Idolatry is bad; not so, idol worship.
An idolator makes a fetish of his idol. An idol worshipper sees God even in a
stone
and takes the help of his idol to reach union with God.
Master: Do you like to meditate upon God as `with form' or `without form'?
Disciple: I should like to meditate upon God as the Formless
rather than as the Being `with form'.
Master: That is good. There is no harm in looking at Him from this
or that point of view. Yes, to think of
Him as the Formless Being is quite right.
But take care you do not run away with the idea that that view
alone is true and all others false.
Meditating upon Him as a Being `with form' is equally right. But you must hold to your particular
point of view until you see God, when everything will become clear.
Disciple: Then,
Sir, one may hold that God is `with form'.
But surely He is not the earthen images that are worshipped?
Master: But why should you call it an
earthen image? Surely the Image Divine
is made of the Spirit?
Disciple: But is it not one's duty Sir,
to make it clear to those who worship images that God is not the same as
the clay forms they worship, and that in worshipping they should keep God
Himself in view and not the clay images?
Master: It has grown to be a fashion
with you Calcutta people, to think and talk only of `lecturing' and `bringing
others to light'. Pray how are you
going to bring light unto your own self?
Eh? Who are you to teach
others? The Lord of the Universe will
teach mankind if need be -- that Lord who has made the Sun and the Moon,
men and brutes, the Lord who has made things for them to live upon, who has
made parents to tend and rear them, -- that Lord who has done so many
things, will He not do something to bring them also to light? Surely, if need be, He will. He lives in the temple of the human
body. He knows our inmost
thoughts. If there is anything wrong in
image worship, does He not know that all the worship is meant for
Him? He will be pleased enough to
accept it knowing that it was meant for Him alone. Why must you worry yourself about things above you and
beyond your reach? Seek to know and
revere God. Love God. That is the duty nearest you.
You were talking of `images made of clay'. Well, there often comes a necessity of worshipping even such images as these. God Himself has provided these various forms of worship. The Lord has done all this -- to suit different men in different stages of knowledge.
The mother so arranges the food for her children that every one gets what agrees with him. One gets rich pilav with the fish, while she gives only a little soup to another who is of weak digestion; she makes a sauce of sour tamarind for the third, fries the fish for the fourth and so on; exactly as it happens to agree with the stomach. Don't you see?
Disciple: Yes Sir, now I do, The Lord is to be worshipped in the image of clay as spirit by the beginner. The devotee, as he advances, may worship him independently of the image.
Master: Yes. And again when he sees God, he realizes that everything -- image and all -- is a manifestation of the Spirit. To him the Image is made of Spirit, not of clay. God is Spirit.
The Master has said elsewhere: "God is present everywhere; but he manifests himself especially in the sacred place of a temple worshipped by devotees. Water can be had anywhere if you dig deep in the ground. But where there is a lake or a tank, one has not to dig for it, but can get it whenever when one needs it and wants it.
The Master's statement: "When one sees God, one realizes that every thing is a manifestation of the Spirit" is explained with two examples by Tirumoolar in Verses 2289 and 2290 of the 8th Section of his Tirumantiram (Tamil) :
Tirumoolar's Tirumantiram - 8th Tantiram
|
2289 |
2289 Thought Process for Self-Realization Think of gold
jewelery, |
| 2290 .  22maraththai maRaiththathu mAmatha yAnai maraththin maRainthathu mAmatha yAnai paraththai maRaiththathu pArmuthal bhUthaM paraththin maRainthathu pArmuthal bhUthamE |
2290 Sublimation of Thought Think of wood |
21