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“Spiritual
hunger is common to all; but tastes differ.
There are different forms of God to suit all tastes.”
Swami
Yogaswarupananda, of the Divine Life Society,
a Vedanta-based foundation in Rishikesh,
Going
beyond Images
S
K Vasudeva
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Man
is essentially divine. He
has forgotten his divinity due to trappings of the Maya-ridden
world. Swami
Vivekananda aptly said, “Man is to become divine by realizing
the divine. Idols,
temples, churches or books are only the supports, the helps, of
his spiritual childhood." |
Worship
of the Divine is ingrained in the human heart. Fear of death, fear of
the unknown, material gains and salvation rate high in the psyche of the
worshippers. Those who
worship out of sheer love for the Divine are few. And those who worship after seeing and realizing Him
are fewer. We all worship
in our own way. According
to the holy treatises, those who worship the eternal way, however,
attain Him.
There are three stages of worship.
First is idolatry or image worship.
Scriptures say that this external worship is the lowest stage,
struggling to rise high. Mental
worship is the second stage. Such
worshippers intellectually appreciate that behind the transitory world
of objects, names and forms, there exists an Immutable Essence which
permeates within and without our being. They theoretically concur that
it can give us a sense of fulfilment and a psychic awareness,
transcending mind and intellect. As
rationalists, they make efforts to develop a sense of intellectual
detachment from the world's paraphernalia - the manifested world of
relative reality.
The highest
stage is when we worship subsequent to seeing and realizing God.
This is the stage of supra-mental spiritual bliss.
Spiritual illumination is the zenith of this stage.
This stage begins with supra-intellectual cosmic experience of
innate divinity with divine help and is made accessible to all genuine
seekers by an enlightened soul. Such
a spiritual master make one see and realize God in His elemental and
metaphysical form and puts one on the path of spiritual illumination and
fulfilment.
Idolatry or image worship is not a wrong or a sin.
The need is to go beyond it.
Remaining an idolater one's entire life span is not only adverse
but amounts to squandering away the precious human life.
Human life is ordained for a higher and nobler purpose.
By ignoring the eternal call, we are definitely committing a
sinful act.
Man is essentially divine. He
has forgotten his divinity due to trappings of the Maya-ridden world.
Swami
Vivekananda aptly said, “Man is to become divine by realizing
the divine. Idols, temples,
churches or books are only the supports, the helps, of his spiritual
childhood."
Vivekananda exhorted people to jettison the childish notions and go
beyond the prattle of men for whom religion is merely a mass of frothy
words, a system of doctrines, intellectual assent or dissent, a belief
in certain words (given by a clerics or forefathers), or a system of
ideas and superstitions.
Both the practitioners and proponents of idolatry cite Vedic symbolism
in support of their ideology. It
is beyond question that the Vedas are highly symbolic.
But Vedic symbols and hymns have a deeper meaning and message
that cannot be comprehended by a layman.
Precisely, for this reason only, the seers and sages gave to
posterity the Vedantic treatises. The
sharp distinction between the two is aptly described as - The Veda for the priest, the
Vedanta for the sages. From
a practical perspective, the “karmakandis” take to Vedic rituals and
the true seekers follow the dictates of Vedanta.
Spirit should be our goal and not matter. Even Lord Krishna advised Arjuna to attain Him in light form.
It is in this form that He permeates the entire universe.
Saint Namdev could impel Lord Krishna to appear before him 72
times. Even then, Lord
advised him to take shelter of a perfect seer of the time and attain Him
in metaphysical form.
The benevolent Lord always sends down such souls who gratuitously
impart the eternal knowledge and teach us the transcendental meditation.
Such a one is always amidst us.
The fault lies with us that we do not apply the litmus test
prescribed in revered scriptures. Just as lions are not found in herds, swans in queues and precious
pearls in sacks, a saint who can impart his supra-mental experience is
one in billions. Do you
have the urge to be blessed, see and realize God the eternal way?
When such a sage blesses you, you too will testify like saint Teresa of
Avila - "It is day without night, a world of perpetual light, even
the Sun and stars borrow light from the light of consciousness".
Then, one truly realizes the glory of being a human being.
The choice is in our hands whether to continue being tormented by
vagaries of life, being buffeted to and fro by circumstances until the
show is over, or strive to fulfil the ultimate aim of human life by
realizing God in His metaphysical form. We have the ability to transcend the miseries of the
ephemeral world of duality and attain eternal felicity.
This is the eternal path. One,
who treads this path, performs worldly tasks with thoughts concentrated
on the Lord. Like the
lotus, he or she lives in muddy water but does not get muddied.
Sushil Kumar Vasudeva
is an author of 90 published
articles in newspapers and magazines of repute on spirituality, philosophy,
theology, religion, etc. Graduate
in Personnel Management and Human Psychology from Delhi University, he
is currently a Government of India Civil Service Officer. He is also a
disciple of Satguru Sri Ashutosh Ji Maharaj (Spiritual Head of Divya
Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan – Divine Light Awakening Mission – www.divyajyoti.org).
You can email him:
vasudeva_sk1@rediffmail.com
Previous
Column:
Gita's
Analysis of Anger 
The
Karma Doctrine
The
Power of Mantra Chanting
Pride
Ego and Arrogance:
How to keep them at bay?
Jealousy:
an unnecessary evil
Why
and how to pray?
Ten
Commandments for Peace of Mind
Other
Columns
Your
Happiness, Your Life - SK
Vasudeva
Spiritual
thoughts from Taoism - Sandhya
Pathania
Demystifying
the Sovereign Secret of the Soul -
SK Vasudeva
Hinduism
– A Brief Sketch - Swami Vivekananda Part
I II
III
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