15th September 2012.

Religions have different views about idolatry worship. Arguments are put-forth for and against the concept and people are often misled by confusing thoughts. Attacks are also not uncommon against idolatry worship. Followers of idolatry worship may really get shaken by such tooth and nail attack. What is the reason for this upheaval ignorance or fanaticism? Let me start from certain basic ideas. Whatever can be the definition of God, it is a fact that He is an abstract idea in the final analysis. Man has the limitation to go beyond the level of his senses, mind and intellect to grasp the very idea of that abstract God. Remember, every man experiences life with his internal equipment like sensory organs, mind and intellect. All these internal elements are related to space and time and hence have their functional criteria. Any equipment that is having a definable functional mode cannot fully answer anything that is lying beyond its scope. Hence, abstract ideas like God may certainly require certain approximations, certain indices, certain definitions to make the idea viable and understandable, to bring down the idea to the realm of our consciousness and perceivable limits. In other words, idolatry worship has something to do with our body-mind-intellect equipment and hence, our very human nature. One has to properly understand that every individual has his unique world of experiences and perceptions. Every man has an individual nature that is embedded with natural traits and tendencies. In other words, every human mind has a natural bent that is different from the rest. This implies the fact that we cannot cut the same coat to all sizes. Said differently,

every man requires his own pathway to reach the summit, the ultimate, the unknown and the intangible. Our ancient masters were well aware of the tendencies of human mind. They had the insight to know that without certain indices, the unknown, the abstract cannot be brought to within the level of our senses and perception. These indices are words, images and symbols. Human mind, human intellect has a natural tendency to interpret the world of words, images and symbols. A careful study of human thinking process may reveal the fact that it is intimately linked to a language (words/the world of sound) and to a visual field (images, symbols/the world of light). Any word of any language represents an idea or many ideas, is the condensation of an image or many images. Put in other words, a single word invokes different ideas and different images on the plane of the individual mind as is decided by the natural tendencies of that particular mind. In short, words, images and symbols give an expression to the intangible, to any abstract idea. Thus, God, the abstract idea is brought to within the level of human perception by various words (indices or ideas) such as god, the unknown, the Brahman, the ever pervading, the Allah, the soul etc. Even these words do not aptly explain the abstract idea from our mental point of view. These words require a visual field to support the idea contained behind them and images and symbols aptly supplement this requirement. Actually speaking, symbols are certain visual codification of an idea. An idea in itself is very abstract and we may require a kind of tangibility for it either in the form of sound, light, touch, smell or taste. All the incoming data that is collected by these five sense organs are finally codified and classified in the form of equivalent words, images and symbols by human mind It is in the form of certain sound, touch, smell, taste and visual codes that our mind stores all the input knowledge. Our learning process would amply illustrate this fact. Our mind goes on coding and decoding, keeps on classifying and storing all the ideas under various files and tags. When ideas are retrieved from the back of our mind, it is these codes and tags which are verified and attributions given. It is the attribution of the individual mind that decides in the expansion of a particular tag. My tag and your tag may be the same but our attributions can certainly be different. Both are correct from our individual angles but may differ within a given context. This is what is happening in the interpretation of idolatry worship. Without certain images, without certain symbolization, without certain codifications, human mind cannot perceive an abstract idea. We have already seen this. God being an abstract idea needs some kind of

symbolization, some kind of codification that is perceivable by the human intellect to understand Him in a deeper way, to bring Him to the realms of our thoughts. An idol, the image of Ka Aba Mosque, the symbol of Cross, the crescent moon and the star all are but various representations of the one and the same idea. Human mind perceives the same single idea but differently. Religions have different visualizations about the same idea. When I talk of religions, I mean man and his mental tendencies. Without man, no religion was ever born in this world. Does the animal kingdom follow Hinduism or Christianity? I dont think so. T S Eliot in one of the poems sees the visualization of god by a crow only in the form of another crow. The religion of crow ends there. Thus, if a religion sees god in the form of an idol as the highest approximation of god within the realm of human intellect and asks its followers to get at the Absolute truth through this idea, through this symbolization, is it wrong? Our ancient masters had understood one thing very clearly that although god has no form, that god is in all forms, any form was easily attributable to god for human worship and to bridge the gap between man and god (here, the abstract idea). Thus, the image of an eagle, a scorpion or a snake could also be a natural choice in a temple in place of the conventional deity, could be a natural representation of god. There is nothing wrong about it but considering the tendencies of man, they were also aware of the limitations of such worship. Man cannot effectively communicate with god through such images for obvious reasons. Can we effectively communicate with a snake or a scorpion as we can do with another man? Man to man communication is the most effective one from mans point of view. This is the truth. There is always a link between a given idea and the human mind in the form of thoughts, in the form visualization, in the form of contemplation, in the form of an effective communion with it. Effective communion is easily possible between man to man communications. This is how god is perceived in the form of a man or woman and being worshipped in that form in a temple. Human psychology can easily reveal this truth and Hinduism also considered this point. Hinduism also discovered the truth that since each individual bore different mental nature, different symbolizations, different images and different forms of worship were also possible. The religion did not try to cut the same coat to all sizes but allowed her followers to worship any form and any idol as permitted by their mental tendencies. Actually, the religion gave her followers the freedom of expression of their heart. If the world has mistaken it, then, the world has not properly understood the functional mode of human mind. Hinduism also reminds man that by following the natural tendencies of mind, one can easily go beyond the framework of idolatry worship to get to the heart of the truth the idea of god. Idolatry worship is only one step in the evolutionary process of human mind but nevertheless, this is very much required by us as

