Why do we worship Idols?

Now let me take a question which I listed in my previous post.

1. Why do we worship Idols?

Hindu Priest Worshiping Idol

This is very often asked question to a Hindu, the two major religions in the world Islam & Christianity does not believe in idol worship, So Idol worshipping really puzzles & appears like a blind belief to them.

Let’s analyse why we worship idols, In Hinduism we believe that God is omnipotent omnipresent, omniscient, we also believe that god is nirguna (Attributeless) & niraakaara (formless), so a question arises if a god is formless & omnipresent, then why should we worship idols.

The Answer is actually pretty simple; I would try to explain this with the help of an example.

Let’s say I have two students, one a very brilliant & bright student and the other an average student, I will call them & give them a complex mathematical problem & ask them to solve it for me. I also put a precondition that, they should solve this problem without using a pen or paper, which means they should do it in their mind.

Both the Students accepts the challenge & starts to think over the solution to the problem, the Bright & brilliant student will be in deep concentration in solving the problem, while the average student will be struggling to work out the solution to the problem in his mind.

After some time the brilliant student solves the problem, while the average student was still struggling, So I decide to give a piece of paper & a pen to the average student & ask him to concentrate & solve the problem, in no time he too solves the problem, both of them come up with right answer.

Now let’s analyse this story, Had i not given the paper & pen to the average student he wouldn’t have solved the problem, because he was finding it difficult to solve the problem in his mind, So it is clear that a piece of paper & a pen made wonders to average student, Although in both bright Student & Average student it was mind which was working, but the average student required a medium in which he could properly channel his thoughts to find the solution.

So just how a piece of paper & pen acted as a medium to channel thoughts & concentration for average student, an Idol will act as a medium through which a devotee would try to reach to the god.

For a devotee Spirituality is evoked in the mind, the same thing is concentrated & focused towards an idol which is envisioned with the help of eyes.

A muslim once told me that all muslims are one step ahead of hindus in spirituality because in Islam idol worship if forbidden. So it implies that according to my analogy all of them are brilliant students. So be it. This sounds highly impracticable, in a classroom there will be many students some bright, some average & some poor, I cannot force all the students to mentally find a solution to a problem, if I go on pressurizing them, they would neither find an answer nor would it help me or them, It has to be understood no one is  born brilliant, they all start at the same line, the student’s upbringing, values passed on by parents, their interest will make them either brilliant, Average or Poor students. But it has to be noted that all students start learning with the help of paper & pen, once they master their subject, they might no longer require a paper or pen. So in Hinduism Idol is worshipped by everyone who is seeking the divine blessings, once they master the subject of Spirituality they might no longer need an Idol to worship. Very few people reach that level at an young age, Enlightened persons such as Adi Shankaracharya, Madhvacharya or Ramanujacharya are perfect examples, So Sanatana Dharma permits all freedom & liberty to its followers, to attain the grace of ‘Paramatma’ (Supreme Being).

In Islam for instance even photos are forbidden from worshipping, let me tell you an interesting story which I 

remember regarding worshipping a photo, once I was watching a video on Youtube, in that video a Muslim Ruler was mocking a Hindu Saint, saying Idol worship and worshipping the photos are all stupidity, the Hindu Saint simply smiled & looked at a large canvas painting of the king which was hanged on the wall. The Hindu Saint asked “Whose Picture is it?” 

The King replied “It is my father’s Picture when he was on throne, Why?”

“Can you kindly bring that Picture here for me” said the Hindu saint.

The king called the servants & asked them to bring the picture. The Servants removed the picture & brought it near the Hindu Saint. The King looked curiously at the Hindu Saint & was wondering why he asked to bring the Picture.

Hindu Saint looking at the servants said “Can you guys spit on this picture for me”, The Servants were baffled, the King suddenly yelled at the Hindu saint “What are you saying, That is my father’s Picture”, for which Hindu saint calmly replied “Sir There is neither presence of your father’s physical body or soul in this picture, it is simply a painting on a piece of paper, So why don’t you Spit on the Picture”, The king was taken aback, the saint continued “If you give so much respect to a picture, depicting your father, then why can’t you give the same respect to people who worship idols & pictures of god “, the King realized his mistake & asks apologies from the Hindu saint.

