Idol worship (murti puja ) in Hinduism : right or wrong ?

Artistic depiction of Lord Krishna's cosmic form

Hinduism is a religion which cannot be described in words, which cannot be confined to any boundary and which cannot be kept stagnant. It comprises of the oldest scriptures of the world, which have been guiding and nurturing people since centuries, and which would continue to do so till the presence of the mankind, through their ever evolving philosophies.

Unfortunately, there are a set of people who criticise certain practises associated with Hinduism, under the influence of their prejudices and biased views, and also on the basis of their limited knowledge of Hinduism. Murti Puja, which is better known as idol worship (referred to as icon worship in this article) is one such Hindu practise, which is heavily criticised. The aim of this article is to explain the logic behind Murti Puja, and to counter the misinformation that is being spread against this beautiful Hindu concept.

Argument against Icon worship:

Many people argue that the scriptures of Hinduism do not support icon worship. They quote incomplete verses from Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita to prove their point, and to infuse confusion in the minds of the Hindus. Therefore, I shall explain the verses that are most commonly used by such people to support their casual claims.

The most common verse used by the detractors of icon worship is :

"Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste"

The twisted explanation of this verse, which they give is as follows :

"They enter darkness, those who worship the natural elements" (Air, Water, Fire, etc.). "They sink deeper in darkness, those who worship sambhuti."

'Sambhuti', according to them means created things. For example table, chair, icon, etc. And hence, they claim that when Hindus worship icons, they go against their own scripture. However, truth is far from it. This is neither the correct verse nor the complete verse. Needless to say, one must never get judgemental on the basis of incorrect & incomplete information.

The correct and the complete verse from Isha Upanishad is as follows:

andham tamah pravisanti ye' sambhut imupasate,

tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u sambhutyam ratah.

(Isa Upanishad, verse no 12)

And the correct translation of the above mentioned verse is as follows:

Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the unmanifest (meaning hidden self, the non being , imagination etc), and into greater darkness those who worship manifest alone(meaning visible world,illusion,icons, material wealth etc) . He who understands both unmanifest and manifest together, crosses death through unmanifest and attains immortality through manifest.

After reading the complete and the correct verse as well as its translation, one can safely say that, either the critics of icon worship have a very shallow knowledge of Hinduism or they are deliberately misinterpreting our scriptures, to prove their loose theories.

Some other verses quoted by the detractors of icon worship to prove that god does not have any form, hence, he should not be worshipped in the form of icons, is as follows:

"Na tasya pratima asti"
There is no likeness of Him.
[Svetasvatara Upanishad; chapter 4:19]

"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam."
His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye.
[Svetasvatara Upanishad; chapter 4:20]

"na tasya pratima asti"
There is no image of Him.
[Yajurveda; chapter 32:3]

"shudhama poapvidham"
He is bodyless and pure.
[Yajurveda; chapter 40:8]

The answer of this argument is quite simple. The Hindus do believe that god has no form. He is Nirakar (formless). However, we also believe that being the almighty, he is capable of taking any form. And he blesses his devotees through the form, in which the devotees worship him (Bhagwad Gita, Chapter 11). That is why we worship him in the form of icons. Let me quote a couple of verses from Svetavatara Upanishad to support my point:

"Subtler than the subtlest, stable in the midst of great confusion, the creator of all, bearing many forms, holding the entire universe in his embrace, when one knows him as the auspicious, a great peace shall descend upon him."

(Svetavatara Upanishad; chapter 4:14)

"You are woman. You are man. You are the son and also the daughter. As an old man you walk with a stick. being born you assume faces in many directions."
(Svetavatara Upanishad; chapter 4:3)

Thus, from the above mentioned verses we can conclude that god has no specific form, but he is capable of taking any form. Hence, there is nothing wrong in worshipping him in the form of icons.

Significance of icon worship:-
1.The idea behind icon worship is to promote harmony and brotherhood. Icons (murtis) are normally made of stone/iron or other hard objects, which is a reminder of the fact that, Hindus have such high respect for every creation of the god, that they worship even the hard objects created by him (such as stone, iron etc ) as the god himself. So one can just imagine the respect, which a Hindu will have for a human being, which is the supreme creation of the almighty.

