"Jo dar gaya woh mandir gaya" - a refutation

The antiquity of idol worship.

The vedic way of worshiping Gods is through yajna. However indications of image worship can be seen even in vedic scriptures. Some examples are :

Aitareya brahmanam says

           चक्षुषा वा एतत्प्रज्ञायते यदप्रज्ञेयम्

What is not perceivable is perceived by the eyes. Whatever is perceived by the eyes is what is visible.

Imagery is part and parcel of vedic worship. In yajna, the altar and every instrument used is a divinity, they are addressed and communicated with. For the Hindu, they are not inanimate objects but expressions of divinity. Texts called Shulba sutras describe the making of all these.

For making a ladle with which ahutis  of ghee are offered in Agni, it is specified what wood it should be made of, its length, holding capacity, the shape ( should look like the lower lip of an elephant ) and even direction in which it should be carved.


In the vedic yajna called Atiratram, a yajna vedi is constructed in the form of  Shyena the  great   bird.It involves great precision and elaborate rituals. 

A large portion of the Rigveda mantras consists of praises of Gods which are essentially descriptions of their form and great deeds.

It is considered that temples are essential part of the ancient town planning.

Agni Puranam ( 109.16-17 ) says that temples of  Indra, Vishnu etc. should be built in cities / towns for their protection. Cities, villages, forts and houses where such divine presence is not there are open to attack by diseases and evil spirits.

Agni puranam 38 & 327.96 describe the importance of construction of temples and the results therefrom.

Vishnu Dharmottara puranam ( 3.93.6-7 ) says that the king desirous of heaven should always build cities with temples in Kali Yuga.

Apastamba Dharma Sutra ( 1.11.30.22 ) prohibits stretching of legs in the direction of Gods. It is clear that it is not the omnipresent which is intended here, otherwise there will not be any place left to stretch the legs.

Brihat Samhita of Varahamihiracharya describes the places suitable for construction of temples.

Which is the shastra that governs idol and temple worship in Hinduism ?

Agama shastra.

They are broadly classified into Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta, Ganapathya, Kaumara etc. They deal with spiritual knowledge, philosophy, rituals and sculpture / architecture related to idol and temple worship. These texts are arranged in four sections-

1. Kriya pada - deals with temple architecture. construction, sculpture of idols and consecration of temples.

2. Charya pada - deals with rules of daily worship, procedures, festivals and penances.

3. Yoga pada - idol worship is based on the principles of kundalini yoga. The co relations are detailed here.

4. Jnana / vidya  pada - `the high philosophical principles of idol worship are explained here.

The enormity of this shastra can be perceived from the fact that the kriya pada alone of one text called Kamikagama consists of 12000 verses. There are hundreds of such texts pertaining to each deity.

Just to get an idea of what these texts look like go to

http://www.agamaacademy.org/digital-library-book/Kamikagama%20in%20Devanagari.pdf

Why idol worship ?

1. Vishnu Samhita 29.55 says

न च रूपं विना देवं ध्यातुं केनापि शक्यते ।

It is impossible to meditate on God without a form

2. Vishnudharmottara puranam 3.108.23 says

अनाकारे महाराज लक्ष्यबन्धस्तु दुष्करः ।

It is very difficult to focus on the formless.

3. Vishnudharmottara puranam 3.46.3 says

पूजाध्यानादिकं कर्तुं साकारस्यैव शक्यते ।

Only the one with form can be worshiped or meditated upon.

3. Vishnudharmottara puranam 3.108.26-27 and Padmapuranam 6.132.105 say that only one who has achieved success in meditating upon God with form can contemplate the form less.

4. Devi bhagavata puranam 7.39.43 says

यावदान्तरपूजायामधिकारो भवेन्नहि।

तावद्बाह्यमिमां पूजां श्रयेज्जाते तु तां त्यजेत् ॥

Until such time one achieves the eligibility to perform inner worship the outer worship should be performed.

5. Vishnudharmottara puranam 3.93.21-22 says

अर्चास्थैस्त्रिदशैर्लोकः कलौ सर्वो हि पाल्यते ।

अर्चागताश्च गृह्णन्ति कृतदेवप्रतिष्ठिताः ।

तस्मात् कलौ प्रयत्नेन प्रतिष्ठाकरणं हितम् ॥

In Kaliyuga, gods stay in idols to protect and govern the world. They receive whatever is offered to the idols. Hence consecration of idols should be necessarily done in Kali yuga.

