- In Defense of Idol Worship
- I Worship Idols
People hate idol-worship for a variety of reasons. Some cults hate idol-worshippers so much that they would refuse to bless even a dead idol-worshipper. They believe that idol-worship is worse than killing and rape.
Let us examine the most dominant ones.
1. God has no idols. Hence idol-worship is a sin
– How are you so sure that God has no idols? Did God come and tell you? When, where? Do you have any video recording of the meeting? Or any other proof?
– I am sure you can’t answer above. Because apart from mental asylums, there are no other places in world where you would find people who have met God.
– Let us assume for a while that you are one of those rare mental cases who met God and verified His “non-idolness”. Did He then make you an Authorized Agent to snatch peace and happiness from lives of those who worship His idols? Can you show the exclusive Authorization Certificate that God gave you?
– Let us now assume further that despite you having never met God nor he sending you the Authorized Agent Certificate by courier, still idol-worship is sin. Then who is forcing you to worship idol? Worship whatever you want. Or don’t worship at all. Who is stopping you? But what right you have to hate others for what they believe?
Hate God if you indeed have to hate. He is to be blamed for not meeting you. Or hate the courier company which did not deliver your Authorization Certificate.
Don’t act like frustrated ’potency doctors’ whose 100% guarantee advertisements add to the filth of dirty walls before railway stations and public toilets of Ghaziabad. And yet fetches them no clients.
Follow whatever you want to. Even advertise whatever you want to. But don’t hate people merely because they don’t hire your potency services.
2. But my Holy Book prohibits idol-worship. It says idol-worshippers are worst of creatures.
This raises many questions that you must answer.
– How do you know the book is indeed Holy? Did God come and tell you? Or it was some ‘potency doctor’ of Ghaziabad? Different parts of world have different popular ‘Holy Books’. How do you know yours alone is the right one?
– Did you read the ‘Holy Book’ yourself? Most ‘Holy Books’ are at least a thousand years old. The language is completely different from modern times. So people rely on translations. Who translated the book for you? Was it the ‘potency doctor’ or someone with a sharper mental aptitude? Is there a way for you to verify whether the translation is authentic? And whether the translation is exactly of the authentic Holy Book alone and not something else? Don’t simply accept it on basis of what the ‘potency doctor’ or his clients say.
If there is no clear foolproof easy way for any layman to verify the authenticity of Holy Book or its translation, it only means that God does not give the Holy Book too much of importance. So use it with a pinch of salt. Accept the fact that this is the way God wanted things to be.
– Your ‘potency doctor’ may fool you by claiming that this confusion is because God is testing your loyalty. If he indeed says so, better find a different doctor than risk your potency on such a quack.
Because, if indeed God is intelligent, He will give same test to all, and also define the syllabus of test before conducting the test. Ask your doctor to give a certified instruction-sheet for the test. I bet He will only try to scare you with divine punishments or entice you with luxuries. That is the tried and tested “carrot and stick” formula to control animals. Beware.
Use you head rather than take seriously unverified ‘potency’ claims of quacks. Follow your Holy Book or any book or their translations only to extent or in manner that it supports your own brain development. Or have fun as story books, moral science books, fantasy tales or insight in historical evolution of human intellect or something else. Don’t take it seriously enough to start hating everyone who is not client of your Ghaziabad doctor.
– If indeed idol-worshippers are worst of creatures, why did God make them in first place? Why did not God send everyone with entire Holy Book already etched in their brains?
– Is your Holy Book against your own progress? Why majority of intellectuals in world are idol-worshippers? They go to either church or temples and do what is idol-worship as per your book. And yet they are the ones who top in almost every field – science, technology, mathematics, management, economics…you name it. If you are reading your Holy Book, probably it was printed using a technology that was developed by a worshipper of Son of God. If you are using a gun to kill innocents, even that was developed by idol-worshipper. If you happen to be in India, know that almost every top-brain of the country has been either an idol-worshipper or someone who loves them.
Now look at contribution of idol-haters from your community? Don’t give names from history. Past is always beautiful because it is an easy escape that cannot be verified. Lets talk of present. How many top scientists hate idols? How many top technology wizards? How many economists, inventors, doctors, mathematicians, chess players?
Just think if you can. Your hatred against idol-worshippers is stopping you from progress and ruining your future.
3. You Holy Book also prohibits idol-worship. Why do you do that then?
If you are talking of Hindus, let me put very clear. Hinduism is not a religion based on fear of Hell or fondness of Heaven. It is a celebration of freedom. It encourages each individual to explore and choose his own path. Because eventually, each individual is master of his own destiny.