ordinary human beings. Even Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa required the image of Kali to get at the Absolute truth. Idolatry worship is like a UKG class text book. The text book will contain so many pictures to explain various ideas. As you go higher up in the ladder, you will find that you no more require the same pictures to get at the same idea. Moreover, you would have gained more knowledge of the same idea by now without the aid of any picture. The important and notable thing is that we wont see our UKG class lessons as a mere waste. All stepping stones share their due honor. Our ancient masters had envisaged the idolatry worship from this angle but if man hasnt reach this goal, then, it is not the fault of the religion but the fault of her followers. All religions follow different versions of idolatry worship. The followers of Islam have in their houses an image of their sacred mosque. This is also an index. This is also the representation of the same idea about which I have discussed. Here, the idol has been replaced by the photo of a mosque but the basic idea is the same. He is also trying to reach the intangible through the tangible in this case, a photo. Likewise, the cross represents the idea of Christ and his noble sacrifice for mankind. Strictly speaking, a cross is never carved in the form of a face and yet it represents the face of Christ plus some higher ideals related to him. These are all symbolizations, a kind of idolatry worship and nothing less than that. The fact is that through such worship, man is definitely discovering some higher ideals, some higher principles of life, is somewhat understanding the meaning of god. All religions are only asking man to achieve this goal but they are only employing different methods. In the long search of human psychology and its moorings on the developmental ideas of religion, I have understood one thing that no other religion like Hinduism has gone to the core of human mind to know about its intricate nature and subtle movements. Bhagavad Gita is a classic illustration of this. If Hinduism has thousands of gods, it only endorses the fact that there are thousands of people having different mental nature. Hinduism has never tried to cut the same coat to all sizes. There is neither compulsion nor any kind of imposition. It is only a way of life. Can we do away with idolatry worship in ordinary life? When I am speaking of the idea, it has a wide range of connotations. I mean, can we do away with symbolization in any field? I swear, human nature will not allow this. For example, the Indian flag is after all a piece of cloth in tri-color but if I try to dishonor it by some means, will you spare me? No. Why? The answer is obvious. Many ideals related to this motherland are embedded within the framework of the flag and when I try to dishonor the flag, you see it as an attack on these

ideals. Likewise, if I ask you to spit on the photo of a political leader whom you worship, will you do it? After all, a photo is only a photo wherein you see the embedded image of a human face but your attributions change this simple logic to something else that has enough animation and emotion and sentiments about it. So, a stone is simply not a stone for its followers and a photo is not simply a photo for its lovers. Similarly, a flag is not a simple piece of cloth for those who love their motherland. Symbolization is there. Attributions are there. A sort of animation is felt behind inanimate objects. So, a National flag represents an idea. Likewise, a party flag also represents another ideal. To worship, to honor a party flag is also a kind of idolatry worship. Just accept this fact and there will no more be any attacks in the name of idolatry worship. When one of the Keralas former Chief Ministers passed away, one or two copies a particular newspaper were also placed in the funeral pyre. Logically speaking, was he going to read the paper sitting in the heavens? If that was not superstitious or an act of idolatry worship, what else can it be from commonsense point of view? Mine is not idolatry worship but yours is this is a wrong judgment. This is where we make mistakes and fanatically stamp the rest of the world as following only superstitious ideas. Arent you employing the same idea in a different field? Are you aware of this? Symbolization of an idea is not a mental weakness or a kind of superstition but to get caught by the symbols is certainly a mental weakness or superstition. Symbolization is only a kind of index contrived by human mind. When mind is transcended, the world of symbols is also transcended. So long as we believe that we have a mind, it is better not to fight in the name of symbols and idolatry worship. Let every individual mind discover its own pathways to reach the destination. When Christ said that he was the passage as well as the goal, we forgot about one thing that, we have to find our own means to reach our destinations. I cannot employ your methods to reach my destination because my mental needs and mental constitution are different. My goals are also different. So, you cannot force me to follow your path. You can guide me if you can. Remember, no pathway is either superior or inferior. Also bear in your mind that we are all travellers going along the same route but differently oriented persons. Difference should not lead to a conflict. This is very important. It can uproot the very foundations of life. If this happens, neither you nor I will reach the destination on time. We will exhaust all our mental resources in attacking and counter attacking all along the journey. Co-existence will become an unattainable dimension.

Dont we need a peaceful co-existence for our very survival? Let idolatry worship do not become an issue any more to shake the foundations of our life. Do not point your index finger towards anybody in this respect. Remember, four fingers are already pointing towards you. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx