Idol Worship Definition and Meaning
Idol worship in Hinduism – Idol Worship in Hinduism is also referred to as Idolatry. Idol worship in Hinduism means worshiping an idol or worshiping a physical image or a statue keeping in mind that the idol is God, Supreme energy, or a deity.
Worshiping a physical image as God is called idol worship in Hinduism or idolatry which is common in all most all religions in one or other ways.
Some people worship an idol of a human being like in Christianity they worship the statue of Jesus. In Islam, people worship Kabba, etc. In Hinduism, various deities are worshiped in the form of idols. Some worship pictures of deity while some other worship statues or idols, etc.
Idol Worship in Hinduism Meaning
Idols are made up of clay, water, air, sky, and fire. Water is mixed in the clay. Air and fire both are needed to dry the idols. Sky or empty space is needed to shapes the idols.
So, idols are made up of the five elements the same as the living being. As human being shapes the idols with the five elements, same, God shapes us with the same five elements: earth, sky, air, sun, and water. We all are the idols sculpted by Lord.
Idol Worship in Hinduism Meaning & Mystery
God is One, but names are many as many faiths. Some people say “Sai Baba” is God and this is true for them as they have faith in this. Some say “Alha is God”. It is also true for them as they see God in Alha.
Some say “Oam” is God, this is also true. Similarly, some people perceive God somewhere else like in Sun, Durga, Yagya, Shiv Fire, Water, Air, etc.
All are absolutely true because if God is in faith, God is everywhere. If God is not in faith God is nowhere. In fact, God is omnipresent.
The truth is, God seems nowhere until self-realization, and God seems everywhere after self-realization.
God is omnipresent
God is omnipresent in all forms. God is beyond the border of everything and every imagination. What we can imagine and what we cannot imagine, everything is God. We live inside the God, we born in God and we die in God. The whole universe is God nothing else.
As our physical body is the representation of us, the same this universe, or nature is the reflection of God or the representation of God. The need is to wake up from the dream and perceives the world through the divine eye or the third eye.
God is in us, in our true and unshaken faith, in our love and devotion. God made us in the form of idols. We all are idols. God is the absolute consciousness that gives you consciousness. God makes your thoughts and body conscious.
The body is a Temple of GOD
A human being is a microcosm of the macrocosm, Brahma. The Yogasikha Upanishad says: a body is a temple of God. God covered the human idols with the ignorance and poor human idols so-called human beings are not able to recognize neither God nor their true identity.
God has given you senses to sense the objects only not God. God has given you the third eye also to realize God, but God closed the third eye. With the grace of God, if somehow it opens, only then the human can see God. Otherwise, nobody is skilled to realize God in any way.
As you dig nature, nature will give you more space to dig more. Similarly, as you research the cosmic energy, the cosmic energy will give more space to do the research more. All these are toys the human has to play and divine science lets the human play.
What is the True Nature of the Universe?
The whole universe is a Brahma, hence, it is called “Bhramanda”. The Bhramand is made up of five elements; water, fire, air, earth, and sky. All other elements are derived from these five elements. The whole nature is the manifestation of God nothing else.
How do you Worship God?
God is energy manifested everywhere in the form of nature, living beings, and other objects whether the object is an idol, stone, human being, or anything else.
Idol Worship Today
If God is in Your Faith, God is everywhere otherwise God is nowhere. In an Indian movie, a hero picks a stone from a road and kept the stone on a side of the road after coloring it red.
Hero started to bow his head before the stone. Now people started to come and prayed before the stone. The hero wanted to show that the people are fools. They are praying before a stone placed on the road by the Hero.
Hero wanted to prove that there is no God at all. It is we, who made so many Gods for our convenience. A number of people believe in this, the same as the hero of the movie.
But in a real sense, all the people praying before the stone were not fooled at all. All they were theists. They were devotees of God.
Everything is God
In this universe, nothing exists without God. Everything that you see around you is the reflection of God in the form of a variety of objects whether it is solid, liquid, or airy.
Idol Worship Meaning
In fact, you are the image of God. God is in you and this is why you are conscious. God is absolute consciousness that makes the whole universe conscious.
Nothing can survive without divine consciousness. God lives in you and around you and responds through your faith. If you don’t have faith, God is nowhere. If you have faith God is everywhere.
Whether that is an idol, person, temple, etc. God sees only truth, faith, and devotion. It makes no difference what kind of medium you are using for worshiping.
God receives worship in all the forms whether that is stone, ordinary people like poor people sitting beside the roads, idols in the temples or homes, Yagya, or any other medium.
Even if you worship a person, GOD responds through the person too. As you see in the case of Sai Baba, Jesus, and Ram Krishna Paramhansa.
The World is a Play of GOD
If a son makes an idol of his mother and decorates the idol with ornaments and feeds mother with his small hands. Mother sees her child and pleases by seeing her son in this manner.