You can watch this video on youtube, here is the link

So the moral of the story is, you can instil your love, faith on any object, be it a stone or a picture, until unless your objective is to focus your mind on god. If one is capable of focussing on god without any medium or tools, that’s fine, but one shouldn’t criticize the people who use these medium to reach the god.

Infact in Sanatana dharma we will not worship all idols, we worship idols only after invoking  god into the idol, we call it ‘praana prathishta’, once this is done, we worship it believing that god resides in it.

Finally I would like to tell, If a Muslim can take care of his holybook Quran, to an extent that he will not 

keep the book on floor, just because it contains holy teachings of prophet Mohammad, then why shouldn’t a Hindu worship an idol which he believe that god resides in it. You decide.

Whether the idol contains the god or not is secondary, but it’s a known & proven fact that, it certainly helps us to focus our mind on that Supreme Being ‘Paramatma’, hence idol worship is an integral part of Sanatana dharma. I guess that answers the Question.

Sanatana Dharma in Modern India

Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism is inarguably the largest ancient religion in the world; perhaps it is the only religion in the world which was not founded by a particular person, currently it is the third largest followed religion after Christianity & Islam.

The meaning of Sanatana Dharma or what we call it today as Hinduism simply means “an eternal way of righteous (Dharmic) living”, so at the outset it is not merely a religion, at its core it is a particular way of living.

In between 7^th-8^th century arab traders started to flock India for trade at the Malabar Coast down the south western India, That is the first time when India felt the presence of Islam. During late 10^th & early 11^th Century Muslim rulers invaded the land across the river Indus (Northern India), they called this land as Al-Hind (Persian term), meaning land of Hindus. The word Hindu is in turn derived from Sanskrit word Sindhu. This land of Hindus later came to be known as Hindustan in late 12^th & early 13^th Century and finally the religion practiced by Hindus came to be known as Hinduism to the world.

Many Hindu spiritual leaders & scholars would refer their religion as Sanatana dharma rather than Hinduism because it rightly describes our religion. I would personally like to call my religion as Sanatana Dharma; I would also request all Hindus to refer their religion as Sanatana Dharma rather than Hinduism.

Why should we call our religion Sanatana Dharma rather than Hinduism?

Well a name is not merely an Identity, there is always a meaning associated with a name, Hinduism simply implies religion of Hindus, well that will not truly convey the essence of our religion does it.

In India we have changed the name of cities citing various reasons, example Bombay became Mumbai, Madras became Chennai, Calcutta became Kolkatta and Bangalore became Bengaluru, personally I don’t give a damn about changing the name of a city unless there is a logical reasoning behind it, for example change is city’s name might be to restore the historical identity or regional identity of a city, If we can think a lot about name of a city, why can’t we think over the name of a religion which we are following. If it truly defines our Identity then why shouldn’t we embrace our religion by recalling (Not renaming) it as Sanatana Dharma as it used to be thousands of years ago.

But it would be very naive on my part to suggest that by merely recalling our ancient religion as Sanatana dharma, we would be able to solve the problems faced by followers of our Sanatana Dharma. Unless until us i.e. younger generation do not truly understand or at least try to understand our religion, we would not be able to judge the validity of our religious practices & traditions and in turn we would not be able to know how great our religion is.

Unlike other religions, Sanatana Dharma has many complex rituals, practices, code of conduct etc... For those who truly understand the significance & meaning of these practices they will embrace it, for many who don’t understand it they would blindly follow, while few others simply criticize it.

Today Science has shown us that we genetically inherit common traits of our ancestors, forefathers and parents. That is something which takes place genetically for which we don’t have any control over. That means we cannot wish to have a particular trait from our parents or ancestors, simply put that it is beyond our control, but we just don’t inherit the genetic information from our parents or ancestors; we also inherited the information about our religion, tradition, culture which was passed onto us by generation to generation orally (Sruti). This is something of course which we have control over, right?

Well suppose some might ask, “If parents didn’t pass on any information about our religious practices or culture or tradition, what can we do?” Others might say, “My parents have told me about certain religious practices or traditions, but they haven’t told me about its relevance or importance?” Many people who question in above manner shall either follow religious practice blindly or abstain from any religious practice or simply say that these practices are unscientific or irrelevant.