– Yes there are many books and saints that criticize idol-worship. But none asks to kill those who do idol-worship. They simply put forward their own critique on the subject and offer alternatives. It is all an intellectual discussion to discover the ultimate truth. There is no threat or lure. It all falls under the Hindu respect for freedom of expression.
That is why Kabir, Dayanand, Nanak, Shankaracharya, Madhavacharya, Ramanuja, Vivekanand etc are all within the Hindu universe despite their difference in viewpoints.
– More importantly, no Hindu worships idol in the way morons believe them to worship. They merely use idols as means for a higher goal. When they pray even in front of idol, they close their eyes and look inwards. The Hindu God lies within each individual. Ultimate goal is to be completely at bliss with the divinity within. Different people adopt different ways to pull their thoughts inwards. To create idols is one of them.
– Vedas form primary source of Hinduism. They neither prohibit nor recommend specific rituals to please God. They discuss the concepts alone and leave it to individual to discover the truth through his own efforts. There is no force, fear, threat, lure here.
– You are free to either go to temples, pray through idols, or meditate on formless God, or be atheist. You can recommend your own best practices and strongly oppose prevalent ways of society. There is complete freedom. Nothing is mandatory. Everything is a recommendation. That is why Hinduism is most rational and reasonable way of life.
There is no burqa, no restriction on how you dress, how you pray, what you study, whom you marry. You celebrate freedom and be responsible for society.
But there is a big irony. Answer that first:
On one hand you say your book is right and mine is wrong. On other hand you quote my book to prove that your way is right. Why this double standard? Either accept that my books is right. In that case follow it. Else don’t quote it.
If you quote my books to justify why I must be hated and I must go to Hell, it demonstrates that the potency doctor’s medicine has had serious impact on your brain.
4. Idol-worship caused downfall of India. Hence it must be rejected.
– Downfall of India happened because of several reasons. Here are top 3:
No 3. Dominance of caste-system based on birth.
But due to core liberal nature of Hinduism, reformers like Dayanand, Jyotirba Phule etc emerged to weed it out.
No 2. Rise of superstitions
which was again eradicated by spiritual reformers.
But the most important reason was following:
NUMBER 1. Unpreparedness against barbaric tribals of Central and West Asia.
Indians had not imagined that people could be so barbaric as the likes of Ghazni, Ghori, Akbar, Aurangzeb, Qasim and Khilji. In India, even wars had basic rules of ethics. Even today, Indians are unable to imagine that rascals like ISIS, Al Qaeda actually exist. They read in newspapers and see in TV. But cannot feel the same. Hence they remained unprepared.
But the moment a Rana Pratap or a Shivaji or a Guru Gobind felt the extent of their barbarism, they destroyed the roots of iconoclastic fundamentalism with slogans of Har Har Mahadev, Jai Bhawani, Jo Bole So Nihaal. When British came, slogan of Vande Mataram played its role. The might of idol-worshipping heroes ripped apart the idol-breakers so forcefully that the last Mughal emperors were just pensioners of Marathas caged inside Red Fort. Today the descendants of “Great Mughals” are reduced to beggars in slums of Kolkata.
The proud heritage of India was preserved by the very idol-worshippers whom you hate. And even today, look at the community of idol-worshippers and those who consider idol-worshippers as sinner. Find out what percentage of their population is among top brains in each group? Again, avoid looking into history because history is always golden. Come to present.
How many idol-haters among brave soldiers who fight on border willing to sacrifice their heads to protect all of us inside the country? How many idol-haters among scientists, engineers, technocrats, researchers? There is representation from all communities in progress of modern India. But a common trait among all who contributed to this progress is that they have no hatred for idol-worshippers. In fact they encourage and even themselves worship like idol-worshippers. The great Hawaldar Abdul Hamid sent to Hell tanks after tanks of idol-haters. Martyr Ashfaqullah would say Ram Ram even when unconscious.
I shudder to imagine what will happen if idol-worship is eradicated from modern India. We will lose our colors, variety, richness. We will lose centers that preserve spiritualism and direct our emotions to higher cause. We will lose social ways of uniting and canvassing against forces of terror. Temples have served and continue to serve a critical role for the society – right from preservation of Vedic heritage to charitable activities.
Yes, the form must evolve. Given the current threats of terror, our temples must become agents for destruction of hatred. They must become institutions of social equality. We must bring out Hanuman, Durga, Ram and Krishna from temples into our own actions. And fight terror till its complete annihilation. We must use every festival, every social ritual, every puja to remind and prepare ourselves for the call of the time.
An appeal to Indian Muslims
The bonds of culture are stronger than bonds of religion. You are Muslims. But you are Indians first. You are so different from the Muslims of Arab. In fact they hate you for this and refuse to even consider you as true Muslims. They refuse to make you Ulema in any center of importance for entire Muslim world. They will not even make you citizens of their country. They will not marry their daughters to you despite all the hype about equality in Islamic world.
