[Advaita-l] Idol worship question

[sriram]

Dear
The idol is fit for worship after doing avahanam of the deity you want to 
invoke  in it.In Krishna Idol the image of Sri Krishna as we know it ,is 
already visible and so after avahanam -asmin bimbe Sri Krishnam 
avahayami-reciting this we do argyam,padhyam archanam etc as if a full 
blooded person has come to our house in the pooja room.Then we send Him 
off.Any stone can be used.Once it is treated as your deity you do all 
respects to it.Infact the entire creation is Brahman based.But just to pay 
our respects we do this pooja restricting the Brahman to the deity.We can 
even invoke Brahman on oneself .In Srardham the priest sometimes will 
represent Brahman.So there is nothing wrong in invocation of the omnipresent 
in our convenient substances and do the pooja.What is Pooja?It is just a 
thanks giving ceremony for the benefits we automatically derive as a human 
being.Nirguna Brahman is difficult to conceive.If you read Bhagavad Gita Sri 
Krishna clarifies to Sri Arjuna about these aspects of Brahman and which is 
easy/better.I donot know how suddenly this idol worship topic  has surfaced 
given the facts we are accustomed to this from day one of our 
birth.R.Krishnamoorthy.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Venkatesh Murthy" <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" 
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2012 9:27 AM
Subject: [Advaita-l] Idol worship question


> Namaste
>
> Vaishnavas say Brahma is in Devata  Vigrahas. We have to offer Pooja
> to Idols thinking we are worshipping God. But in Advaita Brahma is
> Nirguna. It has no shape and size. How can we explain Murti Pooja? If
> you say Brahman is in Idol we can say Brahman is in everything not
> only idols. He is in every stone. Can we worship a stone lying in the
> street thinking it is God? What is difference between that stone and
> Idols in a temple?
>
> Some scholars are saying in Vedic worship there is no Idol. There is
> only Yajna. We have to offer worship to any God through Agni only. No
> need for Idols. Is this correct?
>
> -- 
> Regards
>
> -Venkatesh
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