Mani Varadarajan wrote on 9th Apr:
" It is offensive to me as a practising Hindu to be told that the idol that I
worship is a mere 'means for concentration'....more offensive when the author's
aim is to spread the 'truth' about Hinduism."
My whole point was that the words "Idol" and "Idol worship" have a derogatory
connotation and are used that way by others. We should not use them in
describing ourselves. We should perhaps use "icons" instead. The angry
responses of Mani and Vasu are not warranted. At the risk of being over
pedantic and boring permit me to write the following:
We offer prayer to Ganesha (Vishvaksena in some traditions) at the beginning of
every undertaking. Ganesha can be invoked in almost any object: an areca nut, a
lump of Turmeric,a lump of clay or even a lump of cowdung as "pillari" in
kannada,"pilleyaar" in tamil. We invoke bysaying "....bimbesmin sannidhim kuru"
"Oh Lord, please make your presence manifest in this image ( a lump of turmeric
or whatever)". After this, we offer puja consisting of sixteen upachaaras, and
at the end of the puja we promptly offer everything to Krishna by saying
"Krishnaarpanamastu". Another ritual called "udvaasana" follows this in which
we send the deity back by saying "yathaasthaanam pratishthaapayami". This
completes the puja. Before we invoke the Lord, it is just a lump of turmeric,
after "udvaasana" it is still a lump of turmeric. We offer puja,only when in the
"sannidhi"of the Lord. When others refer to us as idolators, they mean we offer
the puja to the lump of turmeric itself, without understanding the distinction
we make. Generally, the same procedure is followed whenever we worship any
other deity at home. The sequences, dhyana, aavaahana, puja and udvaasana all
follow except in one case. When a saligrama is worshipped, no aavaahana is
necessary, for there is always the Lord's sannidhi in it.
The icon or the image is a medium for us to invoke the sannidhi of the Lord.
The medium can be a material object such as a vigraha, or a geometric figure,
"yantra", or a completely abstract entity,a "mantra" An icon is not a "mere"
means, it is an essential means for most of us humans. Some worshippers use a
"yantra" such as the "srichakra" in worshipping the Devi, the most adept can
use the "mantra". But, we all need something to help concentrate on the Deity.
Now, the worship at a temple is another matter altogether.
Contrary to what Mani Varadarajan writes, Vigrahas are carved by human hands
using materials available to humans. However, when a vigraha is installed in a
temple, a large set of very elaborate aagamic rituals including homas are
performed.The Deity is then invoked to make a permanent sannidhi there. After
this, and only after this ritual has been performed, that the temple becomes
"Devasthaana", "Devamandir", because the Deity has taken a permanent
"residence" there. "Devasya nilayam, Deva nilayam". In fact, in temples in
Karnataka, when they have sign boards in temples, they donot read "Idol of
Narasimha" or "Devi vigraha", the signs invariably read "Narasimha swami
sannidhi", "Devi sannidhi". It is because of the sannidhi of the Lord there
that we offer puja. The phrase "arca-avataara" is used to distinguish this
passive sannidhi of the Lord from other avataaras such as Rama when the Lord
actually participated in the affairs of this jagat. It is to this sannidhi that
we offer the worship. The "sannidhi" is maintained jealously by performing all
the required rituals by the archakas. It is said that ".. pratimaasya
saannidhyam archakasya tapobalena", It is the force of the ttapas of the
archak that maintains the sannidhi for the bhaktas.Temples are built for the
common benefit of the community. A stone vigraha carved by human hands, when
properly purified by the rituals, becomes the gracious permanent sannidhi of
the Lord,we offer worship. The vigraha happens to be the means through which
the mystery of 'arca-avataara" happens. Regards,-Narahari Achar
