Spiritual Thinking explains idol worship in a simple way.

Spiritual Thinking explains idol worship in a simple way.

In many Indian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, idols (murti) symbolize the absolute but not the Absolute, icons of spiritual ideas, or the embodiment of the divine. It is a means to focus one’s religious pursuits and worship (bhakti).

In the Rig Veda, idol worship is mentioned in a hymn only once. Otherwise, the entire Vedas do not mention idol worship.

The Maitreya Upanishad recommends that the truly spiritual man should not worship idols: Worshiping idols made of stone, metal, clay, or precious stones causes a man who seeks freedom to undergo repeated births.

Bhagwad Gita does not condemn or promote idol worship. It simply says that God can be worshipped and realized through various means, such as meditation, Prayer, devotion, and action.

Thus, it becomes evident that Idol worship has developed more recently than in the Vedic period. Let us analyze why this method may have been developed.

There is ample evidence that the Egyptian pharaohs worshiped idols, as did the Greeks and several other religions. There must be a significance and reason behind these, and Spiritual Thinking lets us see if we can understand idol worship.

Spiritual Thinking involves synchronizing our human thoughts with the Divine Mind, Brahman inside each of us, driving the engine of Life from birth until our last breath—the Brahman. God enters our material body as soon as the umbilical cord is cut when He activates all the material organs and five senses, develops all human emotions, etc. Until the baby’s umbilical cord is cut, the mother is bestowed with the Fetus’ growth and development. This is a fundamental truth, and we infringe on this God’s bestowed power to the mother. God takes over from the mother when the Baby is independent and guided by God as the Divine Mind. While it is the fundamental Truth that God, Brahman, inside us, is the only power on earth and all its cause and effect, it is hard for any doubters to see the God inside. One of the disciples of Jesus, Thomas, referred to as doubting Thomas, asked Jesus after the resurrection how he could believe that it was Jesus and wanted to see the crucifixion marks on Jesus’ hand. When Thomas was satisfied, Jesus remarked,” You think after you see the marks, but multitude believe without seeing.” The point I am making is that millions and billions of people will not be ready to believe in a God they cannot see to all of them. The temple deity and idols suit their beliefs very well. So why change?
We know that the temples and Murthi worship started after 5oo BC after Buddha’s time. It is reasonable to assume that depicting God in sculptures, paintings, and dietic forms leaves a more robust visual image on the devotees’ minds than an abstract concept such as no form depiction of God as Brahman, the Divine Mind. Given that the Bible is introduced to children through visual cartoons and videos, Children can understand the bible stories better. If that was the intention of the early promotion of temple deities, it is understandable and makes sense. The problem is that even after becoming an adult, he misses the generosity of God’s power and might; God’s Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and omniscient nature cannot be appreciated if we can imagine God to be like other human forms. This happens with the temple deities; we get fixated on that image. This is similar to people thinking that mathematics is just addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division because they cannot comprehend anything beyond. Clearly, with all the algorithms we employ, computing and artificial intelligence are developing so fast that superficial knowledge of arithmetic as a complete representation of mathematics will seem ridiculous.
In Isa-Upanishad it is clearly mentioned that all materiality originates from Spirit.
Isa-Upanishad
“That” (the Invisible Whole, Absolute), which cannot be seen ( Spirit, Real), creates everything that can be seen ( material, unreal) and felt.
However, if we fully understand there is much more in Mathematics than just Arithmetic, that will be a good start. Likewise, suppose we follow the temple Deities as the starting point of knowing God through Devotion and Practice through meditation and focused Prayers. The mantras and the slokas clearly emphasize that we see the Deity in a convenient form of the true Supreme, OM, or AUM. In that case, we will slowly climb the steps to Spiritual Understanding. Just as there is no end to learning, so are the climbing steps to Spiritual Thinking, and as the devotion turns to Gnana, the formless concept of God, Brahman, and Infinite Mind will become more transparent and precise. In Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna refers to this in Chapter 3, and in Chapter 3, verses 17-19, he alludes to the man who has attained the Self Renunciation Stage, and for him, there is no Karma or other rituals to perform. This is stated below:

Mundaka Upanishad 3.2. 9
Moksha is Jnana. One who knows Brahman becomes Brahman (Mundaka Upanishad 3.2. 9). Moksha is nothing but realizing what is one’s true self. Therefore, there is nothing more to be done for Moksha than to know that one’s essential nature (Swaroopa) is Brahman.

Krishna Teaching Arjuna on Bhagwad Gita

Bhagwad Gita: Chapter 3: 17-19.
17
But a man who rejoices only in the Self is satisfied with and concerned with the Self—for him, there is no duty to perform.
18
For him, there is no concern here at all with acting, nor any concern with non-performance. Moreover, for him, there is no dependence on any object to serve any purpose.
19
Therefore, remaining unattached always performs the obligatory duty, for a person attains the Highest ( Salvation ) by performing one’s task without attachment.

Idol worship is just the beginning of getting to know God while you still go through the birth and death cycles. But for salvation through Moksha, you need to develop and practice Gnana to attain Moksha or Salvation.

Thus, Spiritual Thinking explains idol worship in a simple way. It, however, points to things beyond for Salvation or Moksha.

You can read more in the author’s book: Think Spiritually – Spiritual Thinking For Life. Available at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/author/sivaraman_raghu/

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