Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Drishtikone

Home
Hindu
Why do Hindus do Idol Worship? A Scientific and Spiritual exploration

Why do Hindus do Idol Worship? A Scientific and Spiritual exploration

Last updated on: November 1, 2022 at 3:50 pm by Desh Kapoor

Why do Hindus do Idol Worship? A Scientific and Spiritual exploration 2022-11-01T15:50:53-05:00 Desh Kapoor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Idols in the Hindu temples are not toys or statues. They are physical bodies which have been energized to vibrate in a certain way such that they impact everything around them. The entire concept and the science behind the idols and their handling is given under Agama Shastra, a tantric scientific methodology that has been perfected over many millenia. The idol as indeed the entire temple becomes a vibrating body that can impact any person that is in the vicinity of the temple. This practice of energizing idols was traditionally known as “Prana Prathishta“, literally meaning Establishment of the Life force in the idol. In English, although not completely consistent, we could use the word consecration for it.

Is it even possible to energize a physical substance, one may ask, in such a way that it can impact physical reality, using meditational techniques? Can something which is apparently being done via mental and intentional ways, impact physical reality? The answer lies in the research by Stanford’s Dr. William Tiller.

Fellow to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, Professor Emeritus William A. Tiller, of Stanford University’s Department of Materials Science, spent 34 years in academia after 9 years as an advisory physicist with the Westinghouse Research Laboratories.

In his over 40 years of work, along with traditional science, Dr. Tiller has also worked in areas which some may term as esoteric, albeit using the normal scientific rigor! One of his research areas has been what he calls as psychoenergetics. This revolves around “Intention Host devices”.

For the past 35 to 40 years, in parallel with my traditional science research and teaching at Stanford University, I have been seriously investigating the effects of human intention on both the properties of materials (inorganic and organic; non-living and living) and on what we call physical reality.

From this research, I and my colleagues have discovered that it is possible to make a significant change in the properties of a material substance by consciously holding a clear intention to do so. For example, we have repeatedly been able to change the acid/alkaline balance (pH) in a vessel of water either up or down, without adding chemicals to the water, by creating an intention to do so.

For his experiments, he has carried out experiments with highly trained Tibettan monks, and found that their intentions can ‘condition’ space in a machine on an atomic level (subatomic technically). For more details, please watch his videos introducing his Intention Host Device (Video 1A, 1B, II, III).

The Hindu temples are made to the strictest dimensions and rules as per Agama Shastras. They are scriptures in Tamil and Sanskrit scriptures which detail out methods of temple construction, idol creation, philosophical doctrines and meditative practices. Some of these practices are considered pre-Vedic and some post-Vedic.

While the Agama are many in number, each of them consists of four parts: Kriya Pada, Charya Pada, Yoga Pada and Jnana Pada. While Kriya Pada expounds more tangible rules– rules of construction, sculpting, carving consecration of Idols etc. the Jnana Pada deals with something more lofty, the philosophy and spirituality of temple worship.

Temples and places of worship cannot be built arbitrarily or on the strength of some local notion, for everything is laid down categorically in the Agama shastra. For example, for a pilgrimage the three essentials are Sthala, Tirtha and Murthy, where the Sthala refers to the place of the temple, the Tirtha signifies the temple tank and Murthy stands for the idol. There are rules in the Agama Shastra for just about every aspect, including the smallest detail, from the positioning of the holy figurine to the materials from which the temple is to be constructed.

Unlike the Vedic guidelines, that focus more on Havan Building, Agama Shastra dwells at length on idols and figurines of the deities. It dwells in such detail that it is in places almost like a scientific blue print for temple making.

From the size, to the mudra of the idol, to the Mantras used and even the size and dimensions of the outer wall and the that of the sanctum sanctorum are all detailed out. When such a rigor is followed, then it is possible to energize the idols to vibrate in a certain way. This has been the reason to use idols in a temple. Something that was a scriptural and Yogic science, has today also been approached and empirically tested in science labs of Stanford and other Universities in US and Europe!

So is Hindu’s idol his God or not?