ISIS talks loud about Islamic Caliphate. But an Indian recruit was given task to cleaning toilet. If you even mention that Indian must be Caliphate, they will kill you. Such are the mad ways of those who go to quacks for potency treatment.
But you must be proud of your unique gift of being Indian. Irrespective of your religion, you also carry the heritage of Ram, Krishna, Pratap and Shivaji. So don’t fall in trap of hating Hindus as idol-worshippers. Unite with majority population. Be one with them. Take part in their festivals and worships. Don’t be fooled by what few witchdoctors want you to believe in.
If idol-worship was such a sin, and your way was best, then idol-worshippers would have been in misery and you would have been most affluent in India. But opposite is true. Which means that you made a big blunder by hating idol-worship and idol-worshippers.
Follow whatever you want to. But throw away any book, any witchdoctor, any hint that asks you to hate idol-worship and idol-worshippers. The day you will happily announce that idol-worshippers will sit next to you in Heaven, that day even this life itself will become Heaven for you.
See the world around you. People are killing and giving bad name to Islam. Just condemning them is not enough. You must stand up and openly announce that you refuse to hate idol-worshippers. Stand up and participate in Ganesh Puja and Diwali. Invite Hindus to celebrate Eid with you.
Rise above the form. Follow the essence. The hatred against idol-worship has no basis whatsoever. It only leads you to greater and greater downfall.
We welcome you with open arms. Lets join hands and give a death blow to those who sell terror in name of religion.
– Agniveer (committed to defense of idol-worshippers, Kafirs and disbelievers of world)
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@jyothish vijay you misunderstood me i am not casteist or whatever i don’t know why you keep calling me that my point was on idol worship i may have over reacted on op but not saying its a sin or anything its just not relevant in our society anymore …. i don’t know why this site all of a sudden is promoting idol worship instead of promoting Vedas i wast a big fan of agniveer….and no need to gang-up on me and start abusing my family like one prick did here
@Arya
If u reply mildly….so will we…..If u want to know why Agniveer went “soft” on idol worship….read the article again specifically point no: 3 ie “You Holy Book also prohibits idol-worship. Why do you do that then?”
Different people have different points to quote in support of idol worship…..for me its the lines:
“More importantly, no Hindu worships idol in the way morons believe them to worship. They merely use idols as means for a higher goal. When they pray even in front of idol, they close their eyes and look inwards. The Hindu God lies within each individual”
@ ARYA
I thought u were a casteist b/c you sided one of the Brahmans who “boasts” of having studied the Vedas and wants people to worship formless god and come to them for advices and stuff
Earlier there was the priest class…the ones doing puja in temples….now they have become poor and a new form of casteism as explained earlier came about
Hi Sanjeev and Agniveer Team, you have gone against Arya Samaj and we abandon you. You take Rishi Dayanad TEachings and write anything from your side. Idol worship is greatest Sin on this earth and do you know Rishi Dayanad has criticized it fully. Take this thread down else we do not support you. Not even Single Arya samaji out of 38 Thousand in India will not support you..
True, idol worship is clearly against Arya Samaj and the Vedas and Yoga. Let us follow the path of God, Yoga, which is against idol worship and askes us to follow the science of Dharam.
AryaAryaveer
How do you know Idol worship is “greatest” sin on this earth. Do you mean to say idol worship is greater sin than rapping, killing innocents and being enemy of the nation? Don’t say Yes, otherwise you will be come one of the Jahadis.
SANJEEV Newar,
Rishi dayanand has mentioned this and you and your satyagni.com clearly have criticized, you have articled also proving vedas do not support idol worship. How can you do shirk…Arya Samaj will never forgive you…you know hindus cannot fight bcz of this….we are shocked….Sanjeev Newar,,vashi need to explain this….shall we consider you have bowed down in front of Akbar like maan singh….what a shame…u will be punished for this…
@AryaVeer
How can u go against the teachings of Vedas……and proclaim idol worship a sin…..and Agniveer here has clearly mentioned that Hindu’s don’t do idol worship in the way u think they do….its only your utter ignorance which u think wrongly
Come back to Vedas and leave your stupid prejudices…..If not all of us Hindu’s will debarr you….you and your fellow Arya Samaji’s can form a new Swami DS religion !!!
Simple qn…..how can u even quote swami DS for anything….?
He is NOT (repeat: NOT NOT) a reference figure !!!