This is the main problem that our Sanatana dharma is facing today. Following a religion or faith blindly without understanding its religious principles, practices, its relevance, and its importance is no better than not following the religion at all. In my view both are same. A level headed person would not out rightly dismisses a religion just because he does not know the importance or relevance of certain religious practices, he shall probe further in pursuit of understanding the religious practices either by reading religious books or by asking learned men. Very few people do this, most of them simply pass the buck & say they don’t have enough time to read books or they are not interested in these stuff or some might even be afraid of asking or cross questioning their parents regarding religious practices, hence some might blindly follow the religion, while others simply denounce it & say it’s a Crap.

In religious matters the Onus lies on our elders, our parents, If a Child Asks his/her parent queries about our religious practices or principles, they should answer the child’s queries with utmost responsibility. If for instance a parent doesn’t know any answer to the child’s question, then they should not yell at the child to keep quite & simply follow religious practice, if parents do that, that’s the biggest disservice that they are doing to their religion. If the child is grown enough, parents should buy them a book which explains the principles, relevance & importance of following our religious practices or they should try to find answer to child’s queries from learned men & then pass the same to their child, according to me that’s biggest service one can do to our Sanatana dharma, i.e. keeping our religion alive.

Many times I have witnessed during debates or interactions, our Sanatana dharma followers (Especially Younger generation) fail to give a substantial & constructive reply to rebut the atheists and other religious followers (Ex: Christians, Muslims etc) who criticize our religious practices, its culture & traditions, they even go to an extent to denounce our religion by not even trying to understand the vast knowledge & scientific validity behind our religious practices. This by no means a victory of other religion & defeat of Sanatana Dharma. But certainly that is an embarrassing scenario. Hence I would urge all Hindus to at least try to gain some basic fundamental knowledge, let’s say like a general knowledge about our Sanatana dharma, so that we can give a befitting reply & defend our religion & its practices during religious hostilities.

In this Article I have listed out few common questions that are raised against Sanatana Dharma by Other religious followers & atheists, I will try to answer these questions to the best of my knowledge in this blog, here are those questions:

1. Why do we Worship Idols? 

2.  What is the idea of god in Sanatana Dharma? Why so many gods in Sanatana Dharma?

3.  Why there are so many rituals in Sanatana Dharma? Why shouldn’t the resource spent on these rituals be used to help poor people or people who are in need?

      4.  Sanatana Dharma is the root cause of caste system which India is facing today?

      5. Why Sanatana Dharma prescribes Vegetarianism?

      6. What Sanatana Dharma says about Other Religions?

      7. Why Hindu Religious Centres such as Temples have become a Commercial centres today?

      8.  Sanatana Dharma was hostile towards Buddhism?

      9. Why so many Mythological Stories in Sanatana Dharma? Are these Stories Mythological or Historical?

     10.  Why Krishna had so many wives, is he a Womaniser?

     11.  Why Rama sent his pregnant wife Sita to forest, does not this indicate that he was not a Purushottama?

    12.  Indians migrated from central asia (Aryan Invasion Theory) hence Vedas are not truly Indigenous to India?

     13.  What is the meaning of Dharma?

     14.  Ramayana & Mahabharata is History or Mythology?

     15.  Why we see Good people suffering while bad people are prospering in this world?

     16.  If God is there why can’t he intervene & kill all bad people, what is he waiting for?

     17.  Who is a Brahmin?

     18.  Manusmriti was bias towards Brahmins & hostile towards Shudras, hence it endorsed untouchability?

     19.  Why Sanatana Dharma is not spreading like Islam or Christianity in the world?

     20.  Why Temples have erotic sculptures on their Walls?

     21.  Why all ancient scriptures in India are written in Sanskrit?

     22.  Should we build Temples to our God?

     23.  Is it true that women have no Equal rights in Sanatana Dharma? 

     24.  What is the Objective of a Hindu in life?

     25.  What is the essence of Gayathri mantra?  

    Before answering these questions, we should ask ourselves, why such questions are being asked. Let us analyse this first.

    

    Such Questions are not new to Sanatana dharma, if we look at the history of Sanatana dharma, we will understand how tolerant our religion has been. During the early days of Buddhism in India, a heterodox hindu system (Nastika) called ‘Carvaka’ (Also known as Lokayata) was emerging as an alternative to pro vedic Astika school of thought. The people who believed in Carvaka philosophy started to denounce Sanatana dharma & its principles. Pro vedic Scholars such as Kumarilla Bhatta, Adi Shankaracharya among others debated Carvaka philosophers & Buddhist Scholars to restore the Sanatana Dharma in this land.  