The answer needs to be properly understood. In the Hindu tradition, God has been largely absent in traditional sense. For example, two of the major Hindu philosophies – Samkhya and Advaita – are primarily atheistic! Samkhya calls this existence to be a play between Purush and Prakriti. Which essentially means “Masculine” and “Feminine” energies. Or “Yin-Yang” as they are known in Far East. There is no Parmatama or God. In Advaita on the other hand, which is a non-dualistic school, there is no two. Only one indivisible existence in terms of Universal Consciousness!

In such a tradition, what is God then? The concept of God as described by Krishna in Bhagwad Gita’s 9th and 10th chapters is central to the Hindu tradition per the scriptures as well. When asked by Arjun “Who are you?”, Krishna points to discrete things – from mountains to Vedas to music, to emotions, the good things and bad, and equates himself with all of them. Once he has discussed a fairly vast expanse of discrete things, he declares “I am All”!

In mathematical terms, Krishna was describing Himself as the “Infinite curve” with several discrete points, such that every discrete point describes the curve completely! In Spiritual terms, if everything is ONE Universal Consciousness, then how can one distinguish between point A and point B? In that state, there is no distinction of Space and Time. If that is so, then at the gross level, no matter what you look at, it describes the Divine completely.

Again, this concept of the Hindus has been proven to be in alignment to the distinction between Quantum world and the Physical world. Even though every molecule is distinct with its own properties, at the sub atomic level, it is one wave! Somewhere, the wave gives way to the material reality as one goes from subtle to the gross.

In this vast expanse of One Indivisible Universal Consciousness, everything conceivable is a manifestation of that same One showing up at the gross level as matter. That is why, even though Sanskrit term for Creation is Kriti, the Hindus never used it to describe this Existence. Instead they used the term Srishti! Srishti comes from the word Srijan. Srijan is the growing of a tree from a seed. Tree is the manifest form and seed the unmanifest.

So, to a Hindu devotee, it doesn’t matter whether it is a tree, a rock, a piece of metal or a cow – everything is but a manifestation of the One Universal Consciousness – or his Divine! On the infinite curve of the Divine, every discrete point describes and manifests the Divine completely.

Is a Hindu’s idol God? Scientifically and Spiritually it is a resounding YES! At a more mundane level, that idol has been consecrated or energized to bring well being to him. It is therefore a complete system of Spiritual and Social growth, something that those who denounce Idol Worship have never been able to comprehend. Both Spiritually and Scientifically they have made a fool of themselves!

Featured Image Source – Flickr

Learn about Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and more in Patheos’ Library.

Previous Post

March 3, 2015

Netanyahu's Horrible Mistake on Iran and History of Proliferation via China and Pakistan

Next Post

March 5, 2015 Holi is to Surf with the Existence, NOT a "Victory of Good over Evil"!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aarti Achievement and Leadership AfPak Africa Annual and Year-end Asia Audio Australia Behavioural Sciences Bhagwad Gita Bhagwad Gita Blogging Blogs Business Business Intelligence Business Strategy Cannes Careers Chanakya China Conservation Corruption Creative Daily Links Desh Poems Development & Welfare Devotional Audio Devotional Songs Drama Earth Economics Education Entertainment Environment Europe Everyday Quotes Featured Articles Featured Songs Finance Flickr Pictures Food Geo-Political Global Warming Globalization Health & Medicine Hinduism Historic History Humour India Indian Culture Indian music Indian Weddings Israel Issues Legal Link Love Minorities Misc Motivation and Personal Development Movie Lists Movie Reviews Movies Mumbai terror attacks Natural Disasters Nature News Outsourcing Pakistan Parenting Personal Philosophy Poetry Politics Poverty Quotes Recipe Regular Blog Post Relationships Religion Religious/Spiritual Audio Sciences Showcase Slideshow South Asia Special Stories Spiritual Quotes Spirituality Sports Stories Strategy Technology Technology Terrorism Travel Uncategorized US Video Women Women_s Rights Worship Yoga

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 September 2014 August 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Hebrews, what did Moses consider more valuable than the treasures of Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Eternal life God's covenant The promised land Disgrace for the sake of Christ