Idol  as a model

Science makes use of models very extensively. In Science, a three dimensional representation of a person, object or structure is called a model. Imagine learning geography without the globe, anatomy without models. Imagine learning engineering without actually seeing the machines, engines, structures etc.

Why all this fuss when it comes to images in religion ? We are dealing with saguna and sakara form of the divine here.

Stone vs. Idol

The statue made of stone or other prescribed materials attains divinity upon performing prana pratishta. To ridicule it by saying  "pathar pujan" is total ignorance.

An ordinary man is given the police uniform and authority. Doesn't power to command naturally come to him ? An ordinary piece of clothe painted with tricolor - does it not command respect ?

Likewise, an idol becomes a living God for the devotee whom he can communicate with.

Prana pratishta

The divinity is infused into the idol by a procedure called prana pratishta.

Kalikapuranam 88.10-12 says

अकृतायां प्रतिष्ठायां प्राणानां प्रतिमासु च ।

यथापूर्वं तथाभावः स्वर्णादीनां न विष्णुता ॥

In the absence of prana pratishta the idols remain just the materials they are.

In Hayagriva samhita it is said,

अर्चकस्य तपोयोगातदर्चनस्यातिशायनात् ।

आभिरूप्याच्च बिम्बानां देवः सान्निध्यमृच्छति ॥

The tapas of the worshiper, perfection of the rituals and appropriateness ( in terms of beauty and precision ) of the idol - these are the factors that bring in divine presence in the idol.

It is not within the scope of this small write up to elaborate on the technicalities of temple construction and idol worship. There are hundreds of acclaimed texts each running into thousands of pages for reference. 

These were not written with the purpose of earning royalty from sales or for winning the best seller title. They were written and handed down from generation to generation because they stand for the truth.

It is not as simple as planting a stone somewhere, applying some color over it, putting some money in front of it and multiplying your investment in hours. 

As Matthew Mcallister commented on the philanthropic facade of sponsored art - " art is yanked from its own separate and theoretically autonomous domain and squarely placed in the commercial,,,,," 

Idol worship, for that matter every aspect of Hindu religion or Sanatana Dharma has come under attack and criticism both from inside and outside. Hinduism is not  a single agenda movement. It is an assimilation of apparently vastly varying religious and spiritual thoughts and practices. The critics can be broadly classified into three groups.

1. People with knowledge and conviction about religion, spirituality and Gods propounding a certain system of thought and testing its mettle against other contemporary systems. Shankara's digvijaya yatra during which he entered into scholastic debates with expert authorities in Meemasa, Sankhya etc. in order to establish the superiority of vedanta is an example.

2. Those seeking to have a following of their own by any means.

3. The business minded who want to make a quick buck out of the controversy and attention they generate.

The sad part is that Hindus through their decades of intellectual slavery have lost track of  who they are, what their values are and especially what their religion is all about.

Crores and crores of  devotees have attained divine benevolence through idol and temple worship. More than 19 million devotees visit Tirupati every year. Close to a million people undertook Badrinath pilgrimage in 2012. alone.

There are hundreds of thousands of temples all over the world. Does it make any sense brushing aside murhty puja as senseless ?

Can it be viewed as only entertainment ? Yes, of course ! That is also my personal view. We have been laughing out loud at the jokes Laurel & Hardy ( "this sea is infatuated with sharks" ) , the comic actions of Tom & Jerry. Why not another lovable alien ??

That is as much as  it deserves.

Small errors , big consequences

Ravana, Vibhishana and Kumbhakarna performed severe austerities and appeased Brahma. He granted them boons. Ravana wanted that he should not be killed by non humans. Vibhishana wanted absolute devotion to Lord Vishnu.

Kumbhakarna wanted ' NIRDEVATVAM ' ( ability to vanquish devas ). By slip of tongue he ended up saying ' NIDRAVATVAM ' ( sleepfulness ) which was readily granted. Ravana requested Brahma to take back the boon following which his sleep got reduced to six months in  a year.

