Why sanathana dharma has many gods: What is god and essence of idol worship
Why sanathana dharma has many gods: What is god and essence of idol worship
Sanaathana dharma is a way of life more than religion. That is because Right from our morning wakeups to night sleeps, Right from a person's birth to his death bed, each and every phase of life, activities related to managing life is given in detailed way including minor and miniscule aspects.
So it's just like a user guide to live a joyful life. As how we receive user guide for a new gadget or precautions we get when we enter into a factory. Similarly every area of life is addressed with efficient approaches.
The things like Best habits of What to eat, when to eat, when to sleep and when to wake up, how to construct a house. Location of dining room, hall, kitchen etc and how to manage your relations, desires, minor health tips like intake of neem leaves on daily basis to avoid all types of cancer, usgae of turmeric to avoid infections, cow products etc just simply signifies it's detailed oriented approach.
Systematic sophisticated administration systems like "Goods Exchange System" for peaceful survival of humans in societies, Nevertheless to mention the list becomes endless.
"For example in mathematics, if we have some unknown value or attribute. We assign it a name as "x" and give some attributes to it. Why? Because it becomes easy for us to access and refer that unknown identity."
"Because matter is pretty much energy. They are interchangeable. Einstein's E = mc2 proves the same. So whatever be the divine energy, it has the power to manifest into physical form."
Coming to number of gods and goddesses. Gods and goddesses are nothing but representation of specific nature and specific consciousness. There are three main gods and goddesses in sanaathana dharma. Lord Brahma & Saraswati linked, Lord Vishnu & Lakshmi linked, Lord Shiva & Shakthi linked. Lord Brahma does the creation, Lord Vishnu maintains the creation, Lord Shiva dissolves the creation. Brahma denotes the creation.
Whichever be the consciousness that exists in creating anything is represented by the name Brahma. How we can create or invent things? That is by education or knowledge. So that education and knowledge is linked with Brahma as Saraswati. A feminine energy. Goddess Saraswati is interpreted as wife of Brahma who denotes knowledge.
The next comes Vishnu and Lakshmi. Vishnu denotes maintenance or sustainance. When a thing is created it requires some maintenance in the process of usage. This maintenance consciousness is referred to as God Vishnu. And who is goddess Lakshmi.
Lakshmi is denoted by wealth. Only when there is wealth we can maintain something. Wealth is not just money, wealth can come in various forms like commitment, bravery, luck, ability to focus etc. This multi faceted wealth is interpreted as feminine energy and linked with God Vishnu as his partner.
The next comes the Shiva. Shiva denotes the nature of deconstruction. When a service of particular object completes it will get dismantled. That's a must process. This activity of deconstruction is referred to as shiva.
Dismantling things is necessary, if it doesn't happen in right time the stuff will get messy. For the deconstruction to happen, energy plays a prominent role. So this energy is referred to as feminine diety shakthi and linked with shiva.
Whichever be the entity you take on this earth. It will have these three stages I e. Creation, sustainance/maintenance, destruction. It's a common lifecycle phenomena. Then why this divine consciousness is represented as idols rather than directly referring them as specified consciousness.
The answer is simple. For example in mathematics, if we have some unknown value or attribute. We assign it a name as "x" and give some attributes to it. Why? Because it becomes easy for us to access and refer that unknown identity. In similar way, if we propagate those specific consciousness in literal way most of the people won't get it.
Because it's the toughest way to understand an entity without having any identity. So those specific consciousness/entities are given a name and a form that is easily understandable and accessible by even normal people . So when we give an identity to unknown value in mathematics, ultimately our aim is to find out the value of "x". It is just like simplifying the process.
In similar way, even though we pray or worship idols we indirectly referring to that particular specific consciousness/divine entity. When we pray lord Vishnu idol. We are actually referring to the nature/ consciousness of maintainence. It applies to all dieties and all idols.
If someone say why there are so many gods. It just like asking why so many stages like creation, maintenance and dissolution. The question itself becomes meaningless. Even though energy is one, but it's behaviour changes depending on the situations. For example if we take electrical appliances, Take a tube light, fan and fridge.
All the three have common power that is electric power, but it's behaviour changes when it enters into different entities. If the energy enters into tube light, it sheds light. If the same energy enters into a fan, it provides air. If the energy enters into fridge, it keeps the items fresh. So functionalities may differ but internally it's same energy.
In the same way there may be so many gods with different functionalities but the internal energy is always one. For example lord Ganesh represents the remover of obstacles. When we pray lord Ganesh we are referring to the consciousness of the specific nature which removes the obstacles.
It's noteworthy to mention that in sanaathana dhrama, worshipping idols is one kind of worship. It also provides facility to interpret god as formless. In yoga divine is seen as energy. The idea behind this is to give equal opportunities to all kinds of people irrespective of their intelligence capabilities.
It means the specific people who can hold on to the idea of formless worship successfully they can opt the formless worship. Whoever be the people those cannot hold on to formless worship or who likes to have a god with a form, they can choose the idol worship. Ultimately both the ways when practiced with right conduct and devotion will lead them to same destination that is god.
There is no discrimination in the result based on the paths they choose. That is because humans are diverse. Everyone has their own preferences and abilities. So providing only one facility may not go successful with all kinds of people. It is just like giving a graduate syllabus to both the kindergarten kid and the graduate student to study. It would become like a process based on their intellectual capacities.
It's not that god is only in energy form. He can also manifest in human form depending on the devotees interest. Because matter is pretty much energy. They are interchangeable. Einstein's E = mc2 proves the same. So whatever be the divine energy, it has the power to manifest into physical form. Moreover idols are designed in a human form.
That is because we are very much aware of human forms. We can easily relate to human forms when compared to alien structures or other creations. It's like further simplifying the way to reach the god. With whom we can relate to. So that everyone can concentrate on god easily without depending on their intellectual capacities.
Its quite illogical to understand when people comment why God will come down to earth and take a form. For example take a company. We have a CEO. Whenever there is severity or necessity, the CEO must enter into the affairs of his own company. CEO cannot send a executive level employee to attend a meeting worth of billion dollar deal. That is necessity.
At the same time when the company is in huge losses or it is at the position where the collapse is likely to happen, CEO must descend and make the things better. This is severity. In both the cases the lower level employees cannot handle the respective situations and it's irrelevant to expect so.
In the similar way when the world is in chaos and when the direction of world is inclining more towards negativity, god sends his messengers or his executives to settle the issues. That is what the Yogi's, messengers and sons of God do. They do their best to repair the world.
But when nothing is getting better and when divine intervention gets inevitable then CEO of this creation that is God/absolute consciousness descends down on the earth. What is the force that drives him/her to descend down. That is pure love. His love towards own people he created makes him to descend down.
Don't you think if God has power to manifest crores of human bodies and this entire creation, isn't he capable of getting a single human body for the sake of his own people?. Whether he wills or not is a secondary issue but there is a possibility. He knows better than us.
Those pure divine incarnations are called as "avatars" in sanathana dharma. Lord Rama, Lord Krishna are one among those divine incarnations happened on earth where the divine himself interfered with the world order and set it right.
It also showed a path on all aspects of life. Where his life is treated as his message. That is what Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavad-Gita and other books signifies. They explains the appropriate human behaviors in variety of scenarios and what they get in the end . Also the inappropriate human behaviors and what they get in the end.
Constructive vs Destructive Approaches
It's unfortunate to see destruction on divine things. Destruction is easy, it doesn't require any commitment or hard-work. What we do is going decide our value. Constructive ways demand the real struggle. A construction of building demands lot of resources.
It demands, man power in 1000's, 100's of technology equipment, some years of time, tons of building materials like cement, iron, bricks, electrical objects, sanitary arrangements etc. When these things happen consistently for years then a building will manifest.
Similarly constructive approaches is taken up only by standard people. It decides the value of the people. Where as the same 100 floor building can be destroyed with in a minute. Even a small kid can blast the whole building in matter of seconds by pressing a button. What's difficulty in that. But when destruction happens even dogs doesn't prefer to stay there.
That is the value of destructive approaches. But where as when construction happens it feeds thousands of lives. That is the power of constructive approaches. So doing bad or having destructive approaches is very easy even in our day to day lives. It's a cheap thing that can be done by everyone. What's big deal in it.