@AryaVeer
If u think…..idol worship is a sin greater than rape and murder……its u who becomes a sinner
If it was possible…..i would have challenged u to a debate…..but since I cannot…I ask u this
Mention one place in Vedas where it is mentioned that “idol worship is a sin”
else keep your mouth shut
You may have not read Vedas…but I have and I KNOW FOR A FACT…there is not even a single reference to idol worship in Vedas
If thats so and u still keep up to your stand…u become a follower of a new religion based on swami DS and NOT the Vedas….!
Answer is simple, you cannot make money through Arya Samaj. IIT people are very sharp & they know this fact. Thats why they have become “Sanatanis”. Money is in big temples & fake Gurus, where you do pomp & show. Agniveer will definately make India a country of ASARAMs & RADHE Maas.
I feel purpose of agniveer in supporting Idol worship is encouraging the transparent and versatile Hindu culture. Worshiping Lord Hanumana or Lord Shiva and emblems is ones expression to bring the great desire of devotee who sees and feels the presence and sings to praises. For Even Arya Samaji also doing Hawan is Idol worship as we generate fire by input of various important ingredients thus create a form and engage devotedly doing it . So Instead of arguing, we must unite to serve the Humanity as Hinduism is Humanity!Go and serve Hindus sufferings and help them!
” For Even Arya Samaji also doing Hawan is Idol worship as we generate fire by input of various important ingredients thus create a form and engage devotedly doing it .”
– And that is something I disagree with Arya Samaj on. Yes, Arya Samaj did cut out 99% of idol worship, but they kept havan. But Arya Samaj will claim they don’t worship the fire they just use that as a point of reference. Which I think is BS answer. It really is no different from islam which claims they are not worshiping the black rock they bow to, but they use it as a point of reference. With Yoga, you don’t have…
Don’t get me wrong, did learn a lot from Arya Samaj, and have a lot more to learn from them, but I want to go to pure no idol worship and go straight to the source, which is Yoga. Yoga is the true path to God. There is no need for idols, prophets, images, black stones or rocks, godman, son of god, superman, xman, spiderman, or any of that crap. You just need God and yourself. That is the true greatness of Yoga. Yoga is the gift of God to us. With Yoga you just have yourself and God. You can meditate on God, Sing songs, and pray without any of the crap mentioned above. Yoga is the truth.
Sanjeev if you do not respond then we will send group e-mail across Arya Samaj in India and world and let people know you are doing Shirk..Come clear if you go by Rishi Dayanand or you are with Idol worship. Rishi dayanand whole fight was against IDol worship…
You are not replying because you are afraid…..you are afraid that people will come to know your reality…
AryAryaveer
Looks like you can’t find any other place to purge out your frustration. Please go ahead and send emails. This way indirectly you will help spread mission Agniveer. And I am sure any Arya Samaji who understands need of an hour will become Agniveer’s fan after reading Agniveer’s article series on Idol worship.
By the way, you still haven’t answered my question I asked in my previous comment.
Dear brothers and sisters
I would like to put my two cents here. Hope you will take it with positive attitude.
We all are human beings. No one is perfect here. Everyone of us is learning and trying to find the truth. Most of the times, during this process, we get biased with the training that we have received in our environment. The simple fact is that majority of the population gets influenced by their surroundings (parents, relatives, friends, books etc) and it is really hard for them to brake that system and provide new innovative ideas.
@Rishika
Look at this thread….people who seem to be “believing” that they are following the “Vedic” part are the most ignorant and probably the most violent…….this one fellow here ARyaveer threatening Agniveer , someone saying idol worship is a sin and stuff like that……None are unaatached…..if they were so……their blood won’t boil this much……….a small provocation won’t make them violent.
Instead they seem to be content with the “no idol worship” part….as if its an end to something!!!!
Still want to know…..why temples, rituals etc? Then ASK !!!
I agree. Most of the people get attached to their beliefs and outrightly rejects other opinions. Even whatever way Vajra has commented, does not show higher level of thinking. However, I do not believe that any one of these people are bad. All of them have the potential to realize the truth and harmony. With calm and honest mind, we can achieve much better and also learn many things from each other. We should respect disagreements and then only we can learn from different opinions.
Only very very few people who were real truth seeker like Buddha, Swami Dayanand, Swami Vivekanand, Aurobindo Ghosh etc. remained unattached with the environment and could provide a new dimension to the society.
Now if we really want to find the truth, we really need to clean our mind with what we have forced on ourselves from the surroundings. We really need to understand the truth. How many of us are really sincerely interested in understanding GOD?
Just do a very simple task whenever your mind is calm and you really want to search GOD. Just a very simple visualization will give you good answer to you if you will use clean mind to explore the truth. DO a simple journey and visualize how big is our planet, solar system, milky way galaxy and then millions of galaxy and universe. Do you still think that if there is any god, that can be confined to any human shape. Won’t it be illogical and irrational? It’s really very simple.