2. While praying, one needs to meditate and concentrate on the almighty. Concentrating on a particular icon helps the devotee remain focused, and prevents their thoughts from wandering off. After constant practice, if one reaches an advanced stage of concentration, then he does not need to worship icons. For example, the Brahmarshis or the Maharshis, who used to go to the forest for tapasya, needed no icons as they could focus on shunya(zero). But not every one on this planet has such high level of concentration, therefore, icon worship becomes necessary for such people.

PS: Many of you must be wondering as to why have I used the term 'icon worship' instead of 'idol worship'. Well, one of my friends, Chris, who is a U.K. based practising Hindu, once informed me that when we use the term 'idol worship', many a time, the native speakers of English (citizens of USA, England etc), end up getting the impression that we worship false god (as the word 'idol' also means false). Hence, the correct translation of murti puja is icon worship and not idol worship. Please pass down this message to all the Hindus.

References:

(1). Isa Upanishad, verse IX - XIV

(2). Svetavatara Upanishad, Chapter IV

(3). Bhagwad Gita, Chapter XI

Related reading:

(1). Translation of the 18 verses of Isa Upanishad by Jayaram V

(2). Translation of the 18 verses of Isa Upanishad by Swami Paramananda

(3). Sanskrit verses of Isha Upanishad, their translation and commentary by Sri Aurobindo

For more insights on Hinduism, please Visit Chris' blog:

Western Hindu

To all the fanatic Muslims and Hindus

No matter which continent you are in, no matter which language you speak, no matter what food you eat and no matter what dress you put on, there are chances that you may be the next target of the ruthless Muslim terrorists who don't think twice before killing innocent men, women and children.

These enemies of humanity have taken millions of innocent lives in India, USA, UK, Russia, Israel, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines & many more countries of the world.

No person in his right frame of mind will ever support their barbaric acts, but unfortunately these terrorists have a huge pool of sympathisers in the Muslim world. When ever the world criticises or condemns their heinous acts, their supporters waste no time in playing the 'victims' tune. They justify the mindless killings at the hands of these lunatics by using a lame excuse that the Muslims are simply retaliating against their suppression & oppression by the non Muslims ! However the truth is far from it. Lets have a look at this :-

(1). With an exception of Turkey & few more countries, almost all the Muslim dominated countries in this world are Islamic in nature, which means in these countries no non Muslim can ever become a president or a prime minister. Whereas in most of the Non Muslim countries even a Muslim can become the head of the state.

(2). No Muslim in an Islamic country can get converted to Hinduism,Christianity or any other religion. If a Muslim ever does that then the court orders him to be killed. But there is no such rule in non Islamic nations. A Christian in America or a Hindu in India would not be punished even if he gets converted to Islam.

(3). No non Muslim can enter the holy city of Mecca & Medina. But do we ever have a rule which bars the Muslims from entering the holy cities of other religions such as Jerusalam, Amritsar, Ayodhya etc ?

(4). In Islamic countries, even the non Muslims have to abide by the Sharia laws, which means no non Muslim in such countries can worship his god in public, eat food during the month of Ramzan, drink alcohol etc. But there is no such rule in non Muslim countries which prohibit the Muslims from worshipping their Allah in public.

(5). Both the Gujrat riots and the demolition of Babri Masjid are unfortunate incidents. But then hundreds of Hindu temples have been destroyed in Kashmir and Lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits have been killed and displaced at Kashmir. So isn't that a suppression of Hindus? Should the Hindus also pick up arms against the Muslims?

In the light of above mentioned facts, I guess it's high time that the Extremist Muslims peep in their own collar instead of pointing fingers at others.

Are the Muslims being discriminated in India?

Many extremist Muslims try to influence the liberals by creating an environment of paranoia amongst them. The extremists leave no stone unturned to make the liberals believe that they are being discriminated in India. However lets have a look at the reality:-

(1). In India, Muslims have been given the status of 'Minority' which entitles them to many grants and subsidies by the government. And all these grants come at the cost of the 'Majority'.

(2). We don't ban the paintings of M F Hussain. But we ban the book 'Satanic verses' written by Sulman Rushdie.

(3). There is no common civil code. Muslims are allowed to follow the Sharia.

(4). Massive subsidies worth hundreds of crores are given to the Hajj pilgrims.

(5). A politician like Karunanidhi can proclaim Lord Ram to be a fictitious character. But no politician can ever claim that Prophet Mohammad was not a prophet but just a normal man.

