GOD AS IDOL OR IDOL AS GOD!!!
There was once a saadhaka (spiritual seeker) who approached a guru for guidance. The guru gave him an idol of VISHNU and also necessary instructions for daily worship. But the saadhaka found that, even after some months of meticulous puja, he did not get any spiritual reward or elation.
So, he reported his dissatisfaction and the guru gave him another idol, this time of SHIVA and asked him to have another try. The disciple came after another six months demanding another idol, because even Shiva had failed him. This time, he got a GANESHA idol, which he duly installed in his domestic shrine. The two previous idols were standing, dust-ridden and neglected, on the window-sill.
After a few months he was quite disgusted at the progress he made & went to the Guru again for the 4th time. This time the Guru gave him an idol of DURGA & the Saadhaka said if this also doesn't work, he wouldn't bother the Guru again!
One day, while performing Durga-puja, the disciple found that the perfumed smoke from the incense-stick was being wafted by the breeze towards the dusty idol of SHIVA on the window-sill. He got wild that the ungrateful stonehearted SHIVA who was deaf to his powerful prayers earlier should get the perfume intended for his latest idol that was DURGA!!!
So, he took a piece of cloth and tied it round the face of SHIVA, closing up the nostrils that were inhaling the perfume & continued with his DURGA puja.
Suddenly, to his immense surprise LORD SHIVA appeared in all His splendor and Glory & stood before the saadhaka! The man was dumb-founded & stunned that in spite of the ill-treatment that he had given to SHIVA, the LORD gave him darshan.
So he asked SHIVA, "When I was doing DURGA puja, why are you giving me darshan & why didn't you come before me when I was worshipping you earlier?"
LORD SHIVA answered, "My dear devotee, for the first time you believed that the SHIVA idol was alive, conscious & full of life and it was that belief which forced you to tie the bandage around my nose! The moment you realized that the idol was full of consciousness you got the realization that you were struggling to get all along!!!"
SHIVA continued, "Therefore, you should see, not the stone which is the material stuff of the idol, but the Power that is inherent in it, that is symbolized by it, is the same DIVINE Power that is inherent in your own heart and that pervades and transcends all creation. It's the same power in the whole UNIVERSE!!!"
"This time you believed the stone image to be God while earlier you used to bring God down to the level of a stone image! You may worship a picture as God, but you should not worship God as a picture!!! That's essentially the difference! Wood, stone or mud may be assumed to be Divine, but Divinity should not be limited to wood, stone or mud" concluded SHIVA.
PS: This example should answer the following question to a large extent. GOD or the SUPREME CONSCIUSNESS is indeed FORMLESS but probably GOD knew that Man would find it very difficult to worship the 'FORMLESS' & in all HIS compassion HE ensured that there were multitudes of forms to cater to multitude section of the population! ALL FORMS ARE HIS! SINCERE PRAYERS TO ANY FORM REACHES HIM.
We have to realize that 'one' part of that FORMLESS is within us & that's precisely our COSMIC CONNECTION!!! Hence attributing, visualizing & worshipping various forms becomes quite essential in our long journey to reach the FORMLESS DIVINE!!!
Moreover we have to move from the form to the formless & there are no short cuts or double promotions!!! Trying to worship the formless without ever accepting & experiencing the beauty & the majestic splendor of various forms of God is like 'playing Tennis with a Golf stick!!!
Q: I went through the entire quotient. In one of the paragraphs, it is mentioned that God is formless. In order to focus our devotion, forms are created. Does it mean, whether forms are depicted by men in order to focus our devotion on one object? I.e. whether forms such as Muruga, Ganesa, Rama, and Krishna are the forms created by men? If they are not so, how to realize them as gods?
SRINIVASAN V
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