Now, I would like to make a comment on those people who are in favor of idol worship and says that we are actually not worshipping any idols, rather we are visualizing the power of that image in idol form. I can understand this point. I do not have any problem here but let us see how many idol worshippers are really following the character of idols in their lives and leading their lives based on those principles. I wish it would have been true. If it would have been true, there would not have been very few crimes at least in hindu society who is predominantly idol worshippers and go to temple
Correction here:
If it would have been true, there would have been very few crimes or no crimes at least in hindu society who is predominantly idol worshippers and go to temple and do all rituals.
Whenever I have visited any Hindu temple, I have only seen rituals and sometimes most of the rituals do not make any sense e.g tulsi vivah etc. Is there anything to learn from those rituals. Therefore, majority of hindus do not even know how to define hinduism. What is the meaning of living a spiritual life? Most of the pujaris do not even know the names of upanishads rather they create many superstition and try to exploit innocent people. It is the reality how many people are getting exploited by these fake priests, babas etc. Please think yourself.
Our ancient books, vedas, upanishads teach us to follow the right path. Let us go back to our Vedas and recognize principles and practices that would lead any individual to become a better human being and understand and live in harmony with dharma.
@Rishika
People doing idol worship doesn’t claim to follow the lives of the characters behind the idols. so your qn has no relevance.
The point is “not doing idol worship” is not an end to anything….per se it achieves nothing. Personalities like swami RamaKrishna Paramahamsa, Buddha etc may have lived an unattached lifestyle and may not have done idol worship………But it is utterly laughable to see when people who in the name of emulating these great personalities emulate only the “no idol worship: part (which is not the imp step) and disregards the unattached lifestyle part
@Rishika
No idol worship is not the starting point……its the end point……u become unattached……realise god and in the end the idols disappear……..it doesn’t work the other way…….like these other people here maintain
Do I really believe…..what is say?
Ans: I don’t know….but it seems logical……its in agreement with the scriptures and ….its not as illogical as the ideas of these “no idol worship” propogators
Why illogical?
Ans: As explained earlier….no idol worship is not the means to an end. Its what u do after u realised godhead…..not before!
@Rishika
A person who has reached the highest level of enlightment can see and realise god in everything and without the help of anything (ie idols)…..for him, he does not require idols….thats all
There is no logic whatsoever for a person who is standing much much beloe this level to abandon usage of idols, (thereby going down on his bhakti path) and think….I hav achieved something !!!
Jyothish,
What is the reason that in spite of our invaluable texts like Darshan, Nyaya Sutra, Vaisheshik Darshan, Sankhya Darshan, Vedanta, Upanishads, Ramayan, Gita not studied by majority of hindu people. It is real shame that majority of hindu people are completely ignorant of their culture and have no clue about anything related to hinduism. Please try to explore the reasons behind these and you will find how and why most of hindus are just hindus for the name sake (just because they were born to hindu parents), they have not read or done anything to learn and understand about hinduism
Let us accept the truth. Majority of hindu people who go to temple just go to temple to do few rituals. They do not have any knowledge of Hindu scriptures. Infact pujaris in our temples do not have much knowledge except rituals. They do not learn anything about hinduism in true extent in temples. After sometimes, some rational mind do not follow these rituals and try to find truth and peace outside hinduism. That’s how they get converted to different religions. And most of these ignorant hindus become followers of so many fake babas, gurus etc.
Temples are pandits shops. Only stupid and dumb people will go there to do idol worship. And majority of these people believe in miracles and therefore become followers of fake babas. I have hardly seen any aryasamji becoming follower of stupid and fake baba like Asharam. Most of the population is highly ignorant and illiterate and therefore, idol worshipping and believing in miracles, superstitions is the easiest thing for them to do.
Most of Hindu temples are big industries to exploit the people. They have spread superstitions, created divisions based on casteism and also promoted some acts which are completely against to go to spiritual path. Just be honest and see how many animals are slaughtered for the sake of sacrifice to please some idols to do some rituals. Hinduism has become a joke because of so many superstitions and stupid rituals.
@Rishika
I believe in the Bhakti path (as one among many paths)…….I believe in the strength of belef and devotion more than the path…….As a generalization, I consider the one’s we call as idol worshipper standing a much higher chance at “self-realization” (moksha) than the “non-idol worshipper”….simply because the majority “non-idol worshipper” focusses at just having no idol worshipper and they put no effort at the “self realization” part…..the “unattached life” part……As for the idol worshipper, they have much higher degrees of devotion, and this devotion will…
or atleast show them the path towards moksha,,,,,,,I believe this is what Lord Krishna meant in BG……….