(6). There are special reservations in jobs for the Muslims in many Indian states like Tamilnadu, Kerela, Andhra etc. Needless to say, every reserved seat means a less seat for the candidates from other religions.

(7). We have Muslims in almost all the walks of life. The richest Muslim business man of the world (Azim Premji) is an Indian. We have had Muslim presidents and vice presidents. Bollywood is ruled by the Khans.

(8). The candidature of APJ Abdul Kalam (a Muslim) was supported by parties like BJP and Shiv Sena. Infact after the completion of his first term, it was only Shiv Sena which was willing to support him for the second term too.

(9). There is not a single non Muslim who does not respect patriots like Abdul Hamid and Ashfaqullah Khan. This clearly suggests that if a Muslim is patriotic then a non Muslim would have no problems in respecting him.


For all the hard line fanatic Hindus
If you believe that Islam is a religion of terror and Muslims are the members of a satanic cult. Then it's time for you guys to peep in your collar too. Let me show you some issues with Hinduism:-

(1). Not long ago we used to have an inhuman system called 'Sati' in which the women used to be burnt alive along with the dead body of their husbands. Isn't this barbaric ? And don't be under any mistake, this system was not eliminated because of the initiatives of general Hindus. Raja Ram Mohan Roy faced stiff resistance from his own family members when he spoke against this inhuman system. Had the British not made it illegal, this system would still have been prevalent.

(2). We used to practise another inhuman system called 'untouchability'. According to this system a person from low caste could not walk on the same path which was used by some one from the high caste, could not bath in the same river, could not use the same well and so on. And incase he failed to do so, then he could even be killed ! Mind you, this system is still prevalent in some parts of India.

(3). Another inhuman practise in Hinduism is 'Honour killling'.

Request to all

Having read many scriptures of Hindusim like Bhagwad Gita, Ramayan, Mahabharata etc I can say it with authority that none of the above mentioned practises are even remotely connected to Hinduism. But just because some mistaken souls used to practise them religiously, it would not be appropriate to assume that Hinduism teaches its followers to follow such barbaric practise. Similarly just because Many Muslims are terrorists, it is not right to assume that Islam teaches terrorism. We must always remember that there are three types of Muslims:

(1)Moderates (2) Uncertains & (3). Extremists

Repeated terror attacks have left many of us very angry. Under the surge of emotions we have started developing a feeling of hatred against all the Muslims. However such a feeling towards all the Muslims is highly unjustifiable. We must not forget that there are many moderate and uncertain Muslims. The moderates love the country as much as a patriotic Hindu does. Therefore it would be highly improper to vilify them for no fault of their's. Moreover such feeling of hatred towards the Muslims could be used as a tool by the Extremist Muslims to convert the moderates & the uncertains into extremists. And all these can have a catastrophic impact on our beloved nation.

The need of the hour is to get rid of our stereo types and pre conceived notions against the Muslims and treat every Muslim on his individual merit or demerit.

Let us all work together for one nation named India. Jai Hind.

Cast off the caste system

A Tamil and a Bihari or a Maharashtrian and a UPite may have umpteen number of differences. But they have one thing in common and that is their profound belief in the baseless caste system.

No matter where you go in India, you will find people strangulated by the vicious knot of the caste system. According to the records of the Indian government, today there are more than 3200 castes in India !

Many people practise and promote the caste system under the belief that it is an integral part of their religion (Hinduism). And not doing so will make them an adharmi (sinner). However truth is far from it. Caste system has got nothing to do with Hinduism.

Hinduism believes in the concept of Varnas, which is decided not on the basis of birth but on the basis of an individual's occupation. There are four Varnas:-
1. Brahman
2. Kshatriya
3. Vaishya
4. Shudra

History is full of examples where a person born in a Brahmin family has gone on to become a Kshatriya and a person born in a lower Varna has gone on to become a Brahmin. Some of them are mentioned below:-

Valmiki :- Was born as a shudra but went on to become a Brahmin
Vishwamitra:- Was born as a kshatriya but went on to become a Brahmin
Sant Ravidas:- Was born as a shudra but went on to become a Brahmin

The list can go on and on ......