     

     A religion can only be sustained & practiced if it is supported by people who have vision & power of policy making in their hands, usually in olden days it was Kings, Monarch, and nowadays it’s our Politicians. 

   

   In ancient times when kings used to rule the land, they were supreme authority, the king was not only responsible for socio-economic development of his territory, safety, security & well being of his citizens, but he was also responsible for safeguarding of culture, traditions & religion.

     

     If we look into the history, India has been ruled by many rulers of diverse religion, During the time of Ashoka, Buddhism was thriving in India, because he believed in that religion & supported it, during the rule of moghuls (Muslim rulers) Islam was propagated in India, Speaking about Moghul rule I must say few important things, probably during the moghul rule (Perhaps except during Akbar’s rule) Hinduism witnessed darkest days in India. It’s a historical fact that moghul rulers such as Muhammed Gazni, Muhammad Ghori, Aurangzeb, & Muhammed bin Tughluq were hard core muslim rulers who took part in destroying many Hindu temples & Religious centres. They also involved in forced conversions of non-muslims, infact during Moghul rule, non-muslims had to pay ‘Jizya’ a form of Tax to rulers to practice their religion. What a pity? Hindus in their own land had to pay the tax to practice Sanatana dharma (Hinduism). During British rule, many Christian Missionaries were established in India which propagated Christianity.

   

   Of course I need not mention under whose rule Hinduism or Sanatana dharma prospered, People like Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Sri Krishnadevaraya, Prithviraj Chauhan, Under Cholas, Gangas, Vijayanagara, Kadambas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas etc..Under all these able rulers & empire, Sanatana dharma prospered across the length & breadth of the country.

     

     Muslims ruled India for more than 800 years and Christians ruled for more than 400 years. In spite of this Sanatana dharma is still a majority religion in India, that itself speaks the volume about the how deep rooted Sanatana dharma is in India.  Clearly “you can take away a Hindu from India but one can’t take away Hinduism from India.” 

     

     The reason why I am giving these examples is because, these example indicate the simple fact that usually the head or leaders of the country or state are the one who play a crucial role in propagation & prosperity of a religion, it’s not a rocket science. 

     Today India is a secular country, our constitution guarantees us a fundamental right to practice any religion or any faith that we desire without any discrimination, which is very good, but at times the word secularism is used in wrong way to appease certain section of minority religion, Sri L.K.Advani, one of the tallest leaders of BJP calls this as ‘Minorityism’, in broad sense it can be called as ‘Pseudo Secularism’.

     

      When I say Pseudo Secularism, what exactly do I mean?

      

      Let’s look at an example, suppose a Christian can proudly say he is proud to be a Christian and Islamists can proudly say they are proud to be a Muslim but when a Hindu say he is proud to be a Hindu, So called Liberals, Intellectuals & Secular politicians brand it as communal. Similarly if the question of Ayodhya is raised so called secular people will tell its the development issue which matters & not these religious issues any more, The Question is Who told these secular people that Hidutva & Development cannot go hand to hand together, in fact our ancient India was much more scientifically advanced compared to other countries during those times. Kindly look into this blog of Sri L.K.Advani who clearly explains the Pseudo secularism v/s Secularism in India

      http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/content/view/381/349/

      

     It’s very simple to understand why politicians are doing this; they are doing this for vote bank, nothing else. I think it’s right time that we Hindus should think about this, Hindus have never been hostile to any religion or faith, in fact, we Hindus believe that all road or path leads to god, "Ekam Sat Viprah bahuda vadanti", which means "there is only one truth, wise men interpret it differently". Our Vedas have also proclaimed "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam" which means "World is like One family". But when other religion starts to target Hinduism unduly, that’s when things go wrong.

     It’s high time that we Hindus unite together, not to make India a non secular country but to make India a Strong country, we can do it only when we truly realize how great our religion is, that can happen only if the younger generation realize the importance of our religious principles, practices & its culture and tradition. It’s time that we reinstate the past glory of this great nation. 

      I would try to answer the questions which was listed in this post in my future posts. Watch out for them.