As for rituals…..why is the qn?
Ans: Simple answer is……..it gives happiness…………no big harm done…..Yes I agree some people think the rituals will make god happy
Why not correct such people?
Ans: These rituals as I said brings no evil…..so there is no urgent need to ban it. As for the peole wrong notions.-I believe a man cannot really be “told” the truth……he has to “realise” the truth…….These people are so hoplessly dependent on the system that…
they will even put up a fight to protect it…….apprpriate knowledge has to be given only at the appropriate time……Somewhere down the line I believe everybody will have realization of the higher knowledge…….giving them that knowledge before they are ready is not good
You may think I am telling nonsense…….but I think what I said is correct
What best example than Muslims……they are non-idol worshippers……..and their focus is on having no idols ignoring other aspects of their religion. Most of them are not intellectually ready to follow this path and hence they fail…
They read their Quran and stuck on all anti-human interpretations of quranic verses…..the result is a race of most intolerant religion on this planet
My point is having no idols , no rituals etc are not the starting points for a person…..they are not means to an end
If u want to really infuse such knowledge……u need to give them knowledge in a way that does not contradict their already set belief…..the more they are exposed to truth……..idols and rituals will automatically vanish……(but plz note: having no idols is not really the target…..the target is “self…
Hi Rishika Ji,
I completely agree with you “Hinduism has become a joke because of so many superstitions and stupid rituals”. It is the truth. I was one of Hindu who used to make fun of hinduism because of these stupid rituals. Fortunately, Aryasamaj showed me the light and introduced me to vedic text and culture. Most of my indian friends still do not know any thing related to vedic text. They are highly confused and most of them are attracted to western culture and christianity. Similarly chinese students who come to US, get converted to christianity as they do not have their own…
-realization….and once a person starts on this course…..idols and rituals dissappearing happen as a secondary phenomenon (sort of)
I hope u get what I am trying to convey
And NO….I don’t think having idols or rituals will act as a block towards “self realization” !!!! They might in fact even help the person in their paths !!!
I believe the path of yoga no idols.
When I was young, my mother used to take me to temple. However, when I was around 14-15 years old, I completely stopped going to temple. It was the most boring task for me. I came to US when I was around 18 years old. In US, there are lot of church people who will try to convince you to convert to christianity. Honestly, I found christianity much more appealing than hinduism. There was much better discipline, organized services and various ideas and plans to help the community. Though I did not convert to christianity due to family pressure, but I admired church more than temple .
Continued…
I was living in Houston, TX at that time. One day, one of my indian friend invited me to visit his house . He used to live with his parents in Houston. I went there to meet his family. His family was aryasamaji. They invited me to join Sunday Satsang with them at Aryasamaj temple. Though I had no interest, but just agreed to show the respect to them. There was one pravachan by one of Achrya Ji based on Upanishads and Vedic Dharma. This was mind blowing to me. It filled the shallowness in me. I was searching for truth and trying to see somewhere outside hinduism.
Before this visit, I never came across of any spiritual text or material that could guide me. I visited so many temples in India but none of my temple visits made any sense to me. In fact, no one could explain or answer my questions in any of these temples. Here, at aryasamaj temple, majority of the people are scholars. Almost all of them are aware of Upanishads, Gita and Vedic text books in depth. You choose any topic and they will give you very scientific answer. Gradually I realized how much wisdom our ancient seers had. First time in my life, I really felt proud of being hindu.
Majority of our freedom fighters (over 80%) were aryasamji during our freedom movement. Aryasamaj does not preach anything new than what Vedas say. It asks every hindu to realize the wisdom and truth that is filled in our vedic texts. Our vedas clearly states that God is omnipotent, omnipresent and formless. It can’t be confined in temples under lock and key. Temples are just religious shops for the pandits. Due to these temple pandits, hindus started believing in miracles, idol worship, avtar. Temples also brought untouchability, casteism, child marriages, sati pratha, animals sacrifices…
@Ravi
You were not inclined to the “usual” Hinduism rituals and hence u would find teachings of Arya Samaj better for you…..the same cannot be a generalization
Anyway whatever u wrote is true….but with correction and an addition
CORRECTION: Nobody said god can be confined to temples
ADDITION: God is not only formless….god can assume a form too….god is both sakar and nirakar at the same time……
Are temples the cause for evils?
Ans: Maybe….but todays temples are NOT EVIL…….there is no more untouchability…….and anybody can be a priest…..!