If we want to prove ourselves, constructive approach is the real challenge and it is the real deal. Some people destroy idols out of hatred, but it's funny to think on their part that they can destroy the divine consciousness just by destroying the idols. How foolish to think so.
Those idols do involve a prolonged systematic vedic procedure to be established in a temple. It's just not a mere idol. It's the place where divine consciousness is invited by using the mantras fused with power of Beejaksharas( root words) and yantras beneath the idols. It can be best explained by below reference.
Countries are represented by flags. Every country has its own flag. A single flag represents a whole country. Why the idea of flag is discovered. As It's easy to access the idea of whole country and do certain activities. We can pay respect and we can use it in all prominent ceremonies etc.
Here flag is not the entire country literally. Flag is a miniscule part of the country. Yet when we pay respect, it simply means that we are paying respect to the entire land. Just like as how we cannot literally pay respect to whole country and we invented the idea of flag and do all the necessary activities in the name of the country.
In the similar way the divine consciousness which is spread everywhere is brought down to a idol size, so that it becomes much easier to access the idea of God. Moreover our brain can efficiently focus on 3d objects. We subconsciously always see the things from 3d perspective.
Because in that way it's easily understood and accessed. So when a person destroys a idol. It simply means that he is not destroying the specific religion god but he is destroying the god in general. There are no multiple gods.
It's not like there are multiple religion God's sitting up in the sky and watching their own religion people. God is only one. That is energy. The interpretation of God or idea of God may differ from religion to religion depending on various aspects. But in reality every religion is referring to the same divine consciousness. But when a person destroys the idol it simply means that he is destroying the "idea of God" in general.
It means they are destroying the same god they pray daily. Not only just idols, whatever that is perceived by someone as pure divine power. If anyone disrespect it or destroys it, it simply means that on one hand they doing prayers to the god and on the other hand they vandalising the same god again.
Because interpretations could be different but the reference is same. It indirectly and literally means that. Anyone can interpret god in his own way. It is the freedom that God has given to us. Take any form you like and if you can provide the love which is accompanied by "good conduct" god will be pleased by default.
It could be formless, it could be the idol, it could be anything that is the right we have. The divine will respond in the way we like. Where access to god is not limited to individual's intelligence capabilities. Here "good conduct" means practicing truth, righteousness, peace, pure love, non violence in our daily lives.
When we offer this good conduct consistently with pure unconditional love towards god, That is what he expect from us. Even an atheist with a good conduct is a way better than theist who doesn't have a good conduct and regularly prays god. All his worships will go in vain, If he cannot have a good conduct.
Even if a person is atheist with his good conduct he will automatically get dragged towards divine love sometime or later. Of course it may take time, But the divine doesn't even look towards the theist who is not maintaining a good conduct no matter how regularly he prays. That is what happening in almost all religions.
Everyone is very busy visiting Temples, churches, mosques, gurudwaras etc. When they enter the sanctrum they will be like they are the most pious/holy souls on earth. But once they step out of the place, again the same lies filtered through nasty words, same wicked personalities get back to them. This kind of attitude doesn't work.
Some people say like it's tough to maintain the authenticity with the world today. But believe me it's not at all tough if we just believe in it with our soul. In fact authenticity and genuineness brings enormous positivity and strength in our lives. It blesses us from all directions.
The people who cannot maintain authenticity and genuineness they may succeed in work life but somehow other areas of life they bound to suffer. Because there is no solid strength. As genuineness and authenticity gives us self satisfaction and strength. It's not that this article is written without having or considering ground realties. I myself practice these things in my career and in my life.
The unique profoundness we experience is beyond everything. People just cannot ignore the positive vibes and energies. Additionally we also attract the divine consciousness. It's a huge advantage. So professional life, personal life and everything will fall in their place comfortably by maintaining self care and good conduct from heart.
Authenticity and genuineness is what god expects from us. If we cannot maintain that then it's futile to continue as theist. In reality you continue to give wrong examples to the people with whom you are surrounded by. Also some people do business deals with god. It's just like they go and do the prayers only to fulfill their mundane wishes.
It's not a bad thing to do. But at least we must have the unconditional love towards divine even after our wishes getting fulfilled. The gratitude and love we must never forget to reciprocate. The love we can show by committing to a good conduct in our daily lives. If we can do that then we inevitably attract the divine consciousness towards us.
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