Swami Krishnananda Shashtyabdapurti Mahotsava Commemoration Volume

A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 60th Birthday

The Grand Concept of Idol Worship

by N.S.V. Rao

Worship is of two types, viz., Saguna Aradhana or idol worship and Nirguna Aradhana or abstract worship. We usually start with idol worship, which ultimately leads us to Nirguna Aradhana. Let us illustrate.

An electrical engineer will tell you that it is possible to create an electric field, which is capable of illuminating a tube-light when the latter is introduced into the zone of the electric field, without there being any connecting wires between the tube-light and the supply mains.

Even so, an idol in a temple is surcharged with divinity. The sanctum sanctorum is permeated by the flux of spirituality radiated by the idol. Leaving aside the initial consecration ceremony at the time of installing the idol, many saints visit the temple and generate high frequency spiritual currents which charge the very atmosphere in the sanctum sanctorum, and more especially the idol, with infinite spiritual energy.

Now, let us review a more concrete example. Suppose a devotee goes on a pilgrimage from, say, Delhi to Tirupati. It is a long and tedious journey, which he bears up with equanimity, because he is full of enthusiasm at the prospect of a unique experience lying ahead. He reaches Tirupati, and after a refreshing bath, joins the long queue for the Darshan of the Lord of the Seven Hills. Bearing the tedium of the queue with patience, he finally enters the sanctum sanctorum. He is thrilled at the sight of the glorious Lord Sri Venkateswara. His hairs stand on end. Unfortunately, he is allowed to stand in the sanctum sanctorum for a very brief period of only a minute or two, as the queue has to move on. Strangely, even within this brief period, he sees the Lord for half the period and closes his eyes for the remaining half. What is the matter? Is it to close the eyes at the most crucial moment that he has come all the way from Delhi? Is he mad? Certainly not! A strange thing has happened. He catches up the divine vibrations and instantly gets illumined (like the tube-light referred to earlier). There is a thorough transformation of his personality. He forgets his individuality. His eyes get extinct. The idol concept disappears. The idol and the devotee become one. There is no duality. Dvaita has become Advaita. This is the grand concept of idol worship, if properly and scientifically understood.