Indra killed Tvashta's son. Tvashta performed somayaga without inviting Indra who came in and forcefully drank the soma juice. Out of anger, Tvashta poured the remaining soma in agni chanting ' SVAHENDRASSHATRURVARDHASVA '. He wanted to create an enemy for Indra to destroy him.  Due to a slight variation in the intonation he ended up strengthening Indra himself,  Vritrasura came out of the agni. Eventually he  got killed by Indra.

Moral of the story - Neo 'rishis' are distributing mantras as if drought relief supplies . Sanskrit is a language where precision is very important. One could end up with the fate of Kumbhakarna or Vritra.

Asuras and Rakshasas - are they the same ?

The terms, asura and rakshasa are often used in place of each other. This is not correct. Their origin and genealogy are different.

Kashyapa is the forefather of devas, asuras, manushyas and nagas. Kashyapa's children born of Diti are called daityas. His children born of another wife Danu are danavas. Collectively, daityas and danavas are called asuras. They are half bothers of devas with the same father and different mothers.Some of the famous asuras are Bali, Banasura, Shambarasura, Keshi, Channda, Munda and Mahishasura.

During creation, once Brahma felt very hungry and angry. From his anger originated two rakshasas called Heti and Praheti.They were very cruel and evil minded. They killed and ate lot many brahmins and cows. Heti married Bhaya, the daughter of Kala. A son called Vidyutkesa was born to them. His wife was Salakantaka. They abandoned a child born to them in the Himalayas who received the blessings of Shiva and Parvathy. This child was named Sukesha. He married the daughter of a gandharva called Devavati. They had three sons- Malyavan, Sumali and Mali. Through severe austerities they received the blessings of Brahma and became indefeatable. Thus they became very arrogant and cruel.They made Lanka their capital.

The rakshasas multiplied in thousands. Kaikasi was one of the four daughters of Sumali. She once saw Kubera and understood that his riches and glory were due to the fact that he was the son of Sage Vishravas. Kaikasi approached Visravas and begot four children - Ravana, Vibhishana, Kumbhakarna and Shurpanakha of him. The rest of this is well known. 

Who are Nagas ( serpents ) ?

Naga ( serpent ) worship is part and parcel of Hindu religion. Lord Vishnu has Anantha as his bed and Lord Shiva has serpents as his ornaments. Nagas are themselves worshiped across the continent. Temples have been built for them and they are upadevatas in many important temples.

Who are Nagas ?

Sage Kashyapa is the forefather of devas, asuras, dananvas, Nagas and humans. Nagas are all children of Kashyap born from his wife Kadru. Originally they were thousand in number but down generations have multiplied into  millions and millions. 

The important nagas are :