Dear friend,
You live in a fantasy and mythological world. It will be extremely hard for you to understand that god can’t be formless. Moreover, it is not your mistake. This is how our brain is trained from childhood. If you honestly try, go beyond yourself and particularly human species, think about how a GOD can acquire form and regulate whole universe with millions of galaxies and billions of stars and trillions of solar systems and that be having many many planets like earth with intelligent life. it is illogical to believe a god with any form. Good luck if you have give honest…
Good luck, if you want to give honest try. Another point, GOD does not care if you worship him or not. In such a big universe, even our whole solar system is just a small period (.) so who are we? Human species is so self centered. The best thing for any human being is to follow the right path, elevate yourself spiritually by doing yoga and meditation, and be a nice human being that can positively contribute to the society before he/she disappears from this planet.
Hi Ravi,
I agree with most of your points, but “GOD does not care if you worship him or not”. God does care about everything. God is soooooo vast God, has the ability to do so. Better point is, does God need our worship, NOOOOO. But do we need God, yes. That is the difference.
Love your points about Yoga and Meditation. Excellent.
Best,
Krishnarao
@Ravi,
I accept responsibility for only what i said : I did not say god cares if we worship him!
Do u mean to say u have some extra knowledge about god that nobody else has ? How can u say that god is formless? Have u seen god? Have u seen that god is formless? Have u “felt” the presence of god and then somehow felt that he was formless?
No…..you are using your logic to say that god is formless….thats all….your own logic
Are u so foolish to understand different people have different logic?
As for me I don’t speak about logic…..I speak only what the scriptures talk…
@Ravi
One another thing…..Its not difficult for me to imagine that god can be formless…..NEVER…..In fact what I say is god is formless…..and can also have form AT THE SAME TIME
It is going to be difficult for you to understand this dual principal….but plz give it a try !
This focussing on “the concept of god” is going to get you anywhere……….instead focus on the path of Karma….ldoing unattached work etc
And BTW who told u that god doesn’t care if u worship or not?
If thats true…..u got to explain the qn “is there really a god?”
@Ravi
I don’t speak about logic when talking about the “concept of god”……because by defintion you won’t get there by “logic”……god is incomprehensible
But my logic says if god is what we believe he is….then he has the power to be with form, without form at the same time…..
I understand your problem….your mind is just not mature to understand how something with form can be infinite…….i don’t have that problem…..because if god is whhat he says he is…….having form and retaining powers is probably one of the easier of tasks
There is only One God, and his mericle is Yoga!!!!!!!!!
Dear Agniveer and team,
Good to see there are some right-minded people here who are criticizing this article in fact agniveer him self accept criticism it is just that there are many people here who are justifying idol worshiping and no its not a sin but this is not relevant in this era… like 80 % or temples are just for business for this pundits. TO people who support this ask your self honestly how many hindus are educated about their religion ( yep it is a religion its not the same vedic dharma which was followed by ancient people) if we want to worship god/creator we must do it by yoga …..Many hindus are rejecting hindusim because it has became a joke we don’t have any rational GURU to get educated in Vedas in media we only hear about this fake babas and this right-wing people passing stupid statement on women. also shamelessly claiming all the invention were made in india one even said putin is hindu ……no wonder why many people are not ready to accept the genuine accomplishment of ancient india like plastic surgery, astronomy etc instead all this pseudo atheists will mock Vedic science because we are giving them chance to mock us Seriously Agniveer please Start writing and promoting some Rational articles how about Making all Vedas(English) free in pdf format so more people will be able gain knowledge about vedas i know this organization lacks funding it not easy but it not impossible but if not soon many will give up Hinduism.
@ Arya
If idol owrship is not relevant for you…..its fine
it maybe relevant for others….i don’t care……I am not one of them
But temples are not for Pundits……this is not at all correct……..are you living centuries ago………In our current era except for a very few “rich” temples, nowhere else is ‘being a pundit” of any financial benefit
Nowadays people born in traditionally Brahmin families do not take up studying Vedas or even the rituals……they are not interested in doing puja’s and stuff……because being a priest do not give sufficient payback
In my areas there is an acute shortage of priests in temples for this reason…..in fact people born in other families are being appointed as a result (if they have learnd rituals)
all in all a new trend also is coming up….people who join this field accept it only as a part time profession
@Arya
Worship ishwar by yoga?
Why should we worship ishwar at all……..there is no need
If worship….why should it be by yoga?
