An Insight on Idol Worship and the role of Priests

 

For centuries now, Idol worship has faced continual claims and comments on being an action of least worth, and should be terminated because it doesn’t satisfy the logic which modern man searches from spirituality. Idol worship has been criticized, and this blog today will justify them all. My words do not offer a spiritual authority; I’m just a servant of god, and glorifying the lost dignity of Idol Worship and the role of Brahmins.

Brahmins too have been facing scarcity of their true nature, and aren’t, thus, able to justify their presence in the temple or in front of the idol.

A greater section of the world believes that the society began some 2000 years ago with the onset of “The New Testaments”, but it is not true. India has been the nation which has been built and nurtured by so many saints and sages, so many divine incarnations, that has made the whole soil of India, holy. It has been in existence since so many ages, and Hinduism has been the religion that has the most ancient order of Monks, which has taught the nation tolerance and universal acceptance. Hence before justifying and breaking certain myths, i would ask all my readers who are Hindu, to be proud to have born in such a religion. And those from other religion, Oh dear Brother, It is the same mohammaden that we follow, it’s just that we call it by different name, It is the same Christ we pray, but with earthen lamps instead of candles.

 I, on behalf of all the Hindu people present to you, an insight on Idol Worship and Brahmins.

The God who has no form, or the “niraakar bramha” is undoubtedly a concept of faith, but this has been past. In order to build devotion and belief on the formless god, one needs a highly disciplined and meditated mind. For common man like us, this has been nothing more than a concept written in Shrimad Bhagvat Geeta, The Bible, The Quran. In order to focus one’s faith on someone, one needs a form to meditate upon. Some see it as a father, some see it as the divine mother, for some it is a friend, and for some it is the punisher. None of them are misled. They all have faith in someone, but all these “someone” ultimately drain upto the ultimatum, or the formless god. “It doesn’t matter for the path you follow, because all paths ultimately lead to him. What’s important is, you should follow.”

Now having our mind fixed upon the form, whether father, protector, destroyer, or redeemer, we sought for a physical form to pray to. And this led to the existence of idol worship as we see it.

The whole concept of Idol worship is originated from the divine concept that “Each soul is divine. Every soul is a part of the almighty. And hence, what we actually search outside, it resides in us.” And this brings on the need for a priest, or Brahmin. The job of the priest is to manifest this divine soul in him, and portrait the same divine soul into the Idol. This is termed as “prana pratistha” or the “avahana” or installing the divine soul into the idol. Now the Idol that was earlier just a fabrication of mud, water and stones, has now the divine soul that has been set up by the priest. People decorate this life incorporated idol as per their own choice, some show candles to it, some put coloured powders on it, while some cover it with ornamented sheets of cloth. It is all faith and this gives them a boost in their faith, and this faith when manifested in them, improvises their body functioning, hence helping them in pursuing their duties with more efficiency.

The priest, or the Brahmin assigned with the job of putting in the soul to the idol, has to maintain certain level of purity, so that the divinity doesn’t find it difficult to be manifested in him. Hence Brahmins have a certain protocol to which they stick to. But with the onset of logic and science, people have shortened their logic, and hence call it blind faith.

This is my appeal to all the intellectual masses reading this, everything written in scriptures and advised by saints and sages, has logic and reason behind it. If we aren’t able to recognize it, doesn’t mean the logic is invalid. It just proves us our ignorance.

Hence, wake up and rise, accept what the sages have to say.

Accept to live in misery with Christ than living in palace without him.

And don’t criticize for what is unknown to you, because remember all great leaders of every religion had so many criticisms to deal with, and yet we kneel before them in prayers.

I bow down before my master who showed the world the unity in diversity for religion, Shri Ramakrishna, who himself had manifested goddess kali in the temple of Dakshineshwar, Kolkata.

Hope, my readers would have had a different conviction by the end of this blog. Will keep you enlightened further.

Jai maa..

My Beloved Personality

We are bodies of perceptions. Whatever we see, there’s the perception that builds up our attitude towards it in the latter stage. This attitude when continued for a longer period of time, gives us a conviction, and is held accountable for the actions we do in regards to the corresponding object. We all have distinct perceptions, let it be any case! I always love to infer, but unless we have a strong feeling or supporting argument, things can’t be inferred.

I always believed in god, i followed him, but why? I didn’t know! At times, i get distracted, and deliberately work against the norms to see if it ever mattered to someone! Till date i have had no conclusive results pertaining to that. But I have an inference on the question that could come up when asked the other way around. And simultaneously the former question also met its answer.

In the recent past, i along with two friends had been to tirupati, carved out of devotion and a vision. It’s the abode of Lord Venkateshwara; a form of lord Vishnu. After having climbed the seven hills or 10 kms in a steep gradient, and standing in 5 different queues for around 4 hours, we were allowed to the main gopuram, or the entrance of the temple. They allowed us to see the lord’s idol for nearly 10 seconds. It was exactly the same as we see in the photos, so why should there be any craze? Logically correct! But experience led me to believe in something else. I know a couple of appraisal chants for the lord, and sing it during daily prayers, but infront of him in the temple, i forgot all. I just kept on looking at him, so natural, so beautiful, and so divine it was. I could keep on looking at him, and never get tired. The crowd pushed me, but i felt like floating over an ocean of devotion, and the last second when i was the nearest to him, my friend who has right behind me, shouted in a typical south Indian manner “govinda govinda gooovvviinnddaaaa” while i was looking at the lord. This last second made a strange bliss feeling run throughout my body. I was in an ecstasy. Smiling, laughing, dancing for no viable reason. It was feeling which could only be experienced, not told.