शेषः प्रथमतो जातो वासुकिस्तदनन्तरम् ।

ऐरावतस्तक्षकश्च कर्कोटकधनञ्जयौ ॥

कालियो मणिनागश्च नागश्चापूरणस्तथा ।

नागस्तथा पिञ्जरक एलापत्रोऽथ वामनः ॥

नीलानीलौ तथा नागौ कल्माषशबलौ तथा ।

अर्यकाश्चादिकश्चैव नागश्च शलपोतकः ॥

सुमनोमुखो दधिमुखस्तथा विमलपिण्डकः ।

आप्तः कोटनकश्चैव शङ्खो वालशिखस्तथा ॥

निष्ठ्यूनको हेमगुहो नहुषो पिङ्गलस्तथा ।

बाह्यकर्णो हस्तिपदस्था मुद्गरपिण्डकः ॥

कम्बलाश्वतरौ चापि नागः कालीयकस्तथा ।

वृत्तसंवर्तकौ नागौ द्वौ च पद्माविति श्रुतौ ॥

नागः शङ्खनकश्चैव​ तथा च स्फण्डकोऽपरः ।

क्षेमकश्च महानागो नागः पिण्डारकस्तथा ॥

करवीरः पुष्पदंष्ट्र एळको बिल्वपाण्डुकः ।

मूषकादः शङ्खशिराः पूर्णदंष्ट्रो हरिद्रकः ॥

अपराजितो ज्योतिकश्च पन्नगः श्रीवहस्तथा ।

कौरव्यो धृतराष्ट्रश्च पुष्करः शल्यकस्तथा ॥

विरजाश्च सुबाहुश्च शालिपिण्डश्च वीर्यवान् ।

हस्तिभद्रः पिठरको मुखरः कोणवासनः ॥

कुञ्जरः कुररश्चैव तथा नागः प्रभाकरः ।

कुमुदः कुमुदाक्षश्च तित्तिरिर्हलिकस्तथा ॥

कर्कराकर्करौ चोभौ कुण्डोदरमहोदरौ ॥

Shesha, Vasuki, Airavata, Takshaka, Karkotaka, Dhananjaya, Kaliya, Maninaga, Apurana, Pinjaraka, Elapatra, Vamana, Nila, Anila, Kalmasha, Shabala, Aryaka, Adika, Shalapotaka, Sumanomukha, Dadhimukha, Vimalapindaka, Apta, Kotanaka, Shankha, Valashikha, Nishtyunka, Hemaguha, Nahusha, Pingala, Bahyakarna, Hastipada, Mudgarapindaka, Kambala, Ashwatara, Kaleeyaka, Vritta, Samvarthaka, Padma, Mahapadma, Shankhanaka, Sphandaka, Kshemaka, Pindaraka, Karaveera, Pushpadamshtra, Elaka, Bilvapanduka, Mushakada, Shankhashira, Purnadamshtra, Haridraka, Aparajita, Pannaga, Jyotika, Srivaha, Kauravya, Dhritarashtra, Pushpaka, Shalyaka, Viraja, Subahu, Shalipinda, Veeryavan, Hastibhadra, Pithakara, Mukhara, Konavasana, Kunjara, Kurara, Prabhakara, Kumuda, Kumudaksha, Tittiri, Halika, Karkaraa,Karkara, Kundodara and Mahodara.

There had always been rivalry between the co wives Kadru and Vinata. While Kadru wished for a thousand children of great power and strength, Vinata prayed for two sons who would outshine Kadru's thousand sons. Once they spotted in the sky Uchhaisravas the divine horse which came out when the milky ocean was being churned. An argument broke out between them. Vinata said the horse was white in color while Kadru disagreed. They reached an agreement that whoever loses would become the slave of the other. Kadru knew that the horse was actually white. She told her serpent sons to go and attach themselves to the tail of the horse like hair so that the tail looked black. There were many honest and noble minded among the serpents who did not want to do this. Kadru cursed them that they would all perish in fire. When devas brought this curse to the notice of Brahma he said that it was not totally inappropriate as the serpents had grown cruel, evil minded and short tempered harming all other living beings. He said that however the serpent clan will not be exterminated as steps have already been planned to prevent it.

Due to the fear of the curse of their mother, the serpents went ahead and turned the tail of the horse black by attaching themselves to it. When the time for inspection came,Vinata was established incorrect and she was doomed to servitude. Later on her son Garuda won back her freedom. In the process Indra granted Garuda a boon that the serpents would become his food.

King Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu while hunting in the forest saw a rishi sitting in deep meditation and asked him for directions. The rishi did not answer and an annoyed king put a dead snake around the rishi's neck. The rishi's son cursed that the king would die of snakebite within seven days. The serpent Takshaka took up the task of killing Parikshit. Despite the best of security arrangements Takshaka managed to kill Parikshit, however he also dissuaded Kashyapa another sage from trying to resurrect Parikshit by paying him off. When Pariskhit's son Janamejaya came to know about this  he vowed to destroy the entire serpent clan. He organized a sarpa yajna in which very powerful mantras were recited to drag the serpents into agni. Kadru's curse worked. Serpents got killed in thousands. When Indra offered shelter to Takshaka, Janamejaya ordered that Indra also may be dragged along with Takshaka.

In the mean time, relief from the curse had also been set off. Vasuki the king of nagas offered the hand of his sister in marriage to Jaratkaru a very powerful tapasa. Astika was born of this couple who would come to the rescue of his mother's clan. He walked into the yajna sala and being a great scholar was honored. Janamejaya requested him to ask for anything he wanted. Astika demanded stoppage of the yajna and Janamejaya had to oblige.,

Some of the  important nagas are - Anantha, Vasuki, Karkotaka, Takshaka and Kaliya.

Ananta - Disappointed with his mother's evil acts he separated himself from the family and performed severe penances. Pleased with his austerities Brahma assigned him the task of carrying the worlds on his thousand hooded head. He is an upholder of dharma. At the time of pralaya a form Rudrgni called Sankarshana murthy would come out of his face thus destroying the three worlds.