Inter Varna marriage in ancient time:-
The society was very liberal towards inter varna marriage. People of one varna could easily marry people from other varnas. Even Gandharva Vivah was quite common. eg. Dushyant marrying shakuntala, Shantanu marrying Satyavati, Bhim marrying Hidimba etc


Caste system - A menace :
An angry Dilip Tiwary killed his sister Sushma's husband Prabhu and three more members of Prabhu's family in a brutal manner. The only fault of Sushma and Prabhu was that they were an inter caste couple, making them cardinal sinners in the eyes of the society ! Flip the pages of a newspaper and you will come across a Sushma and a Prabhu once every fortnight ! Add to this, the infamous caste wars in states like Bihar and UP which have already taken thousands of lives, and ask just one question from yourself - is this how you would like the world to view India and Hinduism?

If every human being is a creation of the same almighty god, who loves us equally, then who has given us the right to differentiate one creation of the god from the other, on the basis of a man made system? One wonders how can one individual become superior to the other by the virtue of his birth alone? Isn't it against the basic principle of karma (कर्म), the very pillar on which Hinduism stands tall?


Hinduism is the most ancient, a very liberal & a very pious religion. The existing caste system is a corruption which has crept in our beautiful religion. Its a menace that needs to be eliminated at the earliest. We can't change the history. But we can definitely ensure that our coming generations get to grow in a society which is free of this poisonous practise.

At the end I would like to sign off my article by few beautiful lines from an anonymous personality:

धर्म - धर्म चिल्लाने वाले, खून बहाए देश में;
शैतानों ने डेरे डाले इंसानों के भेष में |
कैसे कहेंगे सारे जहाँ से अच्छा हिन्दुस्तान को ?
धरती बाँटी, सागर बाँटा, मत बाँटो इंसान को |

Fatwa against Vande Mataram

Recently, Jamait-e-Ulema Hind, a leading Islamic organisation in India, passed a fatwa against our national song Vande Mataram, claiming it to be Unislamic. Such an outrageous resolution is bound to create a furore in the country. A fatwa like this, is a testimony of the fact that the remote control of the Islamic world is still in the hands of the radical elements.

This fatwa gives rise to many questions. Some of them are as follows:-

(1). If bowing before the motherland is against Islam. Then bowing before saints like Khwaja Moin-ud-din chisti, Nizam-ud-din Auliya etc should also be against Islam. When these people have no problems with Muslims visiting the shrines of these saints at Ajmer and Delhi, then why do they have problems with Vande Mataram?

(2). Going for Hajj by using the government subsidy is also against the principles of Islam. So why don't they issue a fatwa against the Hajj subsidy? Why this double standard?

(3). Many cough syrups have alcohol. So will we now see a fatwa against cough syrups as well?

(4). To the best of my knowledge, Islam does not recognise national boundaries. So will we see a day, when they will refuse to call themselves Indians by using the excuse that the concept of national boundary is against Islam?

(5). Population bomb is a major concern in India & the world. But will they remain stuck in their medieval period mentality? Will they continue to encourage the Muslims to produce a dozen kids just because birth control is against Islam (as stated by few Muslims)?

(6). In India, Muslims are given reservation in jobs, preferential treatment in loans, hundreds of crores as Hajj subsidy, hundreds of crores to madarsas - which are breeding grounds for terrorists, grants to Aligarh Muslim University - which pays for the court case of the terrorists nabbed in Batla house encounter and many more facilities. Why should the nation continue to give a preferential treatment to a religion whose followers have a problem with the national song of India ? National song is a symbol of India's dignity. Issuing a fatwa against it is a blasphemy towards the nation.

India is a secular country. The state allows every religious body to practise and propagate its religion freely. However, no religious body has the right to disrespect the symbols, values and ethos of the country.

The Muslims keep complaining that they are not a part of the mainstream. But with a 5th century mentality like this, will the mullas of the Jamait ever let them become a part of the mainstream? The backward mullas are the termites who are eating Islam from inside. And its time the Muslims realise, that their real enemy lies within. They will have to fight an intense internal battle against the radicals who have hijacked their beautiful religion to satisfy their personal whims.

Related reading:-

(1).Lady beaten up by husband and his friends for saying 'Vande Mataram'

(2). Jamiat passes retrograde resolutions

(3). Muslim children and 'Vande Mataram'si

(4). Muslims defy fatwa, sing Vande Mataram

(5). 'Vande Mataram' not un-Islamic: 2 MP Muslim groups

(6). Gujarat DGP tells Muslims: Sing Vande Mataram, I do it, not un-Islamic