It was as if, people are calling their beloved! All the diversified relations came into my mind just to one being. The way we call, our friends, our parents, our kin, siblings, aunts, there are different ways to call them, with a change in tone. But as for the case of lord, it all were encrypted in just one call. It was equivalent to call your mother, father, brother, sister, relative, friend, lover, anyone whom you believe to be yours. The lord was just mine, and i was his. No other feeling with a greater remark could happen to me in my life. It was just it.

Now i had answers to all the questions, and the answer is; we should believe in him, follow his instructions, love him, because he is the only one who loves you the most, he is the only one who you can claim to be yours, and he will never betray you. No matter how many times you work against, you just go to him and with a pure heart ask him for forgiveness, he forgives without a thought, and rather hugs you tight in the bonds of divinity and godliness.

While my way back, as every single person who saw me, i had this understanding, that it’s god watching me through their eyes, after all we all are a part of his. And then i understood, this is why people say, god has “thousands of eyes”.

Brilliant, never to be forgotten experience it was. Those who visit him very often, mark my blog before you leave, you will have a very different and fabulous experience. To all those who don’t visit him, give it a try, and go to him with my blog in your mind, I’m confident the experience will be worth it.

It was time i had written my last blog, and this experience filled my heart with utter love and ecstasy, i couldn’t wait to write this blog. Hope you all were through me all the while. Take care, and see you soon, as i follow up fast this time. With this I remain with a phrase very common amongst us ( Brahmins from odisha, who are devotees of lord Jagannath) 

                              “jagannatha swami nayana patha gami bhaba tume”;

                      “ Let you be the destination of my vision everytime, Oh Jagannath!”

Standing at the brink of our own apocalypse

Claiming to be secular, we carve out a way to extend the boundaries on which we stand today. Irrespective of what we do, we tend to console our guilt conscious by stating the cliché of being secular. Such has our lust increased that we could form an explanation justifying even the most heinous action we are driven to do. Hence giving us enormous room to do almost anything and yet claim to be unperturbed by the sickened society. In ancient texts of the Hindu religion, a situation of this order is mentioned to happen, where chaos will be such that its entropy will be beyond any human’s control. Indeed, we are a part of such a beautiful society this day.

“Lust, hunger, poverty, anger and attachment eats up our intelligence and invites infamy to our life’s course.” After a while of realization of the selection of the wrong path, man repents for its incorrect choice. At this point, repentance goes in vain, since we already made a choice which led us this far that we have done things that were strictly beyond the boundaries set by our culture and civilization. Our roots have decayed in such a manner that the tree could fall even against a slightest breeze. This downfall of morality has a direct influence over the stability of a civilization. When men cannot protect their integrity, how possibly could they protect their civilization, which stands at the brink of devastation?

The discussion of the ingenuity of a religion is not the matter in front of us. The matter is to accept one and start the process of self-realization. Until and unless we know what we are, and the true purpose of life, we can’t make up a prosperous and ethical society. According to the words of a great saint; “ the one who sees unity in diversity, peace in a warfront, love in hatred is liable to be designated as a perfect man.” These words although seem very vague and ambiguous, allows our intellect to seek for the unsaid mystery.

We attain peace and happiness, when we start looking inside us, when we find the diversity in our own self. We remain calm and composed, action-less and motionless, because we are now aware of the truth. Every job a man does is to attain happiness and pleasure. Some feel they can achieve it by earning more and more money, while others feel they achieve it by spending time with their family. But neither of these could provide them eternal and perpetual happiness. The only way to achieve this never ending happiness is by knowing oneself, and it’s possible only by the knowledge of this eternal yet mortal world. The moment we are able to conceive the truth, millions of ambiguities and doubts get clarified, there’s no more jealousy, anger and a communal harmony presides over our intellect.

This perpetual happiness is just the first stepping stone. The eternal bliss seconds it, which is achieved when man is able to see the residing almighty in him. At this stage, no creature seems less than god; he seeks the divine manifestation in each and every thing around him. He’s all happy, and totally content, he neither cries for the departed, nor welcomes the new born, since he’s saturated with the true knowledge, which leads us to think and understand beyond this mortal attachment.

The whole basis of a religion is to bring order into human society, and protect it from destruction, the destruction that had originated from the mortal beings making up the society, to give a society the true knowledge and make them aware of the truth behind every happening. It’s not the external source that is responsible behind the destruction of a society, but the internal chaos which adds up to the antisocial elements.

If we have the perception that the divine knowledge is useless at this stage, then it’s time to think again, you might be sleeping in the darkest of nights, and when you wake up, there’s nothing left for resurrection. It’s high time to get back to the basics and learn from it, the essence of quality living.