Vasuki - He is the king of serpents. It was using Vasuki as a rope that the milky ocean was churned. He was so long that when the mighty Garuda tried to carry him even after folding him into two and rising up high in the sky, his body was still touching the ground.

Karkotaka - He once cheated Narada and was immobilized by a curse. He would have to remain in the forest without any movement until King Nala came and rescued him. King Nala was roaming around in the forest with Damayanti after he was defeated in the game of dice by his brother Pushkara and lost everything to him. He left Damayanti thinking that he was only trouble to her and she could go back to the comforts of her father's palace.A great fire broke out and Karkotaka was trapped in it. He started crying for help. Nala rescued him. Karkotaka asked Nala to take a few steps counting. When Nala took the tenth step saying ' dasha ' Karkotaka bit him. Karkotaka had taken a vow that he would bite someone only if he asks for it. In sanskrit ' dasha ' means ten as well as ' bite'. Nala's body turned blue due to the poison. Karkotaka told him that there was no need to worry as the poison would not harm him. It would affect only Kali the the sin God of kaliyuga who had entered Nala and made him to play the game of dice as a revenge for Damayanti marrying Nala ignoring devas present during the swayamvara . This disguise would help Nala to regain all his lost riches. Karkotaka also gave divine garments wearing which Nala could get back his original form.

The story of Kaliya who wreaked havoc in Yamuna and his defeat in the hands of Sri Krishna is very popular.

Patala the nether world is the chief abode of nagas. Veda identifies Sarpas as living on earth, in the atmosphere and also heaven. They are also present in the sun rays and water. They live in plants and trees.

Killing of serpents, damaging their eggs, destruction or soiling of their dwelling places are known to cause naga dosha leading to infertility, skin diseases and various other kinds of problems. Remedies such as sarpa samskara or sarpa pratishta are performed for their mitigation.

Sarpa bali or Ashlesha bali is an elaborate puja performed to propitiate Naga devatas.

Vighnesh Ghanpadi getting ready to perform sarpa bali

The origin of Dawn

 

Dawn is a deity called Aruna. Another deity associated with dawn is Usha devi.

During the churning of the milky ocean the pact between devas and asuras was that they would share amrita to be obtained therefrom. Devas never had real intention of giving any to asuras. After obtaining amrita the two sides started fighting for it. Vishnu assumed the form of  Mohini the enchantress and set out to settle the dispute. The two sides were made to sit in two separate lines and Mohini started serving, first to devas. Rahu, an asura suspected that the nectar was never going to reach the asura side. He went and sat among the devas in disguise. Sun and Moon spotted him and Mohini beheaded him. He fell into two parts as Rahu and Ketu. Thus Rahu and Ketu became sworn enemies of Sun and Moon who bore the brunt of their wrath in the form of eclipses. Rshu and Ketu simply waited for opportunity to swallow Sun and Moon. With their bodies already cut open on one side, Sun and Moon every time barely manage to come out.

Sun found this ordeal very frustrating. He called the bluff of Rahu for the sake of devas. When he landed in trouble nobody was by his side. He decided to burn the three worlds and teach his thankless brothers a lesson. He went on to set with the intention of rising the next morning so blazing hot that the the worlds would burn. Devas got news of this and rushed to Brahma.

Sage Kashyapa was the forefather of devas. asuras and manushyas. Two of his wives were Kadru and Vinata ( he had many more wives ) who had an ongoing rivalry between them. Kadru desired one thousand strong and powerful sons whereas Vinata wanted only two who would outshine the thousand of Kadru in power and strength. Kashyapa granted their wishes. One thousand eggs came out of Kadru which she kept for hatching in a pot. Similarly, two eggs came out of Vinata which she also kept for hatching in a pot. Six months went by. Kadru's eggs hatched and out came thousand poisonous powerful snakes with huge long bodies. Nothing happened with Vinata's eggs. She got impatient and broke open one of the eggs. There was a child inside with body developed only from head to waist. He was Aruna. He cursed his mother to servitude for being impatient and went up in the sky.

Brahma had his own plans. He asked Aruna to go and place himself in front of Sun as a shield and make his rising slow so that his heat does not fall upon the worlds all of a sudden. Thus started dawn.