandh. What is the strength of a statue? Two chappals leading to Mumbai Bandh-so much is the strength!
A person feels happy and contended by the picture displayed on the wall paper of his mobile phone. He captures the pictures of his loved ones, occasions and scenes on his mobile camera. Certainly, all this is not without any meaning or is not madness.
Ask the value of a photograph of her son to a mother who has lost her only son at a very young age. What does she get by continuously looking at the picture of her son? What happens to her if she looses that picture?
The perfume bottles depicted in attractive and colourful advertisements in the electronic media attract feelings of the viewers
The text book of science contain diagram of a heart. The text book of geography contain locations of cities, towns, roads etc. None of these are real heart or real city/ town/ road. Still these diagrams help us in getting to know the real heart or the real roads etc. Everyone knows how useful is the GPS on a computer or a mobile.
Motion Pictures are everywhere today:
- The delicacies seen in T.V. programmes like Master Chef or Khana Khajana etc. are not real. Still they evoke mouthwatering feelings.
- Horror films showing ghosts etc. do not have real ghosts. Still they can generate fear.
- Romantic scenes do not have real life lovers. Still they can generate feeling of love.
- Action scenes, though not real, can evoke anger and passion.
- Posters of a movie attract the viewers to a movie and after seeing the movie the viewer longs to meet the actor/ actress in person.
An image which truly can sum up everything in a thousand words. In 2013, it was estimated that Facebook users upload 350 million photos each day. And on Snapchat, over 8,000 photos are shared every second. A ridiculous 87 percent of the most shared post on Facebook over the month of March 2014 were photos. And even a good chunk of the other 13 percent were videos and albums, further visual content to attract fans. Just 6 percent of the top social media shared on Facebook were either links or statuses. Whether on Pinterest, Instagram, or website or even in traditional press releases, people are more likely to be engaged and share it if there are images or a video in it. Such is the power of images.
What are the objections to Idol Worship?
Let’s examine some objections to idol worship:
- I am an atheist. God doesn’t exist— An atheist sees stone in a deity. In the movie OMG a character calls the deity putla and khilauna. This actor has moved ahead from the silver screen to become a Member of Parliament. He should be publicly asked a question would he dare to call the statue of Late Shri Vallabhbhai Patel (statue of unity) weighing several tons built with the inspiration of Shri Narendrabhai Modi, a putla or khilauna? So this is not really about idol worship. It is a a debate about lack of faith in God concealed in the form of iconoclasm.
- It is written in my holy book — Sure, let’s move on.
- Every major religion in the world was originally a non idol worshipping religion — Sure what did the iconoclast wanted to destroy?
- God is formless and an idol is not an accurate representation of him —The intention is not to accurately represent him in all forms. That may be impossible. But capture enough that will help you remember certain qualities about the person. Ironically, people who argue against this have replaced the idols of God with that of their messengers.
- But those wooden/stone structures are symbolic and not idols in its true sense. We dont really worship them — Really? In November 2011, Charlie Hebdo’s office was burned down over a cartoon figure of the Prophet Mohammed. In September 2012, the magazine published another issue featuring a cartoon of Mohammed. Charlie Hebdo journalist Laurent Leger defended the magazine at the time, saying the cartoons were not intended to provoke anger or violence. “The aim is to laugh,” But for many Muslims, depictions of Mohammed, revered as a prophet are no laughing matter. On 7 January 2015, two French Muslim brothers armed with rifles and other weapons killed 12 people and injured 11 others of Charlie Hebdo.
- A statue of cow will not give milk. What is the point of giving it straw?Similarly what is the benefit of singing praise in front of the idol —This is a false analogy. The intention here is not to appease the God but to stabilise one’s own conscience.
- A picture of a scantily clad woman, will awaken lust at the onlooker. But an idol of a Tirthankar or some other God does not evoke similarly strong positive feeling? This has to do with Jeev’s own sanskar acquired in infinite previous births. Kamsa had met live Shree Krishna, but it had no effect on him. Meera had just an idol of Shree Krishna but that changed her entire life. People who are in love enjoy as if they have met their loved one merely by viewing the photographs of the loved one in the photo gallery of their mobile phone. Idol worship become meaningless when you only see the idol or the appearance and make of it. But it become meaningful when you see the divinity in it. This has to be acquired through practice.
- Isn’t the offering given to the idol a waste? . Click on the link to read a full rebuttal on this.
- In a poor country this is such a waste of a thing with no economic productivity. Click on the link to read a full rebuttal on this
Conclusion
Murti Pooja is a process or a journey from form to formlessness. All our senses are constantly occupied somewhere or the other. If our senses get connected to a deity, they will be free from other weaker attractions. A sadhak looking intimately towards the face of the deity losses himself into that darshan. He drowns himself in the eyes of the deity. In the retina of the eyes of the deity he finds vitaragata. Thus, starting from a deity which has a form, he travels to the other end which is formless vitaragata.
Source
[1] Pratima Poojan — Pujya Panyas Pravar Shri Bhadrankar Vijay ji M.s.
[2] Lighthouse by Pujya Acharya Shri Uday Vallabh Suriji M.S.