It need not……nowhere it says that yoga is the one and only answer
Why Hindu;s not educated/
Why should supporters of idol worship be responsible to answer that question……in my opinion the questions could be asked to you too
Final point………spiritually speaking it is not relevant what another person believes or not believes…..whats imp is your belief and the conviction behind that belief……so whether hindu’s think Hinduism is a joke should not spiritually affect me
As a footnote…..I don’t think people are leaving Hinduism to a significant degree and idol worship has if anything made their convictions stronger
And yes….people leaving Hinduism do so because of their lack of knowledge in Hinduism, its scriptures and lack of proper gurus…In fact i will now give u a link of one Hindu girl who converted to Islam in spite of being educated and reasonably good scriptural knowledge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_tx4j3O8o
She knows the concept of advaita, nishkam karma and yoga…..but she converted b/c, she wanted dwaita ie she wanted a god separate from her to whom she could pray to, she wanted to have “desire” for result, and she couldn’t believe in yoga !
My point is….so called higher knowledge is not an anser…..only the right person should have it at the right moment…..if u r ready u will get…
Jyo,
I know muslims who are knowledgeable about islam and left. One good example is Hassan Radwan. He has a masters in arabic and english. He taught islam to kids. He wrote four children’s books as well. And he used to convert people to the religion. But he realized it was a wrong religion and left it.
There is also maninder pal arya, a muslim imam who left islam and converted to Arya Samaj. And now regularly debates muslim leaders. He even debated naik’s teacher. And asked naik for a debated repeatedly, but naik refued it.
My point is you can find people who went both ways. Also Yoga is about personally experiencing the divine instead, you yourself become the prophet. So you don’t need one. I’m sure most people don’t know or understand that important concept.
with the so called higher knowledge will only be counterproductive…..now she has fallen more and more into the world of attachment s and mindless obedience
BTW….that video is not fake…..the language is Malayalam…….hence I explained
In my opinion the girl would have fred much better,……if she had been simply told to pray to Lord krishna……..someobody the prayers would have helped her in her quest…….instead she was showelled with knowledge for which she was not ready 1111
It depends on whom we accept as authorities.
If Sripad Adi ShakaraArachrya, Sripad RamanujaAcharya, Sripad MadhvaAcharya, Sripad VallabhAcharya, Sripad Vishnu Swami, Sripad NimbarkaAcharya, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Jiva Goswami, Sant Tukaram ji Maharaj, all of them accepct the 700 verses of Bhagavad Gita aas authority, all of them accept Deity Worship as authentic, then who are we(born in a age of rampant cow killing), to say no ?
Please do note, the above perons are spotless in character and their behavior and also are widely respected by the Dhiras(sober) and the Adhiras(wild) alike. We all accept that they were not on this planet to cheat us, to misguide us.
Even a small photo of our father, mother, or child evokes such nice feelings of love and respect, what to speak of the authentic Deity of the Lord.
Bg 7.24
avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ
manyante mām abuddhayaḥ
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mamāvyayam anuttamam
Word for word:
avyaktam — nonmanifested; vyaktim — personality; āpannam — achieved; manyante — think; mām — Me; abuddhayaḥ — less intelligent persons; param — supreme; bhāvam — existence; ajānantaḥ — without knowing; mama — My; avyayam — imperishable; anuttamam — the finest.
Translation:
Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.
Think Rationally – If Idol worship makes a person to worship\love idols, imagine how much love he may contain in his/her heart for the real living beings 🙂
I do not know Idol worship is good or not. But I certainly know that majority of idol worshippers do not know how to define hinduism. And it is not their fault because they have been taught that just mere going to temple is good enough to make them Hindu. Hinduism is not a religion but a philosophy and you have to understand it and then you need to bring it in your actions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbAg6-KjXRQ
Namasthe.
the thing is Hinduism focusses on different aspects an different levels of human mind. Me and you are different in our perspectives.
Idol worship is not actually worshippit the idol, the idol is a projection of a symbolism onto a background.
God is formless, but God’s aspects/ideals that are known, are symbolised in pictorical form, so that a person can meditate/contemplate. Some ppl, meditating on a form that symbolises a concept/ideal makes it easy for him to meditate/contemplate.
Its more that merely going to temples, for some people, its about fixing one’s mind effectively on a concept necessary for improvement in life, as that concept is depicted symbolically.As hindus, we do not marginalise, or criticise another person’s perspective,because that perspective of theirs might be more effective for him that us.To impose our stance on others without understanding their position, is immature and is non-dharmic.
Essence of Vedas – Live in the spirit of the teachings of the Vedas. Learn to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent. Behold the Self in all beings, in all objects. Names and forms are illusory. Therefore sublate them. Feel that there is nothing but the Self. Share what you have,-physical, mental, moral or spiritual,-with all. Serve the Self in all. Feel when you serve others, that you are serving your own Self. Love thy neighbour as thyself. Melt all illusory differences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbAg6-KjXRQ
Bharat chalisa – Bharat Gaurav Gaan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxBmdnRjLtE