1) Is the quoted statement an accurate statement of what you are doing when you worship statues or pictures? "The honor which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented". 2) Is it correct to assert that when you worship a statue or picture of a god, you are not worshiping the statue directly in front of you, but rather you are worshiping the entity or concept of the god who is elsewhere or everywhere?
"honor" sounds very diplomatic... we have the concept of bhakti which is love and devotion its really not that heady about... its kinda like a dad or mom who has pictures of their kids on their desk at work and fondly look at them throughout the day with love as per the statues or deity or murti worshipped, god is really present in that statue. if the devotee misses a mealtime offering, god will go hungry
Yes of course. When you look at a photograph, you aren't looking at a piece of paper, you see before you the person represented therein.
Yea last time I checked, no Murti ever did anything for mankind aside from being a medium used to get in touch with the chosen deity :tongue:
there are many accounts of deities becoming active and moving about and even consuming the offerings to them example of Sakshi Gopal from bhabavatama who bore witness on behalf of his devotee kali ma who burst forth and killed her servants who dared to offer her the pure soul, jada bharata of whom india is named, bharatavarsha
A murti itself is not worshipped. Its like this.. When you are speaking on the phone to someone, are you speaking to the phone, or to the person on the other end?
I didnt touch on this subject in my post that you quoted.. God is WITHIN the Murti, just as God resides in everything and everyone, however, the peice of metal, clay, plastic, what have you..is not worshipped anymore than a telephone is spoken to.
Just as it might interest you Chief - have you ever read the account of Yashoda Ma, the guru of Krishnaprem with her deity of Bal Gopal? It's in D.K.Roys' book 'Sri Krishnaprem'. Both Krishnaprem and Yashoda Ma, and later Roy and Ma Indira Devi also tell of deities taking food physically.
we are talking about hinduism aren't we? deities are worshipped most reverently al throughtout india and a practice that has now spread throughout the world
only small accounts when cited there is also the more recent accounts of ganesha' getting thirsty for some milk in a worldwide phenomenon a few years back
Chief - I'm busy or going to be for about a week from tomorrow - when I get back I'll type up some of what Yashoda Ma said to Roy - it's only a few paragraphs - and post it up. I recall the milk drinking Ganesha thing - was about ten years or so ago?....time blurs as it progresses...or perhaps it just comes into a different focus..