Similarly, God pleases with us, when we decorate and feed the idol (worshiping) of God. Mother is distinct from the son even then she pleases with her son to see him in this way.
God is within you in the form of consciousness and sees you and all your activities. God pleases if you do in favor of GOD and become sad if we do against GOD. In fact, the world is a play of GOD and we are players.
How God Responds When You Idol Worship
- If you have faith while doing idol worship that God is in an idol, then God responds from the idol.
- If you have faith that God is in “OAM”, God responds from the “OAM”. It is up to your faith only.
- If you think God is nowhere, you cannot find God in any case. This is why; atheists can’t see GOD.
- If God is in “Shri Ram”, “Shri Krishna”, “Isa Masih”, “Sai Baba” etc., why God cannot in their idols.
- Atheists say Ram is God, how they can deny Ram’s presence in the idol of Ram.
- If God enlightens Ram and Krishna then God can enlighten their idols too.
- It doesn’t mean worship only through the idols, but the meaning is that idol worship is as true and fine as the worship of any other kind.
Idol Worship; Idol has GOD
When the universe is Brahma (hence, called Brahmand), why not a stone is Brahma or Shiva. Stone and idol are the parts of Brhamand and Vedas says: “God is in every particle”. Nothing is existed in this universe, without the Brahma,
Stones and idols have the same composition, what the Brahmand has. But, Brahma is in an idol, only if, you have full faith in the idol of the Brahma.
The mystery behind the Idol Worship in Hinduism or Idolatry
Two worlds are parallel, physical, and subtle. The subtle world comprises of spirits, deities, God and Goddesses, feelings, love, faith, sacrifices, self-surrender, and much more.
It is up to you only, how much you know. God is supreme or cosmic energy manifested in the universe or we can say a universe is cosmic energy called Brahma. Everything in the universe is itself the Brahma.
God enlightens physical bodies
God is pure energy that enlightens physical bodies and gives life to the bodies, made up of a matter. When human energy completes one cycle of life, it leaves the body and receives a new body again and again. The cycle is infinite and remains in the motion.
Everyone in the universe whether Deva or Devil has the same pure Brahma energy. This is why every living being receives blessings from God without partiality.
God speaks to you if you are ready to hear
As the day is illuminated by the Sun, the night is illuminated by the moon, same this universe is illuminated by the Brahma. This is why; every tiny atom in the universe speaks, but you are not conscious to listen.
God speaks to you through your thoughts, heartbeat, feelings, and emotions. If you are awakened, you don’t need to pray before an idol, you can do prayer anywhere, anytime in any condition. But before do it first deserve it.
“Universe is illuminated by the Brahma, why not idols and stones”.
God is pure energy
God is energy comprises of male and female, called “Ardhnarishwar Shiva”. If you feel this energy as a father it becomes a father and protects you, If you feel it is a mother it becomes Mother Parvati, Durga, Radha, etc., and cares you as a mother, if you love it, it becomes your beloved and loves you, as Radha and Meera devotees of Lord Krishna.
Everything is within you only; the need is to find it and feel it. No one is as close to you as your God. In fact, you are also a shadow of God.
What you think for yourself that is only a matter and matter is dissolved in the five elements, the matter cannot feels, thinks loves, etc. What you feel, think, and love is your consciousness due to the absolute pure consciousness or God.
You think for yourself as a matter that’s why you die and destroy. If you somehow with the divine grace realizes that you are not a matter, you are a part of the supreme soul then you will not die. A soul never ends it dissolves into the GOD after liberation. As you deal, the same as you feel.
Balance of Actions
“Faith, love, and self-surrender are three chords to become one to God.”
Self Surrender is the key to become one to God. As much you love to God as much you are loved by God. God is the only one who is the closest to you. If you give anything to anyone, he/she becomes indebted to you. In this or in any other life you will receive the same from that one.”
So always wish to give as much as you can.
“The subtle world is parallel to this tangible world”
The laws of this subtle world are pure and true. There is no scope of lie and pretending in this true world. What you wish to receive from others, give that to others.
If you need pleasures, give comfort to others if you need pain, give pains to others. Every giving will be multiplied and come back to its giver.
The Law Karma
Every relation whether consorts, son, daughter, mother, father, and friends, all are with you because of your past life actions (karmas).
The fruit of actions (karma) remains tied with your energy in your seven chakras. All the chakras become activated in the form of humans only. Hence, the best life is considered the life of a human being. This is the only opportunity when you can unite with God and free from all the bondage and can break the cycle of life and death.
“God made this world, just to play, that’s why it is said: The world is a playground of God. “The toughest task in this world is to break the cycle of life and death. It needs self-surrender to Supreme energy (God)”. When you do it, God enlightens you gives you everything which spiritually completes you, satisfies you, and blesses you.
Therefore, Idol Worship in Hinduism is as true as any other kind of worship in the world. God never sees the medium you used for worship but sees your faith, your love, and surrender.