“….My brethren, we can no more think about anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing. By the law of association, the material image calls up the mental idea and vice versa. This is why the Hindu uses an external symbol when he worships. He will tell you. It helps to keep his mind fixed on the Being to whom he prays. He knows as well as you do that the image is not God, is not omnipresent. After all, how much does omnipresence mean to almost the whole world? It stands merely as a word, a symbol. Has God superficial area? If not, when we repeat that word ‘omnipresent’, we think of the extended sky. or of space – that is all…”
This is an excerpt of Swami Vivekananda’s speech at World Parliament of Religion in Chicago on Sept 19, 1893 where he talks about idol worship in Hinduism.
Idols act as a support for the novice who are at the beginning of their spiritual journey. A form or image, which is the symbol of God, acts as a reminder of God
and the material image calls up the mental idea. The image worship helps in steadying the mind. When it gets difficult to fix the mind on the Absolute or the Infinite,
associating the ideas of infinity, omniscience, purity, perfection, freedom, holiness, to a physical object helps in fixing the mind and bringing in the concentration.
Devotees see idols as symbols which serve as the objects of concentration and worship and helps them in connecting with the Infinte divinity.
Devout Hindus believe in idol worships for many reasons.
- While Hindus do believe that God is omnipresent and is present in all living as well as non-living objects, idols help in acknowledging the presence of the God in a physical form. Idols evoke feelings, thoughts, and imaginations in the minds and help in connecting with the God.
- Idol worship has been a legitimate and accepted practice – the reference of it can be found in epics and Puranas.
- For those people who find it difficult to acknowledge the abstract concept of God – idols, images and Yantras help them in expressing their devotion and connecting with the God at the emotional and mental levels.
- Idol worship has been accepted and acknowledged as a very powerful technique to relate to the deity. It helps in combining powerful eneregies and channelising those to create sacred energy.
There has been scientific backing to idol worship and temples. Because of the happening of some religious event, it is believed that the God’s presence is more prominent in certain
holy places. Therefore, traditionally such places are chosen for building temples. People believe that such temples are more charged. It has also been observed that most of the Hindu
temple spots are those locations where earth magnetic lines are crisscrossing each other and thus, these locations are also magnetically charged. Vastu Shastra experts also recommend
very specific places for puja ghars in the house.
A lot of thought goes into the design of the temples. Depending upon the mood of the deity, the temple architecture is designed to make it more conducive for doing a particular
worship. The size, height, location of the grabha graha (the inner sanctum of a temple) is also calculated mathematically to have maximum energy effect. The idols are made of only
specific stones, rocks or metals. The custom of ringing the copper bells also has some scientific backing. The ringing of bells not only kills bacteria in the air but also helps
devotees in disconnecting with the worldly thoughts and connecting with the deity. Temples or puja ghars offer a way of recharging oneself with positive vibrations of life.
These are places of energy one could go to and make use of it.
Like idols, Shree Yantra is one such self-activated Yantra which helps in connecting with the God and bringing in positivity, happiness, health, wealth, and wellness in your life. It is believed that worshiping the Shree Yantra using the right worship method on an auspicious day gives unlimited prosperity, happiness, and wealth. Like idols, Shree Yantra, also a physical form of energy which helps devotees in concentrating their minds and connecting with the divine energy.
By simply placing the right-sized Shree Yantra in the house or office, people have experienced higher levels of positive energies around them which brought peace, harmony, happiness,
and wealth in their lives. Some spiritual and scientific studies have also found that Shree Yantra helps in enhancing the process and effect of meditation. There are pieces of evidence
of several ancient gurus as well as Vedic scientists using Shree Yantra to meditate for achieving spiritual growth.
However, to get maximum benefit from the Shree Yantra, it must be authentic with perfect geometric and should be made of appropriate metals. Check out the Swarna Shree Yantra, arguably the world’s only perfect Shree Yantra.
