Why do u pray for stones and idols ?– is it because God are in those things ? Are you praying for the Creator or his creations ? -these are questions often asked to us to bring disbelief within ourselves etc, However, we do need to find the answers to others questions as well as ourselves about our way of life… Firstly, we Don’t pray for stones and idols, we pray for Murthi’s. In order to answer these questions, we have to give them the right name as the English word doesn’t correctly describe them. Air is around us and in the atmosphere, agree ? – but can you feel it around you and in the atmosphere ? In order to feel this air we need to fan it towards us, and then we will feel the ‘’wind’’ of air. Hence the fan gives the force for the air to be felt as wind. Similarly , we use the Murthi’s to focus Bhagwans energies towards us and his energies towards us, although we know he is already around us and in us but not everyone can visualize their deity’s and concentrate on them or meditate on them and the use of Murthi’s can help so much. So the Muthi’s are like the fan to feel air !!!! – And God is in the murthi as well... In Hinduism, we believe that God is in everything.The atma and Jivatma is linked with Brahmam, but Brahmam is also in every non-living thing as well. How can something exist or been seen if God isn’t present in it ? – he who created everything has his identity in everything and gives it the power to be seen ! –therefore, Bhagwan is present in that ‘’stone’’ but he NOT that ‘’stone’’ as he is the Brahman, the formless creator who has no form such as race, gender and has no point geographical position alone (because he is omnipresent) !! Hence, a Murthi is the likeness of the image of God that we invoke life into for the purpose of having a personal relationship with God as a companion of Divine capabilities and as our Savior. –We ‘’open eyes’’ for them by prayers, hawan etc, meaning they are no longer just a ‘’idol’’but they contain the essence of the specific deity of worship. But lets look beyond Sanathan Dharma and into Religions as well. ‘’Idolatry’’ (The western word for worshiping Murthi’s) is not only done in Hinduism! Every religion also prays for ‘’idols’’ of some sort either directly or indirectly because all Religions lead to one God, hence there has to be a similarity between them!!! What’s is ‘’idolatry’’ ? – the practice of worshiping statues as God. (source: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) In Christianity …“You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them nor be induced to serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion." Exodus 20:4, 5. However we can easily see our Christian brothers and sisters wearing the Holy Cross on a chain this means they carry their ‘’idols’’ everywhere they go!- evoking Jesus in every act they do and we can see huge Idol’s of Lord Jesus on the cross everywhere around the world including in the church and our Christian brothers & sisters sometimes also bow down to these ‘’idols’’ !!! The copies of the Holy Bible is also ‘’an object worshiped by showing the words of God’’ which is an idol by definition and it is distributed around the world and is worshiped. Lets look at another verse in the Bible though… ‘’You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance. You shall make settings of gold filigree, ...’’ --- Exodus 28:9-21 -Is this ‘’idol’’ worship as well ??? .. I leave this up to you ! –lol. In Islam, we see that we should worship Allah, and worship none but Him Alone. Islamic beliefs also promotes that NOTHING should be worshiped if its man-made!!! The copies of the Holy Quran is also ‘’man-made’’ when it is distributed around the world and is worshiped !!!! Islam worships the kabba in mecca, in which they do Namaz everyday in the direction of the kabba and even go around the Kabba just as we do with our Murthi’s (circumbulation) . This show us that the kabba is a building that is worshipped which was indeed man-made as well. In the Kabba, we can also see the Hajar Aswad (the black stone) being kissed as a blessing from Allah Almighty. Is this also idol worship ?????? (some believe it’s given by Allah, some believe it’s a meteorite but some historians and myself believe it’s a Shiva Lingam !!!) So basically, every religion worships ‘’idols’’ either directly or indirectly. I don’t belong in a religion though. I belong to a ‘’way of life’’ and I admit that I worship ‘’Murthi’s’’ but NOT Idols (English came after Ancient Indian languages and can not replace the meanings of our words by their own). Before condemning other beliefs, we always need to look deep into our own beliefs, everyone should know this then we can unite with each other and the world will be a better & more peaceful place to live in. ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